Cath Kitson

Cath Kidston Ltd was first formed in the early 1990's, when designer Cath Kidston opened a small shop in Holland Park, in London. Cath Kidston began her business by selling the vintage-style wallpapers and fabric, and brightly-coloured junk furniture she remembered with fondness from her childhood. The clever re-designs of traditional English country-house styles soon propelled the business to great success.

Gradually, as business began to boom, Cath Kidston started designing her own prints and other products. One of the first of these original Cath Kidstone products was a printed ironing board cover, which was practical, quirky and showed off a distinctive floral print. This first design came to symbolise the Cath Kidston look. However, since those early days, the Cath Kidston product range has steadily expanded to include an extensive range of distinctive homewares, as well as women's fashion and accessories. In 2008 Cath Kidston also launched the Cath Kids brand, for children.

Besides its range of in-store locations and high-street stores Cath Kitson also produces the UK's best-loved mail order catalogues for the kitchen and home. Teh Cath Kitson catalogue can be requested free of charge from the Cath Kidston website. However, even if you wish to shop using the Cath Kitson catalogue, it always pays to check out the Cath Kitson website too, before you order, as you may find special deals not available in the catalogue.

Whether you happen to be looking for practical ideas or decorative inspiration, you will find everything you need at Cath Kitson. From kitchenwares and other homewares to great gift ideas, distinctive fashions, and gorgeous bags, Cath Kitson have literally hundreds of clever, unusual and attractive products, most of which you won't find in the high street (except in Cath Kidston, of course) and all of which are totally exclusive to Cath Kitson.

Over the years since the Cath Kidson business was first formed Cath Kidston high-profile collaborations have included creating tents with Milletts, Nokia mobile phones with Carphone Warehouse and collectible radios with Roberts. In 2008 Cath Kidston also collaborated with Tesco to produce printed eco-friendly shopping bags created from plastic bottles to raise funds for a cancer charity. The Cath Kidston eco-friendly bags raised over £400,000 for the Marie Curie charity and saved almost six million plastic bottles from ending up in landfills. Cath Kidston has also published four books; the most recent book, published in 2008, is called Make!

The Cath Kitson business has since expanded steadily over the past decade to become a unique global lifestyle brand. There are currently 26 Cath Kitson shops and concessions in the UK, two more shops in the Republic of Ireland and five Cath Kidston shops in Japan. The remarkably successful worldwide mail-order and wholesale divisions of Cath Kidston also continue to grow. Indeed, Cath Kidston Ltd is among the most original design companies to emerge from the UK retail sector in recent years and celebrated its 18th Birthday in October 2011.