Imperial Paints was founded in 1969 and has always been a brand aimed for direct sales to trade and end user customers. The initial sales that formed the creation of the Imperial Paints brand was the need to supply its own painting contracting and application teams that did work for the Public Works Department and the old Transvaal Provincial Administration buildings. From this Imperial Paints has always has a close link to the application side of the paint industry and understands the unique challenges and obstacles faced by the application trade. The Imperial brand is synonymous with high quality architectural and industrial coatings sold from the factory to give high volume paint users and contactors the ability to access products, support and advice directly with no middleman. The Imperial brand has a long history and reputation supplying paint products to projects for “blue-chip” properties redecoration and original construction.

Imperial paints was absorbed into Mylaw Chemical and Coatings in 1992 along with a second retail orientated brand Excelsior Paints. The amalgamation allows Mylaw Chemicals two brands of paint products designed for distribution though two very different channels and to cater for the specific needs of each. Mylaw Chemicals has been a family business for more than 80 years. Based in Johannesburg, the company has grown with the city of gold and Gauteng – the commercial and manufacturing powerhouse of South Africa. Its success is mirrored in its status as the oldest, premier, independently-owned paint company in South Africa. The company is proud to be 100% South African.

Independence means that Mylaw Chemicals and Coatings led by CEO, Ron Lawson, is able to move quickly and efficiently to meet market trends in the coatings sector. Son, Guy Lawson, as General Manager keeps an uncompromising eye on his production and quality team, and interacts with the sales team and the customer base. Behind the scenes, daughter Kim steers the finances and administration. It is a team that, besides sharing family ties, has been totally dedicated to building a legacy that all can be proud of.

Building a legacy, however, does not mean favouring tradition over that of business growth. Tradition, rightly at Mylaw, is regarded as a foundation that takes the base values of commitment, quality and continuity into the future of Imperial Paints.
Mylaw Chemicals and Coatings is therefore a business that has not allowed tradition to stifle growth, but has used tradition to help grow capacity, outputs and entry into new markets.

The Mylaw Chemicals and Coatings of today is a company that proudly produces more than 1 500 000 litres a month of decorative and industrial paint in its two manufacturing facilities and which distributes this quality paint every working day through a nationwide distribution operation that is supported by warehousing facilities in Cape Town, Pinetown in KwaZulu Natal and East London in the Eastern Cape;
That has surpassed the SABS rating for its Premium Range of water and solvent-based products. The Premium Range and many of its other paints also exceed international quality requirements;

A standard Imperial paints guarantee on all its paint products; and has its own world class Quality control and Research and Development laboratories where product consistency is monitored and maintained. Retained samples of each batch are also stored in the laboratory for 12 months for reference purpose and accurate standards are retained to ensure that previous paint performance characteristics are matched.

Identifying and adopting global trends…..

Ensuring that products stay relevant and that Imperial paints continually offer buyers paint products that are ‘on trend’ is a major challenge.

Imperial Paints is one of more than 55 independent paint manufacturers, drawn from 14 countries, who are members of the American ‘Color Guild’.

This international body is dedicated to the promotion, marketing and selling of paint products. To its members it is a valuable source of information and expertise on colours and coatings.

Color Guild colourists separate ‘coating fads’ from ‘coating facts’. They have an impressive record of being able to predict and present members with information regarding colour trends 12 to 18 months before they occur. Members, their dealers and consumers stay ahead of the ever-changing colour curve. The search is always on for ‘The Next Big Colour’.

Most of the Guild’s offerings are based on the “Color Is” colour tint system that helps people to visually identify a colour palette of more than 1 300 colours.

Identifying trends correctly is one thing; conveying rich new colours to paint buyers is another. To ensure paint colours are reflected correctly on sales materials, Excelsior has partnered with Duha (Canada). These leaders in the industry supply point-of-sale marketing material, fan-decks, take-home colour chips and colour cards on an attractive retail display stand as part of the internationally recognised Color Is… system.