Harry Crook established Kleeneze in 1923. Here he is, what a handsome fella!
He started producing high quality, hand made twisted-in wire brushes from a shop in Bristol. By 1928, due to the huge demand for Harry’s finely crafted brushes, he’d opened over 200 branches worldwide.
Kleeneze was world famous for the quality of our brushes, so it made good business sense to offer our customers a range of high quality polishes too.
Between 1945 and 1960, we expanded our range even more to include health and beauty items like Talcum Powder, Oatmeal Bath cubes and Toothpaste.
Since the 1960s, Kleeneze agents, as they were known, were self-employed, running and owning their own successful home shopping businesses.
In the 1970s and 1980s, our range grew even more. We were one of the first home shopping companies to offer aerosols and car care products.
During the 1980s, the home shopping and direct selling industry grew rapidly. We helped to found the Direct Selling Association, promoting ethical business practice in our industry and upholding the highest standards through a strict Code of Practice.
In 1994 we announced a new expansion, offering our quality home shopping to customers in the Republic of Ireland.
Between 2004 and 2006, with a massive investment in infrastructure and logistics we expanded into Holland and Germany.
In 2006, we became part of Findel PLC, one of the largest direct mail order businesses in the UK. We moved our headquarters to a state of the art office and warehouse facility in Accrington.
In our new headquarters, we have made huge improvements to our delivery service and delivery network, making us one of the most efficient home shopping businesses in Europe.
Direct Selling is a 20 billion Euro industry and growing steadily (9.6% in 2006). We believe that this model of shopping from home is the future of retail, offering modern consumers a comprehensive range of products delivered straight to their door.
It is an exciting and dynamic industry that is the UK’s most significant provider of part time, independent earning opportunities.
And what about our future? – well, we hope our future includes you…
