Grangers at 80

With a love of traditional British weather and a passion for producing unrivalled performance, Grangers is a company dedicated to keeping you dry – no matter the weather.

For the past 80 years, Grangers has helped to bring order to the chaos of an unpredictable world through a range of protection products designed specifically for outdoor clothing, footwear, and equipment. We’ve protected Everest adventurers, Antarctic explorers, and other extreme backpackers and survivalists. We’ve also helped to protect casual walkers, and even families enjoying camping trips away. In short, we’ve helped as many people as possible and given them the opportunity to spend more time outdoors doing what they love.

Our journey began in Watford, in May 1937. Our first major contract came soon after – to provide the Ministry of Defence with a waterproofing treatment for their canvas field tents. After just 10 years, we were already beginning to reshape the outdoor protection industry. In 1947, we became the first outdoor company to produce a water-based waterproofing solution, paving the way for more environmentally-conscious treatments. Our products became more popular amongst the outdoor community as a result, and in 1953 were used during the first successful Everest summit!

For the next two decades, Grangers continued to develop and refine a growing range of protection products, culminating with the introduction of the Fabsil range of waterproofing products in the mid-1970s. It was around this time that our current chairman purchased the company, and set about bringing product protection to as wide a circle of outdoor enthusiasts as possible.

By 1990, Grangers had outgrown our original factory in Watford and moved north to a purpose-built manufacturing facility in Alfreton, Derbyshire. A few short years later, the Cherry Blossom brand of shoe polish was acquired by Grangers International, and production of this British favourite began immediately.

For much of the last 10 years, Grangers has been committed to furthering the Science of Protection and ensuring that our products are as effective and as environmentally-aware as possible. We were the first aftercare company to be awarded bluesign® system approval – an acknowledgement of our commitment to ensuring our entire production chain is environmentally conscious. We developed a new waterproofing formula based on acrylic polymers as part of our drive to move aware from the standard fluorocarbon-based treatments that persist within the environment. And, we made sure that our products continued to provide the best possible protection, whatever you’re doing.