The media was out in force for HRH the Princess Royal’s visit to Dents.
They were attracted not only by the royal visit, but also by Dents’ continued success during very difficult times for British manufacturing.
With BBC TV, ITV, BBC Radio and local radio in attendance, along with several photographers and reporters from various print and online media, journalists were everywhere. Ms Deborah Moore and Dents Marketing Consultant Mr John Roberts headed a long list of Dents personnel who were interviewed for television and radio. Tony Foreman, who has been with Dents for 47 years, was interviewed about sales and the new distribution facilities, John Cundick, who
started with Dents in 1949, spoke about the remarkable changes that have taken place over the years; Sally Norris and Lily Munday, who have both been with Dents for well over 40 years, demonstrated their hand sewing techniques to fascinated camera crews; and even our honoured overseas agents and visitors were pulled in, with Mr Nagabuchi from Japan managing an excellent interview despite limited English.
The effort and co-operation by everyone at Dents on the day ensured the visit by HRH the Princess Royal went without a hitch, and the celebrations at a dance for the staff that evening were well deserved. The visit had been a resounding success!
Hello Everyone!
My name is Fran Rebecca Walker, and you’ll see me around Dents social media keeping you up to date on our latest news and offers, so you will hopefully see many more blog posts from me! I wanted to let you all know that if we get up to 500 likes on our FB page, Dents will give 20% off all non-glove items from their website through an exclusive online discount code that will be posted on our Dents FB wall once we reach this target. It would be great to give you all this discount BEFORE Christmas time! For instance, who wouldn’t want a Dents bag or wallet for Christmas? So ask all your FB friends to like the Dents FB page and get involved! My personal faves, which are now scribbled down on my Christmas wish list are the Leather Crocodile Print bag in Cognac, £165.
and the Dents Large Leather Handbag in Teal £145
For my fiancé I really like the Men’s Faux Sheepskin Trapper Hat £26 . It will keep his ears nice and warm when he walks our dog during the Jan – March months that’s for sure!
And I’m going to have to buy my dad the Reversible Leather Belt also £26 in Navy and Tan or you can get it in Black and Brown as well! He needs a good belt like this for his golfing tournaments.
I only hope I can have the DENTS 20% discount before Xmas, so I can treat myself (and my family and friends)!
x Fran
Chris Jones of Corgi Hosiery, Chris, and Deborah at Moda August 2011
This is one anniversary we just couldn’t let pass! Chris Johnson, Dents’ agent for the south east of England, celebrated his (first?) 50 years with Dents at the UK’s leading international fashion show, Moda, in Birmingham last weekend.
Chris first joined Dents as a trainee representative, and later became our most successful sales agent ever, of the 43 countries we sell to.
When Chris first started with Dents, each trainee representative had to understand how the product was made – this meant actually learning to cut and sew a pair of leather gloves! Chris still has a copy of his Dents training manual from those days.
Over the years Chris has become very much a part of the Dents family. He has given sterling service to both Dents and his customers, who we know would wish to join us, along with many others, in thanking him for his contribution to Dents and the fashion industry over half a century.
We got the keys right on time, and here’s the moment recorded for posterity… (better watch out for those newts!)
In the picture you can see Julian Paynter, director of Henry Boot (the developers), Robert Yentob, chairman of Dents, site manager Wayne Williams and Deborah Moore, design director of Dents at the handover – text from the article below, or click on the image to enlarge. Warminster glove and accessory firm Dents moved into its purpose-built head office and factory in Furnax Lane this week. The 45,000 sq ft facilities will allow the 230-year-old company to continue to expand, possibly by acquiring new businesses. Dents chairman Robert Yentob received the keys from developer JEHU at the official opening on Monday. Mr Yentob said: “This is a major step forward for Dents. We had outgrown our previous premises both in terms of size and also technical capability. This new facility offers larger, more efficient warehousing and offices with far higher technical specifications. The location also gives easier access to both our warehouse and factory shop.” The £4 million building was designed by award-winning Welsh architects Boyes Rees to incorporate contemporary design with functionality and sustainability. It includes special fencing to keep out newts and other animals from adjacent wildlife conservation areas, and sensor-operated lighting to ensure that lights aren’t left on unnecessarily. Dents director Deborah Moore said: “We are having a boom year, largely because we have had two cold winters in a row so there has been a big demand for gloves. Orders are coming in early at the moment, we are hoping to be about 40 per cent up at the end of the year. The new buildings are fabulous. We will have a lot of space to grow and there aren’t many British manufacturing businesses in that position at the moment. We are especially pleased with the technology incorporated into the structure that will enable our factory, office and warehousing to operate at a new level of efficiency. In the future this will mean more jobs locally.” The new building is expected to be fully operational by the end of April and the new factory shop will open around the first week in May. Waitrose has bought the old site and is hoping to open a store in December. Dents was founded in Worcester in 1777 and by the mid 19th Century was a global leader in gloves and accessories.
The Elle Style Awards is always one of the most glamorous parties of the year and this year’s event, held on Monday (Feb 14th) was one of the best ever. So many A-list guests turned up that the photographers didn’t know who to turn to first – Emma Watson, Cheryl Cole, Helena Christensen – the list of top celeb names just went on and everyone of course looked totally stunning. Vivienne Westwood seemed a little uncertain as she presented Emma with the Style Icon award; she admitted she was a little unsure who Emma was as she hadn’t seen any of the Harry Potter films!
But the highlight for us of course was seeing our lovely Dents gloves up on stage for the presentations. Gok Wan co-presenter Brix Smith Start showed our long black leather gloves to full advantage during the awards and she wasn’t the only person who glammed up her look with Dents gloves. A really excellent evening all round.
Brix loved our gloves so much, she went to our Warminster factory to see them being made – you can see her visit, shown on Gok Wan’s Fashion Fix, by clicking here.
A Spring update from Adele, our handbag designer…
key baby satchel in divine azure, rose, toffee and black
Gold piped studded statement scoop
Stripey stripes, essential transition pieces
At last! The sun is shining, snowdrops are fighting their way through the solid ground and we are finally, tentatively, emerging from our thick winter coats to embrace the rays. Hopefully this is not just a cruel trick of nature, and it won’t be snowing again next week!
The stores are full of Spring, Spring, Spring and here in design we are getting ready to shop. We’re like magpies drawn to sparkly treasures, longing to own airy whites, peachy nudes, neon brights, stripes, sequins, buttery soft leathers, bows, beauty, optimism, romance and glamour…
We’re starting with the details at Dents. Bags to love…
A soft slouchy scoop with a doubly fabulous heart clasp detail, in delicious toffee, white, dove and black.
Our signature handbag. Elegant, understated, so on trend this spring, with multi pockets and zips to organise all the little things that don’t always stay in our heads! Beautiful colours, toffee, buttermilk, white, navy, berry and black.
And to coordinate, our useful north/ south tote. With sweet grab handles, and a long across the body strap, in toffee, navy, berry and black, perfect for work and weekends.
Stripey stripes, essential transition pieces to brighten our days. Very chic, in berry, navy and black.
Spring wouldn’t be spring without some quirky quilting. Embellished with bows, oversized frames and chains, or simple, zipped sophistication. Black with white, coffee with cream and white with black. Just lovely.
Key pieces to buy now and wear all season, take your pick!
A Disgruntled Reader (yes, they do exist) contacted us recently to complain about the apparent lack of progress on our building, as the last report was posted about five weeks ago. We can only assume the person was an impatient Waitrose shopper waiting for the new superma rket to open on our old site.
We’re h
appy to say that we continue to make rapid progress, as the wintry photos above will tell you. Not only that, but this wintry weather has almost cleaned us out, as a look at our empty warehouse shelves shows. At least it’s less we’ll have to move. (By the way, no need to panic – if you’re desperate for a pair of gloves or a handbag, I’m sure we’ll be able to come up with something.)
All of us at Dents would like to wish our readers a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a prosperous and healthy New Year.
For those of you who can barely contain their excitement waiting for our new building to be ready, this just in from Norma in the warehouse…not too bad really, considering three weeks ago it was just a hole in the ground!
I thought I would share some pictures of our new building…
as you can see there’s a little way to go yet…
Dents Gloves, building on a strong foundation.. 
.jpg&maxsize=750&scaleup=false "Dents Totem Sign Option B (3)")
We’re on the move, but it’s just a couple of miles down the road. We’re delighted to say that Dents has finally completed the purchase of land close to its present headquarters in Warminster and will begin building its new custom designed facility next Monday.
The new state of the art building will house Dents’ glove manufacturing operations, together with its distribution, administration and design departments. The Dents museum, which contains one of the finest glove collections in the world, will also move to the site.
The building will contain a new larger factory shop with plenty of parking space available for customers.
We expect to complete our move by April 2011. Our existing premises will then be demolished to make way for a Waitrose supermarket, which will be a wonderful, and long anticipated, addition to the town of Warminster.
