About Shield
Life began for us in 1977. Initially we made a wide range of workwear across many sectors, but because of the recession in the early 1980s which also coincided with the rise of clothing imports, the manufacturing side of our business took a hit. So from here, we went back to the drawing board in order to secure our long term future. Having decided to embrace the concept of niche marketing, our initial focus was to provide workwear to professional painters and decorators. From our small premises in Hillsborough, Sheffield, we sold a range of only 6 garments, which later expanded to over 50 products as the brand continued to progress.
Despite the changes to Shield over the years, our values have never changed. We put our customers at the heart of everything we do and continue to innovate our products and services based on their feedback and requirements. Our future is a bright and ambitious one, and we look forward to meeting and surpassing our goals over the coming months, years, and decades.
The Early Days
We are proud to have established Shield back in 1977. From this day forward we have had one goal, to design and produce a premium product that painters and decorators are proud to wear or use.
We were delighted to be able to start our company up from our first unit, The New Street, Holbrook in Sheffield. It was the perfect place for us to start the business allowing us plenty of room for our very first workwear collections.
From the very beginning we quickly became the leading premium brand of decorators workwear. A quality British made product that all painters and decorators wanted to own. We are still proud to be known today for the same high quality workwear.
Our first of many Painting & Decorating Magazine front cover features happened in 1982. You can see our recognisable yellow, orange and red branding which is still with us today. Even at this point we had already become an established name in the painting and decorating industry.
We then went on to be featured in the P&D show magazine in 1987, further establishing ourselves as ‘Britain's No. 1 Supplier to the trade’, a quote we have always lived up to. Below this are two early card inserts for our early products. The cards highlighting the ‘Grade A White Cotton’ with all the pockets a professional would need, we offer this same quality today.
Growth
Due to our success, Shield needed more space to continue our growth. As a result we moved to Shield House in 2004. This was a proud moment for the team and allowed us to increase our range to offer our customers even more exceptional workwear. Shield House remained our home for the next 13 years.
Now cemented as the painters and decorators number one choice for quality workwear. Shield attended the majority of trade shows allowing it to showcase new designs and innovations, often stealing the show with the busiest stand.
We have always enjoyed being able to attend these shows not only to show off our exceptional products but to interact and meet with our loyal customers and it’s always a joy to be able to introduce our products to new customers.
Austen Group Ltd
Shield was taken over by Austen Group in 2017. A strategic decision to utilise their economies of scale to take the business to the next level. This allowed us to continue to develop our range whilst also being able to cover more of the country by having more Sales Representatives. Our 5 large warehouses allow good stock holding across all products and the internal Shield Trade team offers expert help and advice.
We continue to support the Painting and Decorating magazine and featured on the front cover in 2019. Shield is still as popular as ever at the Painters & Decorators show.
