Cherry Blossom polish

Cherry Blossom polish has been in continuous production since 1903. Along with Kiwi, Cherry Blossom is the most recognised boot and shoe polish brand name across the world.

Its manufacturers created the product from scratch and their history was in soap manufacturing, not boot blacking. Still, a good product and comprehensive marketing catapulted the product to success, seeing off multiple company name changes and owners and is still to this day as strong a brand as it ever was – despite the oddity of cherry blossom of the product name never being illustrated on the tin lids!

The present brand owners, the only UK shoe polish manufacturer left, continue the product development, marketing and innovation started by the Mason family 100 years ago.

More information about the Cherry Blossom story here: The Cherry Blossom Story

Photos: David Pratt
This small 55mm diameter tin, printed in black, red and green on a white ground, still has its contents (protected by a foil seal) – a soft creamy wax not unlike petroleum jelly, with a strong petrol/turps odour. No wonder it cautions ‘keep away from fire’!

Photo: David Pratt
This small 55mm diameter tin is printed in brown, black and green on a silver ground. It also sports the butterfly twist off lid.

Photo: David Pratt
This 65mm diameter tin is printed in red, green and black on a cream ground. It has no butterfly twist but a small ‘lip’ bent out from the lid itself which can be used to pry off the lid.

This Indian made Cherry Blossom product was made post-1938.

Photo: David Pratt
A small 54mm diameter tin printed in blue and red on a white ground.

Photos: David Pratt
This 72mm tin, printed in green, black and red on a white ground and a lacquer top coat, has a rolled edge lid and butterfly opener.

Photo: David Pratt
This 60mm tin has a large 2cm depth, is printed in red and blue on a white ground and a lacquer top coat, and sports the butterfly opener.

Photos: David Pratt
This 72mm tin, printed in green, black and red on a white ground and a lacquer top coat, has a rolled edge lid and butterfly opener. Contents are still soft enough to use! A small “Reg’d” mark has appeared for the design.

Photo: David Pratt
This large 72mm printed in just green and red on a white ground (over printing green on red to get a dark outlining and half-toning red for shading on leaf colour) features the butterfly twist off lid. This sort of packaging design persisted into WWII. Note the Cherry Blossom brand name is now set in straight lines, not the arched of previous design tins.

Photo: David Pratt
This “No 2 size” 60mm tin is printed in black, green and red on a white ground and features the butterfly twist off lid. This sort of packaging design persisted into WWII.

Photo: David Pratt
This 72mm tin, printed in purple-brown and green on a white ground, complete with a butterfly opener.

Photo: David Pratt
This 65mm tin, printed in brown on a grey ground, does not have a butterfly opener.

Photo: David Pratt
This 75mm diameter “No 3 size” tin, printed in black on a white ground, does not have a butterfly opener.

Photo: David Pratt
This 60mm tim is printed in blue, red and green on a white ground and features the butterfly opener. The product is described as ‘shoe polish’ rather than ‘boot polish’ – a practice observed by all manufacturers after WWII.

Photo: David Pratt
A 72mm diameter tin with butterfly opener printed in red, white, green, black and orange. This tin is of 1970’s or early 1980’s vintage.

Photo: David Pratt
Post-1985 but pre-1991 50ml tin of Cherry Blossom traditional shoe polish in dark tan. (Uses the E mark and an EAN8 barcode).
The tin reverse carries the ‘by appointment’ mark and states ‘Manufactured by Reckitt & Colman, England HU8 8DF’

Photo: David Pratt
This was the last redesign of the Cherry Blossom brand before Reckitt Household Products sold off the shoe care division to Sara Lee, and described as ‘made in Britain’. They dispensed with the ‘blossom’ and chose to go with just the word Cherry to identify the brand, although Cherry Blossom is on the side of the tin. Reckitts held both the names Cherry and Cherry Blossom as registered trade marks.

Photo: David Pratt
This tin, at first glance the same as the above, carries no ‘by appointment’ mark on the reverse but states ‘Made in England. Sara Lee | H & PC, Slough, SL1 4AU’. (H&PC being short for Household and Personal Care.) It has a later EAN13 barcode and the curiously outdated butterfly opener, abandoned by Cherry Blossom in 1983. This product would have been made in the brief 1991 to 1994 period that Sara Lee held the brand name and made in 1992-94 at the Yorkshire-based K&M Candles factory on the same lines that Kiwi shoe polish was made.

Photo: David Pratt
A 50ml tin of Cherry Blossom’s current (2010) ‘traditional’ shoe polish range with silver and black tin and full colour lid label.

Photo: David Pratt
This rather delightful ‘retro’ design of tin (shown on top of original) was made by the current owners of Cherry Blossom – Granger’s International Ltd. It reproduces the monochrome lid design of old along with some faux ageing. The tin, however, is thoroughly modern using the latest ‘press to open’ design, contains the usual 50ml of black shoe polish and bears the barcode, website address and statutory safety notices on the reverse.

Photo: David Pratt

Photo: David Pratt
Some of the current 2013 tin designs of the ‘Premium’ polish traditional paste polish (complete with green flash advertising Carnauba Wax content) – “shines, nourishes and protects” – along with a ‘Premium’ renovating shoe polish that has a higher pigment content – “cleans, covers scuffs and protects”.