Kimbolton Fireworks 2021

A look at Kimbolton's 2021 retail fireworks brochure

To say I have been a long term user of Kimbolton’s gear – as an end consumer that is – is an understatement. It wasn’t long after my maiden back garden display in 1997 that I started to use KF’s fireworks, first drawn towards great value fountains like Glittering Gemstones and later to their bigger cakes. I remember the latter wowing audiences at demo nights in the 2000s, barrages like Red Glistening Stars and Lake Of Sapphires creating effects previously unseen in consumer fireworks.

So when I came across their new 2021 brochure I was very excited to read and then share this with you all. Kimbolton is now part of Phoenix Fireworks and thank you to the team there for giving me permission to do this.

Note: This is a brochure intended for retailers so the scans and video do not contain final selling prices to consumers. However in my video below, I do read both RRPs (recommended retail prices) and SSPs (suggested selling prices) from their price list so you can get an idea of what each product will cost. If you are a retailer and need trade prices or terms however, you will need to contact Kimbolton directly for these.

Price rises and availability woes

At the time of writing there has been a lot of discussion in the trade about potential big price rises in 2021. This has been driven by many factors, the main one being shipping costs trebling in some cases.

However another worry is availability. It seems that even getting hold of a container and a spare shipping slot has been proving difficult. Many importers are already withdrawing price lists and replacing them with new ones showing increased prices. And some are warning of shortages in their ranges.

From their covering letter:

You may have heard much about the increased difficulties of obtaining fireworks from China this year. It has become difficult to get crossings booked and containers supplied. We have so far secured over half the sailing required so feel confident about the supply; however, we are at the mercy of the world trade conditions.

Kimbolton Fireworks (covering letter)

Reducing plastic

Prior to seeing this brochure I’d already come across some boxed Kimbolton rocket packs at retailers and noted their labelling talking about reducing plastic. It’s great to see firework manufacturers doing this. Rockets contain plastic casings, plastic fuse covers and plastic launch tubes, so reducing any of this is a great step forward.

From their covering letter and also their brochure:

For this season we have continued to reduce the amount of plastic components within the range - our goal is to eliminate their use entirely.

Kimbolton Fireworks (covering letter)

We are working hard to remove the plastic from our rockets. We are pretty close, but refinements are still needed to go completely plastic free. However, we are pleased to be able to say that we have significantly reduced our plastic usage in our rockets. Note: The plastic caps in the photographs will be replaced by cardboard sleeves.

Kimbolton Fireworks Brochure (Page 6, Rocket Packs)

Kimbolton Fireworks brochure - in a video

In this video I take a look at this brochure page by page. I don’t read everything out word-for-word, instead leaving it up to the viewer to hit the pause button if they wish to read any of the main sections.

However I do read out the RRPs and SSPs from the price list for each item, so this video will be useful if you need to know any of these:

Kimbolton Fireworks brochure - page scans

If you prefer to read individual pages at your leisure, you can do so using this gallery of scanned pages. If the default viewing box that opens isn’t detailed enough to read the scans, try the magnify option, or, right click/tap on an image and open it in a new tab in your browser, which will open the image directly and in full:

Contacting Kimbolton Fireworks