History

Juan Bautista Barrios Ascorbe founded Guantes Juba as a section of a leather factory set up by his father, Manuel Barrios, specialised at the time in making leather seat covers for agricultural use. It began making ambidextrous gloves in a variety of tanned suede, particularly intended for heavy industry and mining applications in the North of Spain. Back in those days, it was making inroads into the automotive sector as suppliers to the first automotive factories setting up in Spain such as Renault or Seat.

Using the family tannery, manufacturing began on chrome tanned suede and they joined the Iberian market with the first American cut gloves or welders gloves that became popular for a wide range of applications. JUBA® became increasingly well-known in the industrial sector as the first firm that advertised its products in the specialist industrial magazines.

This decade's two major milestones were the move to the new plant on Carretera de Logroño in Santo Domingo de la Calzada in 1972, where production capacity was extended, and the launch of the first driving gloves on the Iberian market that really began to make a name for the brand. In the late 70s, the brand was well known nationally and began exporting to France and Portugal. The tanning factory was integrated into the facility at this point so that all processes took place on the same site, specialising in manufacturing leather for industrial gloves and going so far as to supply prestigious French manufacturers. In those days, importing Chinese gloves had only just begun, making an American cut model popular. The company was the top Iberian Peninsula importer of industrial leather gloves.

The eighties were transition years towards the company's own manufacturing model plus extending the range of gloves imported from Asia. Manufacturing work gloves is labour-intensive and the industry suffered the ups and downs of incipient globalisation as Spain joined the European Economic Community. Those days saw the introduction of the first strengthened American cut glove with the TUFF TORO® brand that represented a milestone in national industry.

This was an intense decade with massive expansion for the firm. In 1992, the second generation of the family took over and production was rationalised. The tanning factory was closed and agreements were sought with the main glove distribution firms worldwide. Its quest for quality led the firm to become the first national company to certify its gloves with the CE marking after the European standard was introduced in 1995 for work gloves. The main milestones in this decade were intense range development, a joint venture in India to manufacture work gloves, the granting of a GORE-TEX® licence to manufacture fire-fighter gloves and sales of a range of protective clothing from 1996 onwards. The store was also extended twice to keep up with the strong sales growth over these years.

The new century marked the start of an era which embraced new glove manufacturing technology. There was a substantial increase in the seamless glove offer manufactured using knitting machines and special anti-shearing fibres were introduced. In 2006, the firm was awarded the licence for manufacturing and selling gloves manufactured with the Dyneema® fibre, allowing JUBA® to play in the top league for work glove manufacturing. These years saw sales bloom, particularly in the domestic market which benefited from business in the Iberian Peninsula. Exports to other countries took off with the company's own sales structure in the French and Portuguese markets.

International expansion and needs emerging in a new era led the family to negotiate its buy-out by the BUNZL Group - an English FTSE 100 company that has owned the group since May 2010. Joining a large group with PPE sales valued at over £720 million (2015) brings the advantage of being able to take on synergies that endorse the firm's expansion and professionalise its management. Despite the recession in the domestic market, these were years of plenty, entering new markets such as DIY and retail and clearly backing quality and range expansion. In Europe's more complex regulatory environment, the firm's bid for quality led to extending the laboratory and strengthening the quality team. The firm currently boasts a quality assurance system following the ISO 9001:2015 standard and an environmental management system under the ISO 14001:2015 standard.

Looking to the near future, the new digital environment is going to completely transform how the company interrelates with suppliers and customers. Talent management means that the JUBA® team is constantly evolving as it builds on the firm's history over the next few years.