The Towsure Catalogue - A History

In Towsure Outdoors Blog 0 comment

For decades, the Towsure catalogue has been the UK's popular annual guide to the newest and the best in towing, caravanning, camping and outdoor leisure equipment, showcasing the range available for the new caravan holiday season.

In a rapidly changing world, an annual printed catalogue can no longer keep pace with new innovations and product developments and for this reason, although a very big decision for us, we are not producing a new Towsure 2021 catalogue. New products are being added all of the time, even as of writing this piece, as the catalogue would normally have been finalised and back from the printers, even more new tents, awnings, bicycles, camping accessories and towbars are being developed, introduced and added, meaning that our traditional free catalogue can no longer carry all the year's products and stay up-to-date throughout the season.

Just as it has been for us, we know that the Towsure Catalogue has been a big part of your season and it's a wrench to see it go; however we felt that the time was right in 2021 to wave a fond farewell to the printed publication, with our website able to be up to date with the newest products, the latest and best prices and availability up to the minute. We continue to develop our website to make it easier to use and of course we retain our telephone sales line for those times when you want to speak to a real person before ordering.

The Towsure Catalogue over the years

In 1976, the first Towsure trailer parts list was produced, bringing mail order trailer parts to the UK, in the days when self-build trailers were a common sight all the necessary parts from chassis parts and suspension units for reclaimed vehicle hubs, hitches and more. Into the 1980's the price list evolved into a colour publication including towbars for all the most popular towcars of the era enabling caravanners to fit their own towbars from parts delivered to their door, and at the same time, choose from a range of essential accessories for their caravan with a range of caravan accessories and camping equipment. This range continued to expand through the 1990's to include more caravan and trailer security products, awnings for caravans, plus bicycles, cycle accessories and bicycle car racks for getting out on two wheels and exploring your holiday destination.

Towsure Trailer Components Price List 1978
Towsure Catalogue 1988
Towsure Catalogue 1993

Into the new millenium, the Towsure catalogue got a fresh new look to emphasise the increasing range of camping and outdoor adventure products on offer, with a growing selection of tents, camp beds and outdoor clothing, Towsure now being far more than a trailer warehouse, but of course not forgetting our roots, a full list of towbars, by now produced to the strict EC94/20 standards for towbar design and testing, together with an increasing selection of wiring kits for auto electrics that were growing in complexity. Throughout the decade, "Everything for the Great Outdoors" became what the Towsure catalogue was all about with a range for everyone. Our 2002 catalogue cover reflected the newly evolving way to shop, with a digital style menu of the time featuring on the front cover, emphasising the availability of our website for browsing and ordering

Towsure Trailer Components Price List 2000
Towsure Catalogue 2002
Towsure Catalogue 2004

From 2010 and beyond, the Towsure catalogue evolved formats to reflect the growing trends of the digital age, showcasing a range of products but with the website able to bring so much more to campers and caravanners - with much more both in range and available information available online than could be squeezed into a catalogue. As vehicle systems continued to develop, a range of dedicated wiring kits have been introduced to accompany a towbar, with specific kits for each vehicle that could not possibly be described in the paper format. New lines are added to our online catalogue all year round, rather than having to wait a year to be added to the latest issue, meaning that Towsure can bring the latest innovations - and the latest special offers - to you day by day. Our most recent catalogue was produced for the 2020 season which proved to be a memorable season in ways that we could never imagine - as we look forward to getting outdoors in 2021 our website - hosted on fully carbon neutral servers - showcases our entire range and product availability for a convenient way to browse, to shop for home delivery, or to reserve items to collect from one of our Towsure Stores

Towsure Trailer Components Price List 2010
Towsure Catalogue 2015
Towsure Catalogue 2020

Whilst we're no longer producing a catalogue for 2021, you can still keep in touch with all the latest news from Towsure by signing up to our newsletter, bringing the latest news, products and special offers to your email inbox - register for our newsletter online

As we look to the future and wonder what it brings, Towsure will, as always, be behind you all the way as we hope for health, good weather and great holidays ahead

Alan Hood

Staff Writer for Towsure. When not in the office, Alan enjoys exploring the Peak District and blogging walking routes. An occasional dog walker and slave to cats.

Related Articles