Shann Australia has its origins in the 1950's with the late Frank O'Shannassy selling sewing threads from the family home. His staff consisted of his wife Barbara and their nine children. Through the years there were mergers with a zipper company and then an American corporation, with the O'Shannassy's retaining their shares in these ventures. Over this period the company kept expanding its product range and the trades to which it sold.

In 1987 the O'Shannassy family and some of the key executives purchased the company making it 100% Australian owned.