Fellowes Brands celebrates its 100th anniversary this year with events and a look back on its long history. Founded in Chicago as a small specialist for archival boxes, Fellowes Brands has been an integral part of the global market leader in the office furniture industry. The family company celebrates this milestone with activities planned worldwide.
In Europe, Fellowes Brands has planned various events and initiatives for employees, customers and consumers throughout the year. The highlight for all Fellowes Europe employees will be a special birthday celebration in June, to which colleagues from all markets will meet to celebrate this unique milestone.
In May, Fellowes will be launching its largest pan-European cash-back promotion ever, with more than 50 products from a variety of product categories to celebrate its 100th anniversary, as well as boost consumer demand for Fellowes products from trading partners.
Fundraising activities are also planned at each Fellowes location in Europe to raise money for the GIVE Foundation and to return something to the voluntary activities of the local community. GIVE is the charity organization of Fellowes Brands, which is committed to building local and global partnerships and supporting people around the world. On the German site in Hanover, among other things, more than half of the workforce will be released for one day in May,
The jubilee activities are also used to recall the basic principles and values of Fellowes Brands, which began 100 years ago and still serve today as a basis for the mission and vision of the company.
The company began with a partnership of two dissimilar businessmen, Walter Nickel, a bank deposit boxer, and Harry Fellowes, a tailor-made banker. By chance, both worked in the same building in Chicago, and Harry was drawn to Walter's archive box business and showed interest in it. The partnership led to the founding of the Bankers Box Company and the beginning of a long-standing family business. The second generation of the Fellowes family entered the company during the global economic crisis in the 1930s. In the third Fellowes generation, the company has been run since the 1980s until July 2014, when the fourth generation took over. In Fellowes' 100-year history, two generations have usually run the company side by side. These are currently James Fellowes - grandson of Harry Fellowes - as non-executive chairman and John Fellowes II as CEO of the company.
