Brother Industries

Brother Industries is the maker people still think of for printers, multifunction machines, label printers and sewing machines, which is a very practical mix of office and household hardware. By our assessment, it is especially good at dependable, plain-vanilla devices that do the job without much drama, and that reputation is worth something in a category full of fiddly setups. The downside is that Brother rarely feels exciting: printers can involve cartridges, drivers and maintenance, and sewing machines are only as good as the time and patience you put in. In use, it is a brand of buttons, trays, spools and manuals, not software polish or luxury. It sits in the durable middle of office equipment and home craft tools, not at the flashy end of either market. Brother Industries is the sort of company people remember when they need a machine that prints, labels or stitches and then keeps going quietly.