Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
- British Buttons; 1929-2003
Other form(s) of name
- Gansolite Ltd; Quality Buttons
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
Gansolite Ltd established a factory on former Rowntree land in Haxby Road, York, in 1929, when Dutchman Jacob Gans moved his factory from Holland to the city. The factory produced buttons for a number of commercial clothing manufacturers. In 1983 the firm, then trading as British Buttons, was acquired by Ashley Goff and his son Stephen as part of a management buyout.
By 1990 British Buttons employed 70 people and manufactured an average of five million buttons a week. At that point it was the biggest selling button maker in Britain. That same year, production moved to Sutton on the Forest so that the Haxby Road premises in York could be cleared for redevelopment.
During the 1990s British button maufacturing began to go into decline. With the firm losing Marks & Spencer as a client in 1998 following a review of their materials purchasing, 30 to 40 per cent of business was lost in a year. This resulted in the firm filing for bankruptcy, before being rescued by Peter Bownes in 2000. With a continued decline in customers due to cheaper options being produced abroad, by 2003 the firm employed 18 staff and was manufacturing between 750,000 and 1.5 million buttons a week.
On 27 January 2003 staff were told that due to the the decline in orders the company had been placed in voluntary liquidation.
Places
Haxby Road, York; Sutton on the Forest
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
Manufacturer of buttons for commercial clothing companies, including Marks & Spencer and Berwyn & Berwyn.
Mandates/sources of authority
Internal structures/genealogy
General context
Gansolite Ltd established a factory on former Rowntree land in Haxby Road, York, in 1929, when Dutchman Jacob Gans moved his factory from Holland to the city. The factory produced buttons for a number of commercial clothing manufacturers. In 1983 the firm, then trading as British Buttons, was acquired by Ashley Goff and his son Stephen as part of a management buyout. \n\nBy 1990 British Buttons employed 70 people and manufactured an average of five million buttons a week. At that point it was the biggest selling button maker in Britain. That same year, production moved to Sutton on the Forest so that the Haxby Road premises in York could be cleared for redevelopment. \n\nDuring the 1990s British button maufacturing began to go into decline. With the firm losing Marks & Spencer as a client in 1998 following a review of their materials purchasing, 30 to 40 per cent of business was lost in a year. This resulted in the firm filing for bankruptcy, before being rescued by Peter Bownes in 2000. With a continued decline in customers due to cheaper options being produced abroad, by 2003 the firm employed 18 staff and was manufacturing between 750,000 and 1.5 million buttons a week. \n\nOn 27 January 2003 staff were told that due to the the decline in orders the company had been placed in voluntary liquidation.
Relationships area
Access points area
Subject access points
Place access points
Occupations
Control area
Authority record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/7913725.button-factory-shuts/; accessed 19 October 2020.