Vintage compact mirrors and powder boxes from Stratton brand

In 1920, the Jarrent and Rainsford companies, producing dry goods and cheap jewelry, and Stratton LLC, creating knitting needles, radios and men’s jewelry, were merged in Birmingham. For the new company, they decided to keep the name Stratton and the direction of production of metal haberdashery.

From 1923, partially finished compacts were imported from the United States, assembled and designed in England, until the company established its own production of powders, lipsticks and packaging for them in the 1930s. This was so successful that by 1939, half the volume of products for the UK cosmetics industry was produced by Stratton, although the products did not carry this brand name. At the same time, a number of products labeled Stratton were manufactured for the jewelry trade and successfully competed with similar imported products from the USA, Germany and Japan.

One of the craftsmen working for a German rival manufacturer was forced to leave Germany by the Nazis in 1938. He joined the company, adding to his experience and knowledge gained at Rowenta in Stratton.

In November 1940, part of the factories was destroyed during bombing in Birmingham. The company found new premises scattered in different parts of Birmingham and repurposed them for military production in order to be able to survive.

The production of powder compacts was resumed in 1946 using new mechanisms; therefore, many post-war Stratton products differ from their pre-war counterparts. A new factory was built at Warstock Birmingham, for the Twinco Mulding company, and in the mid-1950s, haberdashery production moved to Warstock premises where it operated from hand to hand.

In 2006, Stratton changed owners again. Currently, the company is owned by Faze Two Manufacturing Ltd, who plan to restore the production and prestige of the Stratton brand.