I was fortunate enough to go on the visit to Dyers and Mills in Lancashire set up by the Lancashire Textile Manufacturers' Association. We began by visiting Blackburn Yarn Dyers Ltd. From the outside it looked like a small business, but inside it turned out to be a huge factory. The dye lab itself was small in comparison to size of the factory, but I now have a better understanding of how specific colours are achieved, with methods similar to the methods used at University. It never occurred to me how yarn is dyed on such a large scale and I have always taken pre-dyed yarn for granted as well as the scale of the machinery and the skills needed to work them. I hadn't realised that the yarn is dyed on cones with holes in, so the dye goes from the centre of the cones outwards, and this is also similar for the beams dyed for digital looms. I was shocked at the scale of Blackburn Dyers and the mass of yarn able to be dyed the exact same shade at the same time, and I appreciate the patience and skills of the people that work there.
John Spencer Textiles Ltd again looked small from the outside, but inside proved to be a huge factory. Taking on Ian Mankin fabrics gives the company commercial, timeless fabrics as they don't follow trends, but John Spencer also weaves technical fabrics such as belting and filtration and protective clothing which gives the company another unique selling point. Producing two types of woven cloth gives the company variety. The commercial fabrics brings in a steady income which gives the company chance to be experimental and I think if I was to work freelance, this would be something to consider in my own practice.
William Reed Weaving promotes itself by, 'Pushing the boundaries in the manufacture of specialist fabrics.' They specialise in technical fabrics for products such as parachutes, hot air balloons and anti-static fabrics; things that most of us take for granted and don't realise are woven fabrics. They had a huge warehouse containing 124 looms, so there was a need for earplugs! I couldn't believe the speed and size of the beams that were being woven, as I'm only use to hand weaving 8 yards, 12 inches wide in 2 weeks!
Mitchell Interflex Ltd is based in the middle of nowhere and was smaller than William Reed and John Spencer, but they have regular clients such as Wallace Sewell that house weft yarns there. They have very advanced equipment and therefore skilled people to operate them.
All the companies are family run businesses that have been around for hundreds of years. There was not many young people working in any of the places, but this was because older people have more skills in the industry. It was fascinating to see the scale of mass production woven fabrics, and I definitely appreciate the long hours and back breaking work needed to run these long standing businesses.