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• 1960s +

  In 1969 during a trip to Sunderland whilst working in the family jewellery business Alan Moss struck up an acquaintance with a sales demonstrator who was promoting a new ironing board cover in Woolworth's.

  By coincidence both Alan Moss and the sales demonstrator were going to Glasgow the following week and arranged to meet there.

  During a dinner the demonstrator asked if Alan Moss knew anything about an old cleaning paste then made in Leeds. Knowing nothing about cleaners Alan Moss did promise to locate the firm, get a few samples and prices.

  On receipt of the samples the demonstrator was excited and suggested a business venture with both parties being partners, it was agreed! Immediately the demonstrator arranged a visit to Glasgow's largest department store where the manager on seeing a brief demonstration of the cleaning paste had no hesitation in placing a large order (on the promise of huge sales!) and allocating a prime location on the ground floor.

  Arrangements were made for Alan Moss to drive back to Leeds from Glasgow, fill his small Anglia van with stock of paste and on the following Monday the demonstrator would meet him at the store and start the new venture.

  An overnight round trip journey Glasgow-Leeds-Glasgow was made whereby the van was so loaded (not possible today) it nearly touched the floor. As Alan Moss arrived at the store, unloaded the van - the demonstrator was not to be seen.

  Thinking his train was late, a type of display was set up but by the end of the day the demonstrator was not to be seen and never came.

  Having spent all his money on stock of a product he knew absolutely nothing about Alan read the information printed on the tin cans went to a local scrap yard for an old oven top, rusty chrome and other items and began showing people what the product did. To make the oven dirty Alan tried mixing gravy and water but when dry it could be blown away.

  Undeterred Alan tried hard, sold some but not enough product to keep the store manager satisfied especially after being told what a great selling product he was getting. The manager then said if sales in the next 5 days didn't greatly increase he would close down the promotion.

  After another few days of very modest sales despite great effort, a lady dressed in fur, bright lipstick obviously eccentric came ad asked who Alan was and at the same time left a card with her husbands name and phone number telling Alan he must call her husband known as Plymouth Joe!

  Thinking the lady was just an eccentric Alan carried on with sinking results but after 2 days a larger than life character arrived at the stand asking why Alan had not called him (an excuse was made that the card with his name and number was lost) Plymouth Joe then called a man known as Taffy who came to the store and began demonstrating where clearly he was a superb and experienced demonstrator.

  Taffy brought the correct props and sales rocketed, so much that after the next 2 days the store manager asked if the promotion could continue for another 2 weeks, ordering much more stock.

  It became apparent that a tough grease remover like cleaning paste was popular with many and much sought after. Within a few months many leading department stores including Selfrdges in London were booked, other demonstrators were trained and sales grew and grew. Another great medium was booking space in consumer exhibitions and agricultural shows throughout the UK.

  Alan now had a thriving business when a bomb shell dropped. The company producing this item which although somewhat gritty and abrasive, suddenly stopped producing it. By now Alan had better knowledge of cleaners and especially cleaning paste he decided to greatly improve the formula and packaging. A person who owned a product perfectly fitting the bill was contacted and bought out by Alan, sales now really moved forward with the years highlight being a prominent stand in the Daily Mail Ideal Homes exhibition. Here continuous demonstrations were conducted to an audience of over 1 million people with huge sales being enjoyed.

• 1970s +

  Such was the profile that foreign customers began contacting Alan's company enquiring about buying the product for sales in their country. In 1976 Alan took the initiative in booking a number of consumer events in the USA

  Alas! A disaster was experienced culminating in losses which without a considerate bank manager would have proved fatal. The wrong type of events were booked in the wrong location.

  During the pilot venture in the USA it was obvious what was wrong, not being deterred Alan made further plans where eventually sales in the USA proved hugely profitable The company's leading brand name then was 'KLIN' and is still supplied. In around 1979 an American person visited the company in Leeds and ordered a large quantity of tubs of cleaning paste. This person was President of a large US appliance manufacturer and said that the cleaning paste was the best item he had ever used to clean stainless steel cookware.

  Unfortunately the name KLIN could not be registered in the USA so the importing company had a marketing meeting and came up with an exciting new name which was registered initially in the USA that of 'Astonish'.

• 1980s +

  In the 1980's and 1990's sales continued to grow, customers visiting Alan's office were impressed with the display of tins bearing the brand name Astonish, eventually the USA customer agreed to sell the rights of the brand for Europe and eventually agreed to accept an offer from Alan to buy outright the brand name Astonish for all markets.

• 1990s +

  By the early 1990's the business only supplied 3 items, cleaning paste, cleaning cream and stain remover bar but Alan was approached to handle a revolutionary type of feather duster made from Polypropolene. At the time this item was sensational, every piece bought waqs immediately sold, Astonish as a brand was given higher prominence so by the mid-1990's a chemist was hired to formulate new and innovative cleaning products.

  By the late 1990's the company had the services of 3 chemists and were seriously engaged in research and development of exciting new cleaners including Car cleaning products.

• 2000s +

  In 2000 new larger premises were sought and eventually the company's current Pudsey location was purchased. By now Alan had ventured into trade exhibitions in numerous countries including over the years, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Holland, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, USA, China, Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Japan.

  To exhibit household and automotive cleaners in exhibitions so far away was considered a foolhardy move but the end results were customers worldwide many of whom have distributed Astonish for many years in their countries. In some countries Astonish is a household brand.

  Finally Alan's son, Howard who has worked in the business since leaving university has assumed a leading position and currently handles the day to day running of the business where sales are continuing to grow, even in the current recession they are 15% ahead of the previous year.

• 2010s +

  New product launches and a new television advertising campaign dawned in 2010.

  June 2010...ASTONISHING NEW HOME!!!!!
  During June 2010 we moved into a brand new Head Office, manufacturing site - as well as warehouse & distribution unit. All eras were purpose built to our exact requirements... with a huge 60,000 sq ft in space, reaching to am enormous 12.8M in roof height throughout!! The relocation proved to be a huge step in our development as a business, along with a financial investment of some £5 million. With the benefit of the very latest in manufacturing processes/equipment, the space required for logistics... our new home should see us through the next 10 years at least!!