Ultima Company History

Origins

The origins of Ultima go back to the very end of the 19th century when it's parent company was founded in 1899 in London to manufacture a wide range of high quality leather items for the sports industry. The products initially were very varied and included racquet grips for tennis, squash and badminton racquets but also included many other more obscure items like pockets for billiard tables.

Initially the company purchased skins and finished them but in 1922 a tannery was purchased in Bingly in Yorkshire giving the company control of the quality process from beginning to end while the finishing was all still undertaken at the London Factory.

Anyone for Tennis?

In the 1920's there were over three hundred manufacturers of tennis racquets in the UK and to satisfy their needs in 1932, the company began producing natural tennis gut which rapidly became a significant part of the business, supplying strings to all major brand names in the UK and Europe.

The company also developed and patented the process of manufacture of multi coloured tape known as 'Spectrum Tape' used on tennis racquets to give both decoration and identify the products with the house colour of the racquet maker.

Into the line business

Around the end the second World War, Nylon was invented by Dupont in the USA and the company began supplying Nylon monofilament to its customers for use as tennis strings. Soon other uses for this remarkable new product soon became apparent and diversification followed rapidly into other areas the most significant of which were fishing line and fishing nets.

A separate sport fishing tackle division was established that in addition to fishing line also diversified into the manufacture and distribution of a wide range of fishing tackle products. Over the next twenty to thirty years the sport fishing side of the company grew to make up over 50% of total group turnover.

A Change of Focus

The entry of Dunlop into the tennis market in the 1950's was initially good for the company with the significant growth of a major customer but Dunlop moved its sourcing to asia and within 5 years it's customer base of tennis British racquet manufacturers had been decimated to only six. Things on the leather side did not improve either. in the early 1960’s, with the advent of the Rubber Golf Grip developed by the Avon Rubber company, demand for leather golf grips was curtailed almost overnight as the club manufacturers switched to rubber grips not because they were better or cheaper, but because of the saving in time and cost to fit them.

However, this demise of the leather division of the company was more than outstripped by the increase in business coming from the monofilament and sport fishing markets. By 1970 the company was selling the majority of monofilament in the UK including the most popular brand at that time Bayer Perlon, while the wholesale division became one of the major national distributors of fishing tackle in the UK.

In 1972 leather production stopped in Yorkshire and the finishing was moved from London with skins now being brought in from other suppliers.

Market Changes

Through the 1970's and 80's the fishing line side of the business grew significantly as did the commercial fishing side of the business for long line fishing and fishing nets as well technical industry and agriculture.

Changes in the fishing tackle industry during the late 1980's led to the disappearance of most National wholesalers, and this side of the operation was gradually wound down during the 1990's until by 1995 the company was totally focused on monofilament.

Ultima

The desire to lead the field in Sport fishing line lead to the creation of Ultima as a separate brand in 1990. Prior to 1986 fishing line quality had been static almost since it's invention 40 years earlier. The first high tech line, Ultima Xtra had shown what new polymer technology could do. Now it was realised that with the rapid advance of technology a new approach to fishing line development would be needed. Ultima was established as a separate entity totally dedicated to producing the best fishing line products possible. Over the next few years a range of specialised fishing line products was developed that began to push the performance levels of fishing line beyond what was ever thought possible. This desire to innovate and to be the best has been the driving force behind the company philosophy ever since.

Into the 21st Century

The millennium was a significant point for the company. Not only one Hundred years in the business but international expansion with a continental office opening in 2000 mainly to deal with the commercial business in Horticulture and Agriculture, but also to provide a convenient central point for contact with its major Continental Customers. Also In 2000 a much larger factory was purchased in the UK of 22,000 square feet enabling all production and finishing to be consolidated in one place.

Today Ultima specialises totally in the design, manufacture, and distribution of all types of monofilaments for sport fishing and the only company totally dedicated to this in the UK. The company also supplies braided products from materials like Dyneema and Dacron for numerous purposes.

Today the company’s policy centers around technological development pushing product performance, quality and reliability of our products to higher and higher levels as well as an unequalled levels of customer service.

A very significant Research and Development budget ensures that Ultima products are at the cutting edge of design. The company is proud that it can still do this as a British manufacturer and produce products that are the best in the world.

Ultima International

2007