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All about Brother, retro typewriter extreme close up

100 Years Of Innovation 

Explore Brother's rich history

Started in 1908 by two entrepreneurial brothers in Nagoya, Japan, our company today is now a global provider of specialist solutions - at present operating 17 production sites and over 50 sales sites in 44 countries across the world.

Located in Greater Manchester since 1968, Brother UK supplies and supports a complete range of technology products and services across the business and consumer markets. We are dedicated to helping people work smarter and more efficiently. We create solutions that inspire people to achieve more.

Our motto of 'At Your Side' is central to everything we do. This means not only developing great products, but also being guided by our philosophy of delivering best-in-class service and value. This commitment does not end with our customers either – we are proud to play an active part in our local community. 

The European Economic Community was established the year before at the signing of the Treaty of Rome. Brother in Nagoya recognised this as a very important development and identified Europe as a key territory for the company’s development and growth.
Jones sewing machines were firmly established as Britain’s favourite brand, but the company had been suffering from a lack of investment and development. Brother’s decision to acquire them allowed the company to quickly establish itself in the UK. 
This product, designed by CDCC and built by Brother, inspired the company’s decision to diversify into office technology. This landmark decision was to prove instrumental to Brother becoming the company it is today.
Following the decision to diversify, Brother's electronic typewriters quickly found worldwide acclaim - fuelling major growth and recognition of Brother as a key innovator in office technology. 
Responding to the emerging print technology of the moment, Brother quickly developed high speed laser products for the changing office market. Today, Brother remains a world-class manufacturer in this product category. 
Demonstrating Brother’s capability as a true innovator, the company developed an entirely new concept for labeling technology. Based on a series of breakthrough innovations, the company went on to develop an entire system of labeling products which remain some of the most durable available in the world today.
Continuing Brother’s commitment to innovation, the company made significant breakthroughs in integrating multiple functions with its first laser multi-function printer. By integrating print, scan, fax and phone functions into a single machine, Brother set a new bar for the industry and created an entire new category of products.
Continuing the success of the company’s laser products, Brother adopted the latest standard – inkjet. Smaller, quieter and even more colourful, the inkjet line became a huge success – not least as it benefitted from cutting-edge integration of its laser predecessor. 
Making print truly portable, this miniaturised product remains the only one of its kind to pack such functionality into such a compact device. An innovative solution that solves one of the biggest challenges of mobile working, it was quickly adopted by all manner of organisations – from the British Transport Police to Hillarys Blinds.
A true 21st Century breakthrough. Building on Brother’s extensive labelling heritage, this new technology makes it possible to print Radio Frequency Identification tags. A system that usually costs thousands of pounds to implement, this Brother innovation slashes these costs, making this key technology affordable to almost every business who could benefit from it.