Cash's, or J. & J. Cash Ltd., is a company in Coventry, England, founded in 1846, that manufactures woven name tapes and other woven products and is known for formerly making

ribbons A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mate ...

Foundation

The company was founded by two brothers, John and Joseph Cash, sons of a wealthy stuff (or textile)-merchant, also called Joseph. At the time of the company's founding, the father and sons already had a warehouse and offices in Hertford Street, Coventry. They sold ribbons made for them by

outworker The putting-out system is a means of subcontracting work, like a tailor. Historically, it was also known as the workshop system and the domestic system. In putting-out, work is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the pr ...

s. In 1846, the two brothers set up a ribbon-making factory with 100

loom A loom is a device used to weaving, weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the Warp (weaving), warp threads under tension (mechanics), tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of ...

s, at West Orchard.

Cash Family

The brothers, who were

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

s, were philanthropists and model employers; Joseph for example founded the Coventry Labourers' and Artisans' Friendly Society, in 1843, along with his friend

Charles Bray Charles Bray (31 January 1811 – 5 October 1884) was a prosperous British ribbon manufacturer, social reformer, philanthropist, philosopher, and phrenologist. Life Bray was born in 1811 and his education included time in the school run by ...

. This friendly society provided 400

allotment Allotment may refer to: * Allotment (Dawes Act), an area of land held by the US Government for the benefit of an individual Native American, under the Dawes Act of 1887 * Allotment (finance), a method by which a company allocates over-subscribed ...

s for working people, as well as a store selling groceries. He built an infants' school in the garden of his home, Sherborne House, in 1853, which he also allowed local

Wesleyans Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christian tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother Charles Wesley were also significa ...

to use as a place of worship. John Cash bought his house, 'Rosehill', from

George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrot ...

had been staying with the Bray family, and on sale of the property she moved into the smaller Ivy Cottage on the grounds. John's wife was Mary Sibree, to whom Eliot had been tutor of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Cash's Topshops

In 1857, Cash's commissioned a series of three-storey weavers' cottages on a plot of land alongside the

Coventry Canal The Coventry Canal is a navigable narrow canal in the Midlands of England. It starts in Coventry and ends to the north at Fradley Junction, just north of Lichfield, where it joins the Trent and Mersey Canal. It also has connections with the ...

at Kingfield, and on a road now known as Cash's Lane, then in countryside, outside the city boundary. Initially 100 such cottages were planned, but eventually only 48 were built, in two blocks. These used bricks, with tiled roofs and

mock Tudor Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in rea ...

barge-boards on the gables. Each had a garden. On the top floor of each cottage was a well-lit work area

topshop TOPSHOP (originally Top Shop) is a British online fast-fashion retailer, which specialises in women's clothing, shoes and accessories. It is majority owned by Danish company, Bestseller. In 2024, ASOS sold 75% of Topshop and Topman to Bests ...

, known collectively as 'Cash's Topshops', housing a

Jacquard loom The Jacquard machine () is a device fitted to a loom that simplifies the process of manufacturing textiles with such complex patterns as brocade, damask and matelassé. The resulting ensemble of the loom and Jacquard machine is then called a Jac ...

, powered by a central, steam-powered

beam engine A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead Beam (structure), beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used b ...

. They opened for business on 12 October 1857, and the individual workshops were combined into single, large, workspaces in 1862. The houses still stand, and were

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

on 10 October 1975. A park called Cash's Park lies nearby, to the west.

William Andrews

Cash's first factory manager at Kingfield was William Andrews, his diary has been preserved at Coventry's

Herbert Art Gallery and Museum Herbert Art Gallery & Museum (also known as the Herbert) is a museum, art gallery, records archive, learning centre, media studio and creative arts facility on Jordan Well, Coventry, England. Overview The museum is named after Alfred Herbert, ...

("The Herbert"). The diary was transcribed by Valerie Chancellor and published as ''Master and Artisan in Victorian England'' in 1969. Andrews (1835-1914) joined the firm in 1855, as a designer, immediately after completing his apprenticeship. The Cash brothers contracted him for three years, at annual salary of £100. In late 1857 he was offered managership of the Kingfield site, and took up residence at 8, Kingfield. He negotiated a salary of £120, with his house, gas and coal provided free. In addition, he was to be paid separately for his design work. However he was not popular with the weavers, and left in June 1858 to manage another part of the business, at Drapers Fields. Andrews had an interest in astronomy and participated in the

British Astronomical Association The British Astronomical Association (BAA) was formed in 1890 as a national body to support the UK's amateur astronomers. Throughout its history, the BAA has encouraged observers to make scientifically valuable observations, often in collaborat ...

(BAA) expedition to observed the total

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...

of 28 May 1900. Andrews subsequently joined the BAA.

Name Tapes

The Cash brothers’ willingness to take risks again manifested during the 1870s when the firm began producing coloured embroidery work. This in turn led to the production of embroidered name tapes for clothing, which became the core of the company’s business by the turn of the century. The success of J. & J. Cash, Ltd.’s name tape business soon led to the decision to establish a production facility in the United States.

J. & J. Cash Ltd. U.S. / Frank Goodchild

A site was secured in South Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1905 and work on the new factory was completed in October 1906. At the time of the building’s completion, executives at J. and J. Cash felt that the size of the new Norwalk plant would suffice for at least 20 years of growth, however, a substantial addition was needed by 1912. It was at this point in time that the manufacture of woven clothing labels was added to the firm’s catalogue, a move that would drive the need for further additions to the factory during the 1920s. Frank Goodchild served the firm from 1886 to 1946 at Coventry and subsequently in the USA, finally as President of the US Company.

Post war

The factory was damaged by bombing in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and parts subsequently demolished. Cash's had many difficulties rebuilding and trying to get back to pre-war capacity. By 1952 the greater part of the work was done. During the 1960s, Cash's absorbed other Coventry weaving companies, including B. Laird, Lester Harris and W.H. Grant. Other local competitors failed, leaving Cash's the only survivor of the type in the city. In January 1964, Cash's were appointed 'Manufacturers of Woven Name Tapes to Her Majesty the Queen.' The company was sold to the Jones Stroud Group in 1976, ending the involvement of the Cash family. In 1984, the Kingfield site was vacated, and the company moved to more modern premises on Torrington Avenue, where it continued to make woven products until January 2014 when the company went into administration. On 13 February 2014 it was announced that

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

based The Jointak Group had invested in the company and that it would reopen under the name "Cash's Apparel Solutions". On 23 December 2014, Cash's moved out of Torrington Avenue to the Seven Stars Industrial Estate at Wheler Road in Coventry. Then moved to unit 13/14 Colliery Lane Exhall Coventry CV7 9NW address registered on 21 December 2019. A final move was made in September 2024 to Saint Mary's road in Leamington Spa. Cash's no longer make ribbons, although they continue to weave identity nametapes, together with woven pictures, cards and bookmarks. In more recent years the main focus of the business has been a new anti-counterfeit and tamper evident security labelling department for high-end brands, called CertiEye.Tamper evident security labelling department
Retrieved 16 June 2017.

Legacy

Many Cash's products are sought after by collectors, and featured in museum collections. Cash's original records at Kingfield Road were destroyed by a bomb, but many of the company's subsequent archives are in the Coventry local history centre, in The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum. In 1996, the 150th anniversary of the opening of the company's first factory was celebrated by an exhibition at The Herbert, 'A Woven Image'. The Primary school: Joseph Cash Primary School is in the Radford area of Coventry.

Notes

References

External links

Company website

Commercial website

International website
* P Cave new update
website

Pete Cave at Cash's from 1963 website
{{Herbert Art Gallery and Museum Textile companies of the United Kingdom Manufacturing companies based in Coventry 1846 establishments in England History of Coventry Quakerism in the United Kingdom Quakerism in England Companies established in 1846