Web Page 3093 12th January 2024 Cherry Blossom Shoe Polish First Picture: Cherry Blossom Advert

Second Picture; Shoe cleaner base

Third Picture: Shoe cleaner brushes

Fourth Picture: Kiwi Shoe Polish

When we were kids you could always guarantee on finding a tin of Cherry Blossom shoe polish along with brushes and polishing cloths in a box under the sink in the kitchen. But where did the actual shoe polish come from? Tired of having rub shoe polish off of their clothing in 1906 Dan and Charles Mason decide to create a polish that would last an entire day. They called the product Cherry Blossom Boot Polish and launched it across the UK! Backed by imaginative marketing, the brand quickly became a huge success. In 1911 the Exhibition Centre at the Crystal Palace was hired by the Cherry Blossom company for a day and the gates were thrown open to the general public. Free entry was provided for anybody who brought with them a lid from a Cherry Blossom tin! The event is a huge success and 200,000 visitors produce a mass of traffic unseen in London at this time. Come 1913 and due to Cherry Blossom’s success it was taken over by the Chiswick Polish Company, which was owned jointly by the Masons and Reckitt & Sons Ltd, and between 1916 and 1923 with workers’ welfare high on the agenda at Cherry Blossom, a staff magazine called “Forward” was launched, Shortly afterwards, the company introduced a 5-day working week in 1918 and a pension scheme in 1923 Business was improving and in 1924 the ‘fish plate’ metal opener was introduced and was the first of this type of opener to be introduced. In 1929 the company merges with the Nuggent Polish Company Limited creating a global brand and a year later the company made 50 semidetached houses available for their work force. In 1936 a young girl called Daisy Sander joined the company as a library assistant, she later became better known as the actress Dandy Nichols of ‘Till Death Us Do Part’ fame By the 1960s over 1,500 people were employed by the company. These people didn’t just make and fill polishes though – they also stamped and printed the tins, creating the brand’s iconic packaging. The company’s factories at the time manufactured everything needed on site, just like today! Stay in touch Peter gsseditor@gmail.com