Kent

Kent is a British brush maker founded in London in 1777 by William Kent, who had moved from Yorkshire to sell grooming brushes to army officers [3][7]. Trading today as G.B. Kent & Sons Plc and headquartered in Apsley, Hertfordshire, the company makes hairbrushes, combs, shaving and beard brushes and a range of oral-care products. It describes itself as the oldest brush manufacturer in the world, and has held a Royal Warrant for hairbrushes across a succession of British monarchs since the 1820s.

The business has been run by only two families in almost 250 years: the Kent family for six generations, and the Cosby family since 1932. It remains independent and family-run, and continues to manufacture in the United Kingdom.

William Kent established the company, first known as GB Kent, in London in 1777, during the reign of George III [3]. According to the brand's account, he sold what it calls luxury grooming brushes and delivered them by horseback, followed by a string of horses carrying his wares. Wikipedia records that Kent had relocated from Yorkshire to London specifically to supply army officers.

The firm passed down the Kent family for several generations. William Kent Junior took over and in 1807 moved the business to Great Marlborough Street, London, where it stayed for 89 years. Later in the nineteenth century George Barton Kent ran the company, and after his death in 1890 his three sons renamed it G. B. Kent & Sons — a name the company still trades under.

Kent's royal connection began in 1820, when it first supplied the reigning monarch, George IV; around this time the company expanded and began making toothbrushes. Queen Victoria granted her Royal Appointment in 1837, and at the Great Exhibition of 1851 Kent was awarded a medal for "Services Rendered."

The Kent family line died out in 1932 after six generations, and the business was sold to Eric L. H. Cosby, owner of Cosby Brushes Ltd; his descendants have chaired the company ever since [7]. During the Second World War, Kent supplied the British Army with large quantities of brushes, including, according to Wikipedia, special MI9 escape kits fitted with hidden compartments.

Royal recognition continued into the modern era: Queen Elizabeth II granted a Royal Warrant in 1955, and in 2017 the company received the Queen's Award for Enterprise for International Trade. In December 2024 Kent was granted a Royal Warrant of Appointment to King Charles III as brush makers [8].

The company operates as G.B. Kent & Sons Plc, a British, independent, family-run business. It states that it has been chaired by just two families across almost 250 years of trading: six generations of the Kent family, followed by the Cosby family, who took over in 1932 after acquiring the business from the last of the Kent line. The chairman and managing director, Alan Cosby, described the 2024 King's warrant as "a reflection of the generations of craftsmanship and dedication that have defined Kent Brushes" [8].

Kent positions itself around craftsmanship, integrity and tradition, which the company says are "at the heart of everything we do." Its stated intention, in its own words, has "always been to create the world's finest products and to be pioneers, innovators and leaders" within the brush industry. For its salon and trade audience the company frames its mission more plainly, saying it believes "everybody deserves healthy hair" and aims to cater to all hair types. The product range has historically been pitched at the premium end of the market.

The range covers hairbrushes for men, women and children, alongside combs, shaving and beard brushes, clothes and bath brushes, and an oral-care line that includes the Sonik electric toothbrush. Specialty collections such as Allure, AirHedz and Pure Flow sit beside collaborations, including one with the Peter Rabbit franchise.

A distinct sub-line, Kent Salon, is a professional hairbrush collection aimed at hairdressers and salons, which the company describes as designed with "no expense spared in pursuit of perfection" and built around ergonomic handles and brush types such as cushion, paddle and ceramic radial. Kent operates a separate professional website offering salon pricing, giving it a multi-channel route to both consumers and the trade.

Kent has set a target to reach net zero across its entire business and value chain by 2039/40, which it says puts it a decade ahead of national targets [5]. The company reports holding ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification, FSC certification for wood sourcing, and a Planet Mark carbon-footprint assessment. Shorter-term commitments described on its net-zero roadmap include increasing on-site renewable energy, expanding FSC-certified wood, launching a brush take-back recycling programme, and eliminating single-use plastics from packaging by 2030. The company also notes circular-economy measures such as repurposing sawdust from its factory as fuel for a nearby brick works.

Kent's awards span more than a century and a half, from the "Services Rendered" medal at the 1851 Great Exhibition to the Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade in 2017. Its longest-running form of recognition is the Royal Warrant for hairbrushes. The company's own About and Heritage pages state that it has held the warrant across "nine consecutive Sovereign reigns," counting through Queen Elizabeth II [3]; following the December 2024 warrant from King Charles III, the beauty trade publication TheIndustry.beauty reported the figure as ten consecutive reigns and described Kent as "the oldest hairbrush manufacturer in the world" [8].

Kent remains active. It continues to manufacture in Apsley, Hertfordshire, and to sell through both consumer and professional channels, with a reported turnover of around £11 million as of 2023 and a chief executive, Steve Wright, appointed in May 2022. Recent activity includes the December 2024 King's warrant and ongoing product launches. The brand has, however, paused shipping to United States customers as of the latest available information.

Sources differ on one detail of the company's history. The Heritage page states that the Apsley, Hertfordshire factory opened in 1897, while Wikipedia records that manufacturing moved to Apsley in 1901 [4][7]; the roughly four-year discrepancy concerns the relocation date, not the founding year, which all sources place at 1777.