Irving Brothers

IRVING BROTHERS, Portmanteau, Trunk, and Sample-Case Manufacturers, 86, Renfield Street ; and 48 to 52, Bath Street, Glasgow.

    The manufacture of Portmanteaus, Trunks, and Sample-Cases has been developed as one of the first and most important of Glasgow’s representative industries, and to this high commercial position few houses have more valuably contributed than that now carried on at the above address by Messrs. Irving Brothers. This well-known and influential firm first commenced business in Glasgow, about thirty years ago, at 157, Buchanan Street, and, during the first ten years, the work and trade of the house became so extended that it was found necessary to remove to the present very favourable location at the corner of Renfield and Bath Streets ; and, since then, the premises of the firm have become a familiar and attractive feature of this busy locality.

    They occupy a most commanding position at the north-east corner of Renfield Street, and their exceptionally fine appearance is greatly enhanced by the immense frontage of plate glass, which enables the whole branches of the firm’s manufactures to be displayed under the most advantageous conditions. The workshops, wherein a number of first-rate practical hands are employed, are in the basement, and are of the same dimensions as the warehouse, being equally well lighted from the street. Here may be observed the scrutinous and careful methods under which all matters of detail are arranged and carried out.

    Messrs. Irving Brothers here enter comprehensively upon the manufacture of Portmanteaus, Trunks, and Sample-Cases, with all the accessories relative to a complete travelling equipment. The firm have popularised many admirable styles both in hand bags and overland trunks ; and the main essentials of solidity and sound finish have been only secured by the employment of first-class trade experts. The outstanding feature of Messrs. Irving’s manufactures is their absolute utility and convenience, and this is, perhaps, eminently endorsed in their foreign travelling trunks, which they make largely, and which find their way to all parts of the world. The necessity for security of valuables is well considered both in the locking and arrangement of straps, etc. Among commercial men all over Glasgow, Messrs. Irving’s Sample-Cases command a favour in every degree equal to their merits, and for the excellence of these alone few firms are better known or more extensively patronised.

As a tribute to this firm’s enterprise and to the individual exertions of its principals, it is necessary to say that they have introduced and adopted many valuable features in the trade they so well exemplify, and have been rewarded by a support not common to all Glasgow firms, and by a trade whose limits are widespread and unconfined.

Back to Index of Firms (1891)