CELEBRATING75 YEARS

OF INNOVATIONIN OFFICE PRODUCTS

To find out more please visit www.rexeleurope.com

THE BEST £100 HE EVER SPENT George Drexler, founder of Rexel, was born in 1908 near Prague and arrived in England in 1935.

In 1939 he borrowed £100 to found his own company and Rexel was born. The company flourished, manufacturing in the UK and internationally, and grew quickly to employ over 1,000 workers.

at 75 – A brief historyREXEL IN 2014 Rexel branded ranges of shredders, filing products, staplers, punches, desk accessories, trimmers and guillotines are available in over 100 countries in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

2014 values remain true to the 1939 vision: to guarantee a wide range of well designed, top quality and innovative office products for workspaces. For now and future generations.

1939George Drexler founds Rexel in London,

United Kingdom

1945Introduction of Crystalfile® Classic

suspension files. Since then over 1 billion files have been sold

1956Launch of the iconic 56 Range®

of stapling products

1958Introduction of the ’Little Man’ logo – Rexel’s early symbol of

quality around the world

1960The Nyrex range of folders

and filing products launched

2007Introduction of the Rexel logo

as we know it today

2010New generation of Auto Feed

shredders introduced

2010Optima stapling range introduced -

designed to perform

2013Auto Feed shredders win EOPA 2013

‘Technology Product of the Year’ award

2013‘Built strong to last long’,

launch of the Advance filing range

2014Rexel celebrates its 75th anniversary of

innovation in office products

1968The manufacture of Ofrex and

Fordigraph shredders (later branded Rexel) begins in

Droitwich, United Kingdom

1970’s British Navy buys Ofrex shredders to destroy sensitive information

on war ships

2007Mercury™ Jam Free shredders

launched

199810 millionth Matador stapler

produced

1976 George Drexler is made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services

to Export

1972 HRH The Princess Anne opens Rexel’s new

factory at Llangeinor, United Kingdom

1992ACCO UK and Rexel merge to become

ACCO Europe

1986Rebranding to represent Rexel as a modern,

international and progressive company

To find out more please visit www.rexeleurope.com

ICONS OF AN ERA From the moment they were launched in 1956, the world fell in love with the 56 Range® of stapling products.

One staple size and 6 machines could do 91% of office jobs.

A simple concept with pioneering design, star quality and effortless good looks, the 56 Range® became instantly recognisable around the globe.

Stapling - 75 years of keeping it together

Easy Touch

2011

• The first known stapler was made for Louis XV in 18th century France. Each staple carried the royal insignia! • When George McGill patented the first commercially successful stapler in 1879, it weighed over 2.5 lbs (that’s well over a kilo).

In 2014 the Meteor and Matador weigh under 0.5 lb (just over 200 g).

Did you know?

21 ST CENTURY SUPERSTARSThe love affair is still going strong. In 1999 the 56 Range® was refreshed to include best-selling models: Meteor, Matador, Gazelle, Taurus, Gemini, Sirius and Aquarius, which are still available today.

In 2013, Rexel sold over 6.8 million packs of no. 56

staples, making them the best-selling Rexel staples across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Still an icon after 60 years, Bambi was the top selling stapler in 2013 with nearly 168,000 units sold annually across the same regions.

Bambi - 1960s

Pliers - 1970s

Punch - 1980s

HD Punch1960s

No. 56 staples

1956

Matador1970s

Matador2004

No. 56 staplers and

Bambi were the 2

best-selling products in 2013

Optima Range 2010

THEN

NOW

PUNCHING - THE OLD HEAVYWEIGHTS VS. THE NEW LIGHTWEIGHTSIn the 1960s this hardened heavyweight punch packed heavy duty steel cutters for up to 25 sheets.

No need for big muscles. Contemporary models are clean cut and lightweight, but pack a more powerful punch. Compared with the

HD Punch from the 60s, the Easy Touch range can punch up to 30 sheets with 50% less effort!

Matador1999

To find out more please visit www.rexeleurope.com

FILING B.C. (BEFORE COLOUR)In the grey days before Nyrex was invented, filing came in a very limited choice of colours. All files looked exactly the same.

1945 saw the birth of green Crystalfile® Classic - the vertical suspension filing system. Since then over 1 billion files have been sold worldwide. In 1960, Nyrex burst onto the

market, initially with the transparent plastic folders, and later with a whole series of bright colours in different materials and sizes.

Nyrex came out of the filing cabinet and into the boardroom with a whole range of folders for executives, conferences, sales presentations... and building sites.

The Nyrex and Crystalfile® Story – Taking control of paperwork

• Friedrich Soennecken from Germany patented the first ring binder in 1886.

• In 1871, the lever arch file was invented, also in Germany.

Did you know?

THE FUTURE IS… NOT PAPERLESS!For a long time, we have been told that the office of the future will be paperless. Believe it or not, this myth started in the 1970s, and gained credibility when desktop computers started to become universally available in the 1980s and 90s. We are still waiting. In the meantime, Rexel’s comprehensive range of filing and folders enables you to keep your ever-increasing mountain of paperwork under control. In 1992, the Crystalfile® family expanded

with the addition of polypropylene Crystalfile® Extra for added strength and functionality.

Rexel Reinforced Pockets were Rexel’s top-selling filing item in 2013.

Also in 2013, the Advance range was introduced – a premium range of filing and organising products that are built strong to last long.

Crystalfile® Classic - 1945

Advance - 2013

NOW

Rexel Reinforced Pockets

Best-selling filing product

in 2013Ring Binder - 1980s

THEN

Crystalfile® Extra - 1992Nyrex - 1960s

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HOW TO KEEP A SECRET

Versishred - 1970s

The Rexel shredding machine story began in Droitwich, UK in 1968, with the introduction of Versishred machines. The range included industrial models such as the Versishred Destroyer, along with executive and personal models.

The 1980s brought with it big hair, shoulder pads, and some seriously big machines for high-volume industrial applications. The focus on security levels was increasing, with 6 different strip cut sizes and 3 micro

cut sizes available though the range.

By 2000, the predecessors of the current range of Auto Feed shredders - (the Auto Plus range) were introduced. With the capacity of up to 500 sheets and key lockable top for extra security, the range was designed to cope with various types of documents and computer printouts.

Guarding information since 1968

Destroyer - 1980s

1980s/90s

Executive Shredders

THEN

NOW

Automatic

Shredder

World Leading Auto Feed Range

Mercury™ Jam Free

2007

• The first shredding machine was manufactured in Germany by Adolf Ehinger in 1934 and was inspired by a hand-cranked pasta maker.

• Data Protection Acts have been introduced in over 100 countries worldwide to regulate the secure handling and disposal of confidential information. Apart from legal implications, safe disposal of confidential data makes commercial sense. The message is clear – SHRED IT!

Did you know?

Destroyer1980s

DESIGNED FOR PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCYA new era dawned when the Mercury™ range was introduced in 2007. They were fitted with Anti-Jam technology to guarantee problem free shredding.

Then, with the launch of Auto+ 100X in 2010, the ‘Stack, Shut, Done’ revolution began. The new generation of Auto Feed shredders

proved to save up to a staggering 98% of time that is traditionally spent at a shredder*. The 2013 ‘Technology Product of the Year’ EOPA award at Paperworld Frankfurt (Germany) recognised the pioneering technology of the Auto Feed range and the massive benefit it provided to the user.

Throughout 2013, Auto+ 100X, 250X and 60X were not only Rexel’s top 3 selling shredder models in Europe, Middle East and Africa, but also the top 3 machines across the whole of France, Germany and United Kingdom in the B2B channel, beating all competitors**. By 2014 a further 10 models had

been added to the range, including 4 high security micro cut models, providing a complete shredding solution, with machines shredding from 60 to 750 sheets in one load.

HANDS FREE AUTO FEED

TECHNOLOGY

** Panelmarket France, Germany, United Kingdom, January 2014

JAM FREE TECHNOLOGY * Max. time-saving when using an Auto+ 500X compared to a traditional feed shredder in a

similar price level. Independent test from Intertek Testing & Certification Ltd June 2012.

To find out more please visit www.rexeleurope.com

1893Wilson Jones Company, the inventor of

the three ring binder, founded in Chicago (United States)

1903Clipper Manufacturing Company

established in Long Island, New York (United States) to

manufacture paper clips

1910Clipper Manufacturing Company

becomes American Clip Company

1992ACCO UK and Rexel merge to become ACCO Europe

1997ACCO Brands acquires

NOBO Group

2005ACCO merges with GBC to create

ACCO Brands, the world’s largest supplier of branded office products

1920American Clip Company

becomes ACCO

1923ACCO opens up a subsidiary in

Peterborough (United Kingdom), and begins its global distribution

1939Rexel founded in London (United Kingdom), initially to manufacture and supply stapling

products, and eventually also filing and shredding products

2012ACCO Brands merges with MeadWestvaco,

a leading manufacturer and marketer of school supplies, office products, and planning and organizing tools

ACCO Brands - History

ACCO Brands Corporation is the world’s largest supplier of branded office products. We are proud of our long history of industry leadership and innovation, and we are focused on delivering exceptional value for our customers by providing unique, cutting-edge, branded office products.

In our European markets, we are the brand leader in a broad range of product categories, holding the #1 or #2 position in shredding, stapling and punching, filing, binding and laminating, boards, easels and laptop physical security.

1954 Quartet founded in the United States and

goes on to become the world’s largest producer of whiteboards and noticeboards,

a position that it maintains today

1980Rexel acquires Derwent (The Cumberland Pencil Company), the first and now the last

pencil manufacturer in United Kingdom

1981Kensington founded in California

(United States) to specialise in products for an emerging

computer marketplace

www.rexeleurope.com www.gbceurope.com www.noboeurope.com www.kensington.com www.pencils.co.uk www.accobrands.com

1947 GBC founded in Chicago (United States)

to manufacture and sell binding and laminating solutions

1971NOBO founded in the United Kingdom to produce and distribute presentation

and projection products

For the last 75 years, Rexel has pioneered the world of office products. It would be impossible to sufficiently include all of the people, products, channel partners and organisations that have contributed to our success. However, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the

support and loyalty over the past 75 years.

Rexel as a brand looks forward in earnest to shaping the future of office products. One thing is certain – no matter how technology develops,

Rexel will be at the forefront; providing the finest, most efficient products to the trade and end users alike.