The period of de Bruyne's chairmanship was not without success. Swaine Adeney Brigg bought Herbert Johnson, the venerable firm of hatters of 38 New Bond Street in 1996. By that year the firm was making 2,500 briefcases a year; this was to be augmented with the acquisition of the luggage-making division of Papworth Industries, the manufacturing arm of Papworth Village Settlement near Cambridge in 1997. De Bruyne closed down the Great Chesterford factory and set up a new factory at Bar Hill to the north of Cambridge.