Building a tradition of quality service and support

For more than 70 years, Bristol Tape Corporation has been building a tradition of excellence as a family-owned tape converter. From our humble beginnings in a basement to now serving major OEMs and Fortune 500 companies, we’ve experienced significant change and growth over the years. But one thing has always stayed the same: our commitment to providing precision tape converting services with outstanding quality and support. Now in our fourth generation of family ownership, we’ve developed deep experience in not only converting services, but also the markets and applications our customers work in every day. We use that experience to innovate new solutions and deliver unparalleled value to our customers.

The early days

The company was founded in 1950 by business partners George Martin and David Howarth. At the time, Howarth was a salesman for Permacel Tape and the two saw a need for a small job shop to provide adhesive products to various manufacturers. They realized they could get at least one more roll of tape by lathe slitting the end rolls, or butt rolls, of tape and decided to buy the equipment and open up shop in Fall River, MA.

In the 1960s, Martin wanted to retire but none of his children were interested in continuing the business. So, his daughter, Geraldine (Gerry) Borden, and her husband, Malcolm ‘Mac’ Borden, purchased the company. To get out of the basement, the company moved to their first real facility in 1970-71.

David Borden and his brother Bruce started working for the company in the 1970s. During that time, the company was simply called Bristol Tape, until it was incorporated in 1975 and became Bristol Tape Corporation. The pair ran the business with their parents, who were still very much in control of the operation.

Growth and expansion

In 1987, the company built a new 16,000-square-foot building that would better suit expanding operations. We have been in our current location ever since.

The company grew from a two-man operation in the 1950s to about 25 employees in the 1980s. Today, we employ around 45 dedicated professionals who share our commitment to quality products and customer service.

In truth, the business hasn’t changed much since the early days. We still specialize in die cutting and slitting adhesive tape materials. But we’ve also expanded services to include labeling, sheeting, distribution services and more.

In the '80s and '90s, a majority of our business consisted of “tape and reel” projects, mainly producing semiconductor packaging. We’ve diversified since and now work with household name brands and some of the top OEMs in a wide range of industries, including industrial manufacturing, aerospace, appliances, consumer electronics, HVAC, medical and more.

“We haven’t really changed much,” Brent Borden said. “It's the business around us that’s changing, and we continually add new technology and processes to support that.”

In 2010, the company passed to the fourth generation and is now owned by Caryn Borden, Brent Borden and Bruce Borden.

Supporting our community

The company has never left Fall River, MA, and we are proud of our deep roots in this community. When we recently made the decision to build a new facility, which is currently under construction, we knew there was nowhere else we’d rather be.

“Since day one, we've always been in this city. So, we've been employing people here for almost 75 years,” Brent Borden said. “We value the people here and this is our home.”

The new facility will be located less than a mile from our current location, just on the other side of the business park.

Building toward the future

Our new facility will be roughly 35,000 square feet in size and provide the power and space we need to continue expanding our operations. Business has grown significantly in recent years, and we are excited for the future and all the great things to come. While we’ve experienced extraordinary growth since the early days, we have never forgotten our roots and the values that have made our business a success all these years.

“We’re proud to be a fourth-generation family business and we truly value the relationships we’ve built with our customers,” Brent Borden said. “We look forward to continued growth and finding new ways to support our customers so we can help them achieve their goals.”

To experience the difference a family-owned company with 70+ years of converting experience can make for your business, contact us today.