Established in 1970 Pledge Office Chairs have remained one of the UK's leading office seating manufacturers.
DAVID E CARTER, FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR
David’s introduction to the seating industry began with Trueform Posture Chairs, where he started on £15.00 per week, plus £3.50 a week for a car and 1¼ per cent commission. Armed with a buyer’s guide, he quickly set to work. A typical day would see David arriving in Ipswich for 8:30am and gradually working his way home towards Hemel Hempstead.
He would open an average of six new accounts every day, and within two months the factory could no longer keep up with the orders he had sold. Looking back, David often put his early success down to the confidence of youth.
He didn’t make appointments and had no brochures – just a sample chair and the determination to succeed.Before long,
David became General Manager and ran the company before his bosses eventually split up. It was then that he decided to have a go at building a business of his own.
With two young children and very little money, David approached the bank for a loan. The bank manager wanted security and suggested that he put up his house. David decided against it.
Despite receiving a number of other offers, he turned them down, determined to do it on his own. David told suppliers that although he had no money, he planned to manufacture 15,000 chairs in his first year. His approach was simple: deal only with customers who could pay within 7–30 days and use those payments to pay suppliers back-to-back. The suppliers put their faith in him and agreed.
David founded Pledge in May 1970 from a small unit in Leighton Buzzard. At the time, many warned him, “Don’t start now!” – it was the era of Ted Heath and widespread industrial strikes.
Despite those warnings, David sold 15,000 chairs within the first nine months. Everything was fabricated in-house – from the base, column and mechanism to the plate and back bar.
The team carried out all the welding, while David’s wife, Doreen, did all the sewing. More than 50 years later, the company David founded remains based in Leighton Buzzard. From those beginnings in a small unit, Pledge grew into a significantly larger manufacturing operation, producing far more than the 15,000 chairs David originally set out to make in his first year.
David’s entrepreneurial spirit, determination and belief in British manufacturing helped shape Pledge into the company it is today, leaving a lasting legacy for the business, its people and the seating industry.
1970
Pledge Office Chairs was established in May 1970 by David Carter to specialise in the production of swivel adjustable office seating from a two story, 180 m2 building. Employing just ten personnel, David was the only salesman and ran the factory.
"The first order was from a company called Hoggs; they immediately sent me an order to my home for 24 chairs. More orders followed with a second from M.Margolis Ltd"
- David Carter
1976
Pledge were the first UK company to standardise the use of a locking gas seat height adjustment in swivel chairs using the Suspa gas lifts, within three years Pledge were using in excess of 10,000 gas units per month.
Expansion required another move to larger premises of 2,200 m² with a new engineering department which Included robotic welding, automated saw cutting and powder paint plant.
The workforce grew to 70 employees.
1980
Pledge partner German company Grammer and produce a range of chairs by American designer Charles Chuck Pelly.
The range of seating was developed and produced to meet modern, ergonomically perfect seating systems. Seating systems which help sitting people stay fit and are successful across many applications. Many different variants were produced across the range to accommodate different uses and environments.
1982
New revolutionary tilting chair mechanism designed by David Carter named the Levermatic. Allowing the chair seat height and back angle and height to be adjusted in a seated position by levers on the side of the chair. The mechanism was further developed to offer independent seat and back adjustment with body weight tension control, the new mechanism was called The Trimatic. Worldwide patents registered.
Exhibited at the NEC
1991
Moved to the present site in 1991. With over 14,000 m² of manufacturing area on a self-contained 9-acre site, Pledge have the ideal manufacturing facility to expand for future capacity.
160 employees
2004
Pledge produce the Supporto chair for Ercol.
The iconic System Supporto was designed by Fredrick Scott, winner of many awards in 1991 the International Federation of Architects voted the Supporto chair "the chair that most influenced modern office seating". It is one of the first office chairs to be designed to strict ergonomic principles.
2006
Pledge is tasked with producing HMS Royal Navy Warship Operations Room Chairs, tooling the steel base and adjustable chair frame. Chairs are upholstered in accordance with windowless environment fire regulations.
2007
Pledge is given the project of converting Concorde passenger seats into swivel chairs to be used by British Airways
2012
Pledge are proud to supply CISCO the seating for their hospitality suite at the London 2012 Olympics.
2015
London showroom opens in Great Sutton Street, Clerkenwell
2025
London showroom development begins in Clerkenwell Green.
