Coventry job losses as Cash's goes into administration

A firm which made name tags for school uniforms for 160 years has gone into administration.

Fifty people have lost their jobs after Cash's, Coventry's oldest remaining weaving business, shut.

The company said it had suffered "significant cash flow problems" for a number of years.

Established in 1846, Cash's employed a total of 58 people in Torrington Avenue and was once England's leading silk ribbon manufacturer.

It has been in business for more than 160 years, run by parent company Composite Materials Technology Limited, and was appointed manufacturer to the Queen in 1964.

Fran Daly, who worked at Cash's in the 1960s and 70s, said: "It was a delightful place to work, everyone got on really well.

"It's a shame, it was a wonderful British family company, but I'm not surprised.

"Cash's was the best quality but it was a lot of work and expensive so difficult for them to compete with name pens and stickers that can be made much cheaper."

Huw Jones, from The Herbert art gallery and museum, said: "Coventry had a huge ribbon weaving industry, particularly in the 18th and 19th Centuries and over half the population of Coventry was employed in ribbon weaving.

"Cash's was the company that survived and from the 1960s was the one company left that kept that tradition going. Historically it's important as the last vestige of ribbon weaving in the city."

Dr Christian Stadler, from Warwick Business School, said: "The problem with the garment industry is competition from Asia in recent years, offering prices that are impossible for European manufacturers to match."

He speculated that a Chinese company could be interested in taking over the firm for "access to its brand, tradition and expertise".

Joint administrator Will Wright, from KPMG, said the business was "profitable historically" but had problems as a result of a "substantial deficit" in its pension scheme.

He said the firm was seeking a buyer for the business and its assets.