Unfunded Liabilities: a/k/a The Cloth Thread

[poorsod]



I had the Navy blue Mistral made up a few years ago. It is not tightly woven...especially to Lesser's 16oz stuff. I can actually wear it when the weather is in the low 70s and no problem with it indoors. Due to its open weave, it does not keep me as warm as I thought it would, so its more of a late spring through fall suit for me. My tailor enjoyed working with it. I look forward to RAF Mistral

Thanks to all who responded. Interestingly, I can wear my DB Lesser 16 oz to the low 70s as well. The Mistral seems promising though I will make it up as a 3 piece.

 

[Gianni Cerutti]

Below is the 74150 in my P&B Universal book. I guess I can't tell the difference between a heavy hopsack and a barathea.

Nice fabrics...compliments

 

[borbor]

woot.

just ordered 4 yards of harrisons 55230 conquest and 2.5 of 90009 anniv tweed.

can't wait to turn them into something I'll be wearing

 

[poorsod]

Interesting article about the Smiths Woolen buyout. I had no idea that Lesser was spiraling down because they weren't selling and thus couldn't buy more stock.

http://www.permanentstyle.co.uk/2014/03/w-bill-and-smiths-sold-mark-dunsford-interview.html

 

[Liquidus]

Has anyone purchased cloth directly from Harrisons and could provide contact information? Thanks.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

I have from their website.

 

[jrd617]



Interesting article about the Smiths Woolen buyout. I had no idea that Lesser was spiraling down because they weren't selling and thus couldn't buy more stock.

http://www.permanentstyle.co.uk/2014/03/w-bill-and-smiths-sold-mark-dunsford-interview.html

Damn, Harrisons has bought so many historic brands now.

Here's what I've gathered the UK fine cloth landscape looks like now.


• Bateman & Ogden 
• Brook Taverner
• Bulmer & Lumb 

○ Bulmer & Lumb
○ Taylor & Lodge
○ Arthur Harrison
○ Kaye   & Stewart
○ Edwin Woodhouse ​

• Dormeuil
• Dugdale (great prices)

○ Thomas Fisher
○ Duffin & Peace​

• Fox Brothers (sell direct to consumer)
• LBD Harrisons

○ Harrisons of Edinburgh
○ Lear Browne and Dunsford
○ H Lesser
○ Porter and Harding
○ Smith's Woolen
○ W Bill ​

• Harrison's Burley (eBay)
• Huddersfield Fine Worsteds 

○ Minnis
○ John G Hardy
○ Taylor and Lodge
○ Hunt & Winterbotham ​

• Holland & Sherry 
• Lovat
• Luxury Fabric

○ John Foster
○ William Halstead
○ Joshua Ellis​

• Scabal 
• C&J Antich



Sources: http://www.cutterandtailor.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=26

http://www.permanentstyle.co.uk/201...lls-and-merchants-explained.html#.UxkLUvlAHnh

 

[Grammaton Cleric]

The above is helpful, but you're missing quite a few - Johnstons, Grove & Lindley, Schofield & Smith, Glenlyon, Islay Tweed, Ardalandish, Butt of Lewis, Marling & Evans, Reid & Taylor, Hunter's of Brora, Moxon, Molloy, Magee, Halsted, Charles Clayton etc. etc.

I think you've touched upon the major guys who are well-versed in dealing w/ intl. orders. Members new to the CMT world would do well to stick to Minnis, Dugdales, Harrisons and the like.

 

[jrd617]

^ If you format those in the style I have above (parent company -> subsidiary company/brand), I will add them to the list

 

[jrd617]



Butt of Lewis

This made me laugh.

My list was not meant to comprehensive.

I've ordered from Butt of Lewis. They basically loom out of a basement shop. Not exactly a cloth producer on par with Harrisons, Hudderfield etc.

 

[dopey]



This made me laugh.

My list was not meant to comprehensive.

I've ordered from Butt of Lewis. They basically loom out of a basement shop. Not exactly a cloth producer on par with Harrisons, Hudderfield etc.

Do you mean that in terms of quality or volume of production.

 

[jrd617]



Moxon

Also, according to wiki, Moxon does mainly "silly" expensive cloth (18 ct gold stripe etc.) for oil sheikhs, etc. Not really the practical stuff SFers like.

Mr Chamsi-Pasha dropped 90% of the company's customer base[2] and concentrated its production in the most expensive segment of the cloth market,[17] with retail price up to £ 4,200 a metre in 2005[23] for fabrics such as a 12.9 micron wool[24] or a super-fine wool with an 18 ct gold stripe.[25] Mr Chamsi-Pasha marketed Super 180s fabrics in 1998[26][n. 3] and Super 210s fabrics in 2000.[29] He claimed in 2003 he was willing to pay "silly prices" to acquire wool with a fiber measuring less than 12 microns and had bought 26 pounds of wool with a fiber measuring 11.5 microns.[30] The company uses antique machinery[31] together with up-to-date equipment, such as a £120,000 scouring machine.[17] In 2006, Joanne Alsop, then head designer of the company, won a Silver Shuttle Award from the Worshipful Company of Weavers.[32] As of 2010, the company was using 8 looms and producing about 500 single pieces or 35,000 metres per year, using archives going back to the 1930s for ideas.[15] As of 2011, its fabric are priced between £300 ($480) and £11,000 ($17,600) per metre.[22] 95% of the production is exported.[22]

 

[Grammaton Cleric]

You mentioned that your list indicated the 'fine cloth landscape' in the UK - I know it was not meant to be comprehensive and I was simply pointing out that you're missing both some major names and some smaller gems.

I'm well aware of the size of Callum's operation. By a similar token, Lovat is a 4-man operation and Harrison's Burley sells rebadged Asian cloth. And Scabal, Dormeuil, and H&S are not British.

I won't bother listing out the schedule (I literally typed that out in 5 secs from memory) - my broader point, which still stands, that any members new to sourcing their own cloth would do well to stick with the trusted, major guys (which you already listed), rather than a Johnstons, Burley etc.

 

[jrd617]



Do you mean that in terms of quality or volume of production.

The latter

 

[jrd617]



I'm well aware of the size of Callum's operation. By a similar token, Lovat is a 4-man operation and Harrison's Burley sells rebadged Asian cloth. And Scabal, Dormeuil, and H&S are not British.

Interesting, I had asked about Burley earlier in this thread and everyone seemed to like it.

Not to say that geographic location of mill necessarily matters, but I had just assumed it was one of those old Edinburgh mills.