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The University of Leeds, inspired by the region’s rich textile heritage and supported by Arts Council England, have been holding a series of events around the theme of textiles.

Yorkshire company H. Dawson, leading players in the world wool supply trade, recently took a controlling share in Axminster Carpets. After checking out their ground breaking loom at the local museum, we dropped in at their factory for a chat.

Saturday 4th June 2016 was another great day at the ever growing and popular Woolfest at Armley Mills, Leeds Industrial Museum. A sunny day and all things woolly attracted a huge attendance and provided a perfect setting for a very successful event for the team at Armley Mills.

The team at Armley Mill, Leeds Industrial Museum working through their Christmas holidays to save exhibits from flood damage. The cleanup is now complete and the museum has reopened.

Yorkshire Textiles were pleased to be a partner at the Manufactured Yorkshire 2016 event. A diverse array of manufacturers from across the region filled the Centenary Pavilion at Elland Road in Leeds for the event on 11th May 2016.

Leeds celebrated International Women’s Day 2016 in style at the Town Hall with a programme of events around the achievements of women in the district, including a fashion show. Judith Blake, Leeds City Council’s first woman leader, hosted the day.

Yorkshire Textiles welcomes Historic England’s plans to help us by bringing more empty textile mills back into use across West Yorkshire.

Marks and Spencer, the official tailor to the England team, has chosen cloth woven by Alfred Brown Worsted Mills in Leeds for the England football team’s suits.

The iconic British company that kitted out Roald Amundsen and Ernest Shackleton plans to open a £50m weaving facility in Leeds so that it can treble production of its world-famous trench coats.

A warm welcome is being given to the MOBO awards being hosted in Leeds with a flat cap! Yorkshire Textiles in collaboration with Kempadoo Millar have created a limited edition cap to celebrate the event.

A unique project by Yorkshire Textiles and Leeds Industrial Museum breathes new life into a Burton’s classic. The 1945 demob suit (pictured) on display in the museum’s Tailoring Gallery is being recreated with a deluxe twist.

In partnership with Leeds Industrial Museum and designer Susan Gaunt, Yorkshire Textiles have brought a 1921 Hattersley Standard Loom back into service, at Leeds Industrial Museum, creating a training opportunity for Textiles student and demonstrating Yorkshire’s rich textile heritage.

The Centre for Fashion Enterprise, in partnership with Lambert’s Yard and Leeds City council, are running a free 2 two day intensive business support course to help Leeds-based designer labels grow. The programme is open to designer labels who have been trading for at least six months who are intending to grow their business in Leeds.

Yorkshire Textiles were delighted to have been a core part of the UKTI/UKFT Grand Depart Business Festival.  Our Tour de Fleece collection was included centre stage in the fashion show – as featured on a BBC Look North report.  We’re proud that our fabric’s image was used for the official invitation – as well as the back cover of the beautiful event programme.

Yorkshire Textiles was in the news again when the Wharfedale Observer covered our involvement in the development of the locally-made cloth we call the Tour de Fleece.

In a recent coup, the couture designer Anita Massarella has collaborated with Yorkshire Textiles to create a dress using the unique Tour de Fleece cloth which is to be shown as part of the ‘Textile Showcase and Fashion Show’ at the Grand Depart Business Festival to be held at the Carriageworks in Leeds on the 3rd of July.  The event is an initiative by UK Trade & Investment and UK Fashion & Textiles in conjunction with Welcome to Yorkshire to celebrate the importance of Yorkshire textiles.  With HRH Prince Charles as patron, Campaign for Wool is also backing the launch.

Yorkshire Textiles were instrumental in a 4 page article in The Big Issue magazine this month on the textiles industry in the North. This is another example of how we are helping drive the revival of the industry in the region. As well as reporting on our initiatives, the article covered intelligent textiles and the use of textiles in the automotive and aeronatutical industries, as well as the less unexpected topics of high quality woollen clothing and how we are helping the resurgence by showcasing and promoting innovative projects.

Visit the ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ pop-up shop in the Trinity Centre, Leeds. On display are the bespoke Tour de Fleece jackets, the brainchild of Suzy Shepherd who facilitated the Tour de Fleece project with the support of Leeds City Council, Welcome to Yorkshire and many of the Yorkshire textile industry elite, who have all been part of the Tour de Fleece process. Lots of Tour de France goodies to buy, whilst looking at the beautiful jackets.

Sheep to fleece to finished product – the forty mile fleece, travelling just forty miles from fleece to fabric, celebrates the spotlight on Yorkshire with an eco cloth that highlights the skills, heritage and modern day innovation of woollen worsted textiles and clothing manufacture in the region.