After an incredible 250 years in business, prestige decorating brand Hamilton reaffirms its commitment to the UK's skilled trades with a major relaunch.

Hamilton has been making high-quality paintbrushes, rollers and associated equipment for professional trades since 1746.

In 2016, the business joined forces with top DIY brand LG Harris in Stoke Prior under the ownership of Nordic multinational Orkla. Their base in Stoke Prior is home to cutting-edge R&D and lab facilities.

This new chapter in Hamilton's history coincides with recent major advances in paint, as Head of Marketing for Trade Sarah Coussens explains.

“Obviously we have always been very closely linked to paint and our rebrand includes new technologies and products which focus on the very latest opportunities in the marketplace.

“Paint has changed dramatically over the last few years - as have the materials used in decorating tools - and it's really important that our products keep pace with progress to help consolidate our place as market leader.”

In centuries past, paint brushes were made with badger, goat and horsehair, but nothing worked quite as well as hog bristles.

However, times and consumer tastes change. Intensive farming has made animal byproducts hard to source and good-quality natural bristle is now extremely expensive.

This led Hamilton to open its brand-new chapter in technology and innovation, with the aim of keeping quality, cost-efficient tools within easy customer reach.

New paint brush hits the market

A major part of Hamilton's rebrand is the launch of a pioneering paintbrush in October, which replaces traditional bristles with a synthetic version.

“The Perfection CleanEdge™ brush is a very big move for us as a brand because we know how much our customers love working with natural bristle,” Sarah explains.

“Our new brush mimics natural bristle - in fact it outperforms it and is much easier to handle and clean. It also matches hog hair for longevity.

“We appreciate it's a major step forward for the world of brushes and we are very confident that it will exceed all expectations.”

Every new product in the Hamilton range undergoes rigorous mechanical and lab trials, and the CleanEdge™ has been no exception.

 Marketing Director Philippa Pawson adds, “The most important part of our product development is customer experience, so we had the brush tested by Dulux, Crown and Johnstone's paint manufacturers, as well as our own independent decorators' panel.

“The panel is made up of professional painters and decorators, who play an invaluable role in the whole development process. Their feedback has been tremendous.

“They not only make our existing products better, they help us come up with new ideas. And sometimes they simply flag up a problem that needs a quick solution.

“We can always rely on their honest feedback for all our protoypes,” Philippa adds wryly, “and that's exactly what we want. It's a big part of ensuring Hamilton continues to make products that our customers actually need.”

Philippa and Sarah also stress Hamilton's enduring commitment and loyalty to Bromsgrove and just as importantly, its customers.

Philippa adds, “With the exception of some manufacturing, which is done in China, absolutely every other element of our business is carried out here from design and development to testing.”

“As a company, we have - and will continue to make - significant investment in the area, our workforce and stakeholders. We are here to stay.

“In fact, we're poised to move manufacturing of many of our roller brands across to this site. And, of course, our customers are always welcome to visit!”

Philippa concludes, “After sales highs during covid and a more challenging 2022, we are now seeing a more ‘normal' market and are very happy with the ‘new' Hamilton products and brand.

 “We're really excited about the future, with some fairly ambitious sales targets lined up over the next few years.”

www.hamiltondecoratingtools.co.uk