Company type | Private company |
---|---|
Industry | Retail |
Founded | Worcester, England (1777 ) [1] |
Founder | John Dent |
Headquarters | Warminster, England , United Kingdom |
Area served | Worldwide |
Products | gloves, handbags, small leather goods |
Parent | Dewhurst Dent plc |
Website | www |
Dents is a British company that crafts luxury leather gloves, handbags, and small leather goods. Dents is known for its hand cutting, sewing, and stitching techniques, which are still practised today on some limited top-end products, most merchandise being purchased from third-party factories.
Dents was established in Worcester in 1777 as a manufacturer of fine leather gloves by John Dent (1751–1811). [1] It is possibly Britain's oldest existing fashion manufacturer. Dent's sons, John and William, helped the company expand throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1845, mechanical sewing was introduced to the company to assist craftspeople. [2]
In 1847, the business became Dent, Allcroft & Co. when John Derby Allcroft ran the company. Under Allcroft, annual production quadrupled to over 12 million pairs in 1884 and Dents became the premier glove producer in the world. [3]
Dents is also known for historically providing leather gloves to the British Royal Family, such as George VI and Elizabeth II's coronation gloves. [1] [2] Dents' Museum holds gloves worn by Lord Nelson, and Queen Victoria. [4] Dents' gloves have been featured in several films. Examples include the unlined black gloves worn by Daniel Craig portraying James Bond in the 2012 movie, Skyfall , [5] the black gloves worn by Michael Keaton portraying Batman in the 1989 film, Batman, and the purple suede gloves worn by Jack Nicholson portraying the Joker in the same film. [4]
The company has a factory in Warminster, Wiltshire, having been present in the town since 1937. [3] Since sometime before 1992, the company has been a subsidiary of Dewhurst Dent plc, a maker of fashion accessories based in Bolton. [6]
Since March 2023, Dents' headquarters has been the temporary home of the Fashion Museum, Bath. [7]
The firm exports to Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia, and has expanded to include belts, handbags, hats, serapes, and other small leather goods in the Dents Collection.
The glove patterns used today date back to 1839. [2] Each pair of Dents Heritage gloves is handmade in England by a Dents craftsman. Every glove is individually bench cut. Quirks, which are small, diamond-shaped pieces of leather, are hand sewn at the base of the fingers in order to provide a snug fit. Dents craftsmen also utilise a hand felling technique in which the cuff of the glove is stitched to the lining, improving the gloves' shape and comfort. Dents Heritage gloves are made with peccary skins, North American deerskin, and fine aniline Ethiopian hairsheep leathers. [8] Heritage gloves are available in a handful of stores worldwide with a luxury price tag and should not be confused with the imported gloves sold in most stores.
In 1837, John and William Dent purchased Sudeley Castle which had been the home of former queen Catherine Parr who died in 1548. The castle and chapel were "ruinous" at the time, having been extensively damaged during the Civil War. [9] [10]
The Dents' restoration of the castle was quite sensitive, deciding to not entirely rebuild the castle, rather leaving part of it as picturesque ruins, giving the castle much of its character still seen today. One reliable source states that the restoration was directed by George Gilbert Scott, "working on the western side of the inner court in the style of the existing Medieval and Elizabethan buildings"; Gilbert Scott subsequently began the restoration of the castle's free-standing St Mary's chapel. [11]
When Sudeley was habitable again, the brothers set about filling the castle with artworks. [10] After their deaths, their nephew, John Coucher Dent, inherited the castle in 1855. He and his wife Emma Dent continued the restoration. [12]
A sewing machine is a machine used to sew fabric and materials together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies. Since the invention of the first sewing machine, generally considered to have been the work of Englishman Thomas Saint in 1790, the sewing machine has greatly improved the efficiency and productivity of the clothing industry.
Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a sewing needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era. Before the invention of spinning yarn or weaving fabric, archaeologists believe Stone Age people across Europe and Asia sewed fur and leather clothing using bone, antler or ivory sewing-needles and "thread" made of various animal body parts including sinew, catgut, and veins.
Sir George Gilbert Scott, largely known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started his career as a leading designer of workhouses. Over 800 buildings were designed or altered by him.
A glove is a garment covering the hand, with separate sheaths or openings for each finger including the thumb. Gloves protect and comfort hands against cold or heat, damage by friction, abrasion or chemicals, and disease; or in turn to provide a guard for what a bare hand should not touch.
Sudeley Castle is a Grade I listed castle in the parish of Sudeley, in the Cotswolds, near to the medieval market town of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England. The castle has 10 notable gardens covering some 15 acres (6.1 ha) within a 1,200-acre (490 ha) estate nestled within the Cotswold hills.
The Worshipful Company of Glovers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. Glovers separated from the Cordwainers to form their own organisation in 1349. They received a Royal Charter of incorporation in 1639. The company is, as are most other Livery Companies, a charitable body, but it still retains close links to its original trade. Whilst traditional glove making has largely moved offshore there are still specialist UK companies engaged in the design, development, importation and distribution of technical, military, medical and industrial gloves as well as fashion companies making or distributing dress gloves in the UK and for export markets. A ceremonial link is still maintained; the Company formally presents the Sovereign with a glove upon his or her coronation. King Charles lll however used the Glove first presented to his grandfather King George Vl by The Worshipful Company of Glovers in 1937.
Winchcombe is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Tewkesbury in the county of Gloucestershire, England, it is 6 miles (10 km) north-east of Cheltenham. The population was recorded as 4,538 in the 2011 census and estimated at 5,347 in 2019. The town is located in the Cotswolds and has many features and buildings dating back to medieval times. In 2021 it was the primary strike site of the eponymous Winchcombe meteorite.
A thimble is a small pitted cup worn on the finger that protects it from being pricked or poked by a needle while sewing. The Old English word þȳmel, the ancestor of thimble, is derived from Old English þūma, the ancestor of the English word thumb.
Shoemaking is the process of making footwear.
A handbag, commonly known as a purse in North American English, is a handled medium-to-large bag used to carry personal items. It has also been called a pocketbook in parts of the U.S.
A waist bag, fanny pack, belt bag, moon bag, belly bag, or bumbag is a small fabric pouch worn like a belt around the waist by use of a strap above the hips that is secured usually with some sort of buckle. The straps sometimes have tri-glide slides, making them adjustable in order to fit properly. It can be considered as a purse worn around the waist.
Mulberry is a British fashion company founded in 1971, best known for its luxury leather goods, particularly women's handbags.
Geoffrey Mark Dent-Brocklehurst was a British stockbroker and the heir to Sudeley Castle. He was the son of Major John Henry Dent-Brocklehurst and his wife, Mary. Via his paternal grandmother, Marion Lascelles, he is a descendant of Henry Lascelles, 3rd Earl of Harewood. Thus he was a third cousin of George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood. Michael Hicks Beach, 2nd Earl St Aldwyn, whose mother was Marjorie Brocklehurst, was his first cousin.
Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A., doing business as Ferragamo, is an Italian luxury fashion house focused on apparel, footwear, and accessories headquartered in Florence, Italy. It specializes in designing and manufacturing footwear and leather goods, which together account for over 86% of its revenue. The remaining products include ready-to-wear, silk products, fashion accessories, and licensed eyewear, watches, and perfumes. It operates 447 mono-brand stores worldwide as of September 2022.
Stokesay Court is a country house and estate in the parish of Onibury in Shropshire, England. Described by John Newman, in the Shropshire volume of Pevsner's Buildings of England, as "the most grandiloquent Victorian mansion in the county", Stokesay is a Grade II* listed building.
John Derby Allcroft was an English philanthropic entrepreneur, evangelical Anglican and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1878 to 1880.
Glove prints, also sometimes described as gloveprints or glove marks, are latent, fingerprint-like impressions that are transferred to a surface or object by an individual who is wearing gloves.
The Kelly bag is a leather handbag designed by the Paris-based, high-fashion luxury-goods manufacturer Hermès. The bag was redesigned several times before it was popularized by and then named after the American actress and Monégasque princess Grace Kelly. The bag is now an expensive status symbol.
Emma Dent was an English antiquarian and collector who restored and developed Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire.
The coronation glove is a single white glove worn on the right hand by the British monarch during part of their coronation. It is donned after they are invested with the Sovereign's Ring and remains in place during the crowning ceremony. The glove is removed prior to the taking of homage from the bishops and peers of the realm. Presenting the glove to the monarch was a right associated with the Manor of Worksop and in the past the gloves have been embroidered with the arms of the owner of that manor. In 1953 the Court of Claims ruled that the Henry Pelham-Clinton-Hope, 9th Duke of Newcastle had lost the right by passing the manor to a limited company. At the 1953 coronation the glove, now embroidered with the royal cypher, was presented to the monarch by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
Directory of British Architects 1834–1914, 2 volumes (Continium, London, 2001), vol. II, p. 1075
His wife, Emma Brocklehurst, threw herself enthusiastically into Sudeley's restoration