Allen Brothers mark a decade of independence

The Allen Team at METS © Allen Brothers

This week marks 10 years of sales and marketing independence for the Essex based performance sailing hardware manufacturers, Allen Brothers (fittings) Ltd. The company has enjoyed a challenging and exciting 10 years since ending its partnership with Holt and is now well established and continuing to grow in 2018.

Managing Director Liz Adams explained, "it is now a decade since the company went out on its own to market its own brand of performance hardware, we knew it would take some time to establish our own brand in the competitive hardware market, but the tremendous creativity of my father Tony in establishing a product line which has lasted so well and the fact that as designers and manufacturers we can control the development and quality of our own products has helped us create a brand which is now well known around the globe. We are now seeing sustained growth year on year and have started a six figure investment programme to help us maintain the ambitious targets we've set for this year."

Allen Brothers (fittings) Ltd was formed in 1956 after brothers Tony and Glenn Allen decided to design and manufacture a range of innovative boat fittings, from aluminium, to replace the heavy and expensive brass fittings being used at the time. America's Cup crew and keen dinghy racer Beecher-More noticed the fittings and persuaded them to exclusively supply Jack Holt Ltd and so began the 50 year partnership and brand name of Holt-Allen.

In January 2008, after Tony had transferred the shareholding of the company to his nephew, Kim and daughter, Liz, the pair decided to create the company's own sales and marketing arm to market the product range under the new brand name Allen. Tragically Kim passed away in March 2015 leaving Liz to take on the role of Managing Director. The business is heavily involved with dinghy and sportsboat racing programmes and relies on feedback from Team Allen to contribute new, innovative research and development to its product lines. This year's RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show will exhibit a range of new products showing the company's continuing commitment to design and technological innovation.

Still based in the same factory in Essex since the mid 70's, Allen Brothers now has a wide range of resources using the latest technologies to manage, design and manufacture for domestic and export markets covering the globe. To find out more go to www.allenbrothers.co.uk or www.facebook.com/allensailboathardware