Special report: Huddersfield still a textile town
Jun 1 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner
“I don’t think that there are any wool scourers and combers still in business in the area, but loose stock, yarn and cloth dyers, woollen and worsted spinners, weavers and cloth finishers are still in production,” said Ian Baxter, a retired textile technologist and former HTS president.
“Many of them are equipped with very up-to-date machinery. Among these are the spinner of the world’s finest worsted yarn, two of the major carpet yarn spinners in the country, the European leader in upholstery cloth production and several manufacturers of the finest worsted cloth for which Huddersfield is known the world over.”
“Supporting these companies is an industry-owned training facility at the Textile Centre of Excellence (at Red Doles Lane, off Leeds Road).”
Mr Baxter said an important aspect of the surviving industry was that few of the companies were public. Most are family-owned or have been bought from larger companies by managers who have backed their expertise with their own money in management buy-outs.
“We believe the industry will continue to produce whatever textile products are needed in the future if it is given the slightest encouragement,” he said.
He’s hoping for a future government that will give textiles that encouragement.
Terms of the trade:
SCOURING: Washing raw wool to remove the grease and dirt.
CARDING: Straightening and separating wool fibres prior to spinning. Similar to COMBING.
SPINNING: Pulling out the fibres and adding twist to make a continuous, strong thread.
WOOLLEN YARN: Yarn made by twisting wool, whose fibres lie in different directions.
WORSTED YARN: Yarn made from long wool, whose fibres lie parallel.
DYEING: Adding colour between any of the stages in wool processing.
KNITTING: Stretch fabric made from a single continuous yarn, knitted in interlocking loops.
WEAVING: Creating cloth from yarn. One set of threads, the warp, which runs the length of the piece, is interlaced at 90deg with another set of threads, the weft.
MENDING: Woven cloth may have faults. These have to be
FINISHING: Woven cloth is stabilised by wet and dry processes to set it.
TENTERING: Stretching woven fabric to dry during finishing.
FULLING: The thickening and cleaning of newly woven cloth in woollen processing.
TEASELS: Used to raise the surface, or nap, of woven cloth.
FELT: Made by intermingling wool fibres and compressing them into a sheet.
(Courtesy of the British Wool Marketing Board)
