Our Story

Rodo is a family business with strong family values and a streak of entrepreneurism that has run through its core for almost a century. This is the story that has made us who we are and Baratec products are a key part of that.

Humble Beginnings

Rodo traces its roots back to 1926, when Joseph Brierley formed the business in Ashton under Lyne in east Manchester, selling brushes and brooms to the textile trade for which Manchester had become famous. With just three employees it was a modest beginning, but Joseph’s determination and can-do philosophy saw trade thrive.

The 1930s saw Joseph’s son and brother join the business and, with the decline of the textile industry following WW2, Rodo looked for new opportunities to build on its brush-making pedigree. Joseph passed away in 1946, but his spirit of entrepreneurism was firmly ingrained into the business and Rodo spotted its next opportunity to diversify. The post war years saw a renaissance in interior design, with renewed demand for modern and adventurous colours and, together with advances in paint technology, a wider range of shades was available than ever before. Rodo moved into paint brushes, beginning its long history with decorating tools.

The rise and mass production of emulsion paints in the 1950s and 60s saw demand continue to grow and Rodo constantly added products to its decorating catalogue, supplying more and more of their customers’ product ranges. At the same time, the Brierleys had seen an opportunity for supplying industrial clothing and were quietly building up knowledge of textile production that would serve the business well in the decades to come.

Heading East

The third generation of the family came on board in the early 1970s, and in 1980 Rodo bought larger premises to keep up with the growth of a business that now included paint rollers, tools and dust sheets. Recognising the potential of a rapidly industrialising Far East, Rodo became the first decorating tools supplier to venture into China and forged relations with companies that were still in their infancy, balancing risk with calculated reward that new cost prices would bring new opportunities. It was a decision that paid off, and in less than 10 years growth was so fast that the business needed to relocate again. Trading with the Far East also brought opportunities to supply high visibility clothing and safety footwear, demand for which was starting to gather pace thanks to increasing health and safety legislation aimed at ensuring people could work more safely than ever before and which Rodo saw as another opportunity.

The Rise Of A New Division

After more than a decade of growth in the emergent PPE market, a period that also required the business to relocate yet again shortly after the turn of the millennium, in 2005 Rodo expanded its safety footwear and hi-vis product ranges and brought them together with a range of workwear and protective equipment under the Blackrock brand. Rapid growth in safety footwear in particular over the next decade saw Rodo become a leading supplier in the corporate outfitting market, with a wide range of products and specifications all based around a single aim: to keep people safe as they work. With dedicated field and HQ-based salesforces, the PPE division inherited the same entrepreneurial philosophy as the decorating tools division and the desire to seek the next opportunity to grow.

Rodo Today

The fourth generation of Brierley joined in 2012 and today, Rodo has over 150,000 square feet of space across two warehouses in east Manchester and employs almost 150 people. It is the UK and Ireland’s largest supplier of trade decorating tools and accessories, with a comprehensive one stop shop range through its ProDec and Fit For The Job brands, as well as own label. The Blackrock brand has established itself as a top-three supplier of safety footwear to the UK and Irish markets, supplying almost a million pairs every year and supported by ever-growing ranges of hi-vis clothing and protective equipment.

Strong relationships with suppliers across the globe, together with Joseph Brierley’s can-do approach to business that started everything off in 1926, enable Rodo to offer its customers wide, diverse and competitively priced product ranges to help grow their businesses. Just as it was all those decades ago, product development remains at the heart of our business ethos, and the thrill we get from developing new products has never diminished from generation to generation.

This is our story, and our company values sum up everything you need to know about us in five words: Confident, Ambitious, Proud, Reliable, Caring.