Fruits of the loom

This year officially marks the bicentenary of the Luddite movement in the West Riding of Yorkshire. In 1812, the area around Huddersfield saw probably the worst violence, with pitched battles between skilled croppers, under threat from new mechanised technology and textile mill owners backed by government forces.

Although clearly a fraught period, industrialisation actually led to Huddersfield becoming globally renowned for its woollen cloth, bringing prosperity to the whole region.

Nothing lasts forever, though, and the last big mills shut down in the mid-20th century as bulk production moved to India and the Far East.

But in that continual spirit of rebirth, some of it survived. In a marketplace dominated by the new manufacturing superpowers, it  was forced to adapt and carved out a niche producing the very highest-quality fabrics and pioneering new technologies in textile manufacture.

Recognising the growing potential in high-end products, West Yorkshire’s textile bosses came together in 1999 to establish the Textile Centre of Excellence in Huddersfield, with a broad remit.