Textiles

Textiles were trumpeted at the Festival of Britain as a key British industry. In the fifties, mills were busy places.

Burtons made suits which were still worn by most men, even on the shop-floor, the British Shoe Corporation made shoes in workshops around the country, notably Northampton. Marks and Spencer worked closely with only UK suppliers.

Manmade fibres had taken a firm hold at the expense of cotton and wool; Courtaulds made Rayon and ICI Nylon.

Then comparative cost advantage drained the mass production of textiles overseas and British textile companies outsourced to India and China.

What was left were designers and a relatively good number of quality producers using natural fibres. We still have the designers and the skills for a vibrant textile sector.

Bucking the trend was designer Laura Ashley and her husband Bernard who produced clothing and soft furnishing in a style that resonated with many consumers.

The image is of a cotton mill in Cheshire later used by Courtaulds to manufacture industrial straps in manmade fibres.