Brotherly love

In 2018, Brother is celebrating a landmark 110 years in business. While this longevity itself is impressive, more significant is the fact that we’ve been “At your side” during generations of cultural and technological change.

To celebrate this milestone, we’ve decided to share the love and take a look at 10 significant milestones of our history.

1. Starting in sewing – founded in Nagoya, Japan in 1908, Brother started out repairing and producing parts for sewing machines. By 1928, the company was manufacturing its own machines. Early models like the one seen here with company founders Masayoshi and Jitsuichi Yasui are now impressive antiques. 

2. Innovation on two wheels – it may surprise many people to learn that in 1956 Brother joined the world of motorcycle production with the Motorcycle Darling.

3. Love at first type – Brother moved into the typewriter market in 1961 with the manufacture of an initial 183 units of the JP1 alphabetical portable typewriter. In 1980 we had produced a total of 10 million typewriters. By 1990, this had risen to 20 million.

4. Times of transition – now arguably our most famous product, however it wasn’t until 1971 that we produced our first printing device. The high-speed dot-matrix M-101 enabled the move to computer-based working 

5. Making a name in labelling – the late 1980s saw Brother enter the world of label printing with the PT-6 Labelling System.

6. Museum piece – the last ever European-produced Brother typewriter was made in 2012. The final CM-1000 model was donated to London's Science Museum. It represents the end of an era and is a design classic.

7. Wearable technology – in 2011 Brother began to blur the lines between reality and digital display with the first-generation AiRScouter model, bringing visual information into the line of sight

8. Sporting reflection – between 1987 and 1999, Brother was the sponsor of Manchester City Football Club, which was an important part of our European development. The kits featuring our logo will go down in sporting history

9.Faxing finesse – Brother ventured into the communications products market with its first brand thermal fax machine in Europe in 1988. With angular styling, the Fax-100 is a nostalgic example of 80s technology

10. Drones, AR and future technology – our third generation AiRScouter WD-300 makes it possible to oversee several tasks at the same time and is an effective tool for professional videographers and drone pilots. We think it has the potential to change the way people work and could become a classic example of wearable technology over time

At Brother, innovation is always front of mind. It’s how we’ve remained both “At your side” at home and in business throughout the decades with many historically and culturally significant products

Read more about Brother here.