Taylor and Lodge make cloth fit for a king

A HUDDERSFIELD textile company has woven a cloth fit for a king ... and a queen.

Taylor and Lodge – one of the town’s oldest textile firms – has just completed work on two 50 metres lengths of cloth for Prince William and his new bride.

The company has been commissioned by Australian Wool Innovation, a group of Aussie wool producers. A hundred of them got together and gave wool from their finest merino sheep.

They then asked the English company to make the raw wool into two top quality bolts of cloth which will be made into suits and presented as wedding gifts to William and Kate.

The process began six weeks ago when the raw wool arrived at Taylor and Lodge’s head office at Bulmer and Lumb in Bradford. There the wool was dyed, combed and spun before being sent on to Huddersfield for the all-important weaving process.

This has been done and the company, based at Rashcliffe Mills, Folly Hall, is now ready to forward the precious cloth on to Holmfirth Dyers for finishing.

The two lengths of luxurious worsted – a grey pinstripe for Prince William and a plain grey flannel for Kate – will then head down south to Royal tailors Anderson Sheppard in Savile Row, London.