It’s been a Glee of successful synergy for Burgon & Ball, UK’s longest-established manufacturer of tools and accessories, as many of this year’s new launches have been generated by its fruitful collaborations with prestigious partners.

Understandably, the new licence with the National Trust was big news on the Burgon & Ball stand, with the heritage look of the new tools attracting many positive comments from visitors. The craftsmanship and traditional manufacturing techniques used for the new range also earned much positive feedback.

Rainer Schubert, managing director at Burgon & Ball, commented: “We’ve been really pleased with the response to the launch of the new National Trust licensed range of tools. Not only are the tools practical, stylish and set to have great customer appeal, but it’s clear that visitors to our stand were quick to see the attraction of this high-profile collaboration. Carrying two well-known and trusted names in gardening, this new collection of tools offers new and exciting opportunities for retailers.”

The Corona tools from the US also made a big impact at the show. Selected items from the range were previewed to great acclaim last year, but this September the whole of the range launched in the UK was on show together for the first time.

Rainer Schubert comments: “Visitors could instantly see that the Corona range offers something very different. There’s simply nothing else in the UK like it; as an example, the high-performance large cutting category offers a unique proposition. These are very high quality tools, engineered for durability, and we’re very pleased that we can now say to customers that the whole range is now in stock and available for immediate despatch.”

There was a positive reaction to the unveiling of the new RHS-endorsed collection of axes, too. With handles crafted in traditional FSC^® hickory wood, these beautiful axes had instant appeal, stopping people in their tracks on the stand. Once in the hand, the perfect weighting of the axes is very easy to feel; the heft of the durable drop-forged tool heads does the work, minimising effort from the user.  And thanks to the trend for woodburning stoves and their need for chopped firewood, these tools hold appeal for gardeners and non-gardeners alike.

The Sophie Conran range also drew a lot of attention at the show. After nearly a decade of working with Sophie on this much-loved collection of garden tools and accessories, Burgon & Ball has repositioned the range to place it as conclusively in the core ‘garden’ category as strongly as it is in ‘gift’.

This range offers practical, well-designed hand tools, created to make gardening easier. The new additions of digging fork and spade, hedge shear, lopper, topiary shear, pocket knife and long thin trowel now create a comprehensive gardening range; this is serious gardening, made stylish.

The packaging has also been revisited, as Rainer Schubert explains: “The Sophie Conran hand tools were presented in beautiful gift boxes, ideal in softer gift environments, but they didn’t always look at home in a garden centre. We’ve now launched new packaging for the range in an understated grey with gold foil accents for a distinctive look, which is equally suited to both garden and gift settings, offering retailers more flexibility when merchandising.”

Burgon & Ball also showed a new selection of indoor pots, carefully selected to highlight key trends and offer retailers a fast-track to the hottest looks for houseplants, showing once again that Burgon & Ball retains its eye for a trend in gardening. And for the first time the whole of the Corona range being launched in the UK was on show at Glee, to give retailers the opportunity to see these high-performance, durable tools from the US.

Rainer Schubert continues: “Overall we’ve been extremely pleased with these first reactions to our new launches at Glee. Over the last year we’ve been able to draw on the expertise of our Venanpri family of well-established, high quality tool brands, which of course includes Corona, and the investment in our systems is really paying dividends.”

And what’s more, when the Sheffield-based manufacturer teams up with carefully-selected, prestigious partners, it makes a truly compelling combination.

CONTACT DETAILS

T: 01202 684141

E: sales@burgonandball.com

W: www.burgonandball.com