Luxury Fabrics September & October

During the months of September we have seena huge surge in requests for our brand new ranges from Charles Clayton and John Foster and also for our new bunch covers from William Halstead.

Over 250 tailors around the world have requested these ranges and we are pleased to announce they have begun to arrive into stock. We are still waiting to recieve the new Super 120's bunch from William Halstead, the Platinum - Super 200's bunch from John Foster & the Masterpiece - Super 150's bunch from Charles Clayton. This will take our range to 11 stock service bunches with 2 more being planned for 2013.

We also have travel sets on the way to accomodate the travelling tailors.

The new covers for William Halstead's Explorer bunch & British Mohair bunch are pictured below.  

  

The new ranges for Charles Clayton are pictured above, There is the Savile Row - Super 130's bunch and also the Grandmaster - Super 180's & 10% Cashmere bunch.

We have also been busy creating a Luxury Crest card for all three brands so that when we recieve a draw sample request we are able to supply the swatches on branded crest cards pictured below.

                                    

Matthew Simpson from John Foster was invited to attend an award ceremony in New York to recieve an award on behalf of John Foster from Saks Fifth Avenue for the number 1 fabric.

 

We have also been invited to join Woolmark Gold, the symbol of Luxury & Quality.

We have also been busy travelling visiting the tailors in and around South America, Paris & London and are set to make furutre trips to Turkey, Germany, Australia, The Middle East, Russia & The Far East in the coming weeks once the remainder of the bunches have arrived.

Luxury Fabrics meet the Countess of Wessex

Luxury Fabrics were honored to accept an invitation from local business Haworth Scouring to attend the opening of their new showroom named "The Wessex Room"

The event took place at the Haworth Scouring production complex during the day and various companies from the trade gathered to greet the Countess on her visit to open the showroom.

Martin Curtis (Pictured - far right) Managing Director of Curtis Wool Direct Limited asked if we could display some of our cloth for the event which we were delighted to do. Other companies had also contributed to the new showroom and some of the design idea's were truly brilliant.



 



Whilst talking with the Countess we were able to explain about the company Luxury Fabrics and the brands William Halstead, Charles Clayton & John Foster. The countess was very keen to know more about us and even asked if we were the producers of the Wessex Tweed cloth....Maybe some day!

Purple Mohair

A few short months ago we took on a special project for Michelsberg Tailoring which was to create a purple mohair cloth for a customer’s wedding suit.

We were given a colour to match to by the customer from a suit he had seen on the internet.

Using our specialist finishers we got to work creating samples of cloths in various shades of purple for the customer to approve.

We were able to offer a 60% Mohair 40% super 100’s wool cloth in a piece dye (X1850V/Natural) and yarn dye (8975/16771G)

The difference being between the cloths is that the 8975 quality has a black warp and gives a slightly different effect on the finished cloth.

The cloth we chose to dye was the lightest grey in the bunch which is shade 8975/16771G/G1.

On approval from Michelsberg Tailoring we proceeded to dye just 3.5 meters of cloth for the individual suit length.

After being created into a wonderful suit by Michelsberg Tailoring behold the finished product which we are really pleased with.

SIL Holdings - Press release

1^st May 2012

W.T.Johnson have agreed to sell their shares in world renowned worsted fabric manufacturers John Foster and Charles Clayton to their Bradford based partner in the businesses SIL Holdings Limited (SIL).

W.T.Johnson and SIL Holdings Limited came together to rescue John Foster and Charles Clayton from administration. Through this collaboration the businesses have been rebuilt and now stand on a firm financial footing with revitalised collections selling globally and exhibiting at Premier Vision Paris.

SIL Holdings Limited own anther specialist fabric manufacturer, William Halstead Limited, and the three companies will be consolidated and operate from Stanley Mills in Bradford.

Mr Andrew Seal Managing Director of SIL Holdings Limited commenting on the merger said “I would like to thank W.T.Johnson for their participation, assistance and support over the last three years. W.T.Johnson will continue to dye and finish for the group.”

Mr Paul Johnson Managing Director of W.T.Johnson said “We have achieved our original aim which was to save these UK manufacturing businesses. We believe that this has not only been in our interest but also in the interest of the textile infrastructure in Yorkshire. As a result we are now happy to sell to SIL Holdings Limited who have the necessary manufacturing experience and resources to build on this new start. W.T.Johnson now prefer to concentrate their efforts on the continuing development of their core business of commission dyeing and finishing.

Raymond Seal

We are sad to announce the death of our group chairman Raymond Seal who sadyl passed away February 24th 2012. Below is a copy of an article published by Twist magazine. We would like to thank Twist magazine for their kind words.

Raymond Seal 

Born December 23rd, 1932, Raymond Seal left Bingley Grammar School at the age of 16 to pursue a career in textiles. Starting off in the wool business, he soon chose to specialise in camel hair, cashmere and mohair.

Building on his early education, in the 1960s Mr Seal set up his own speciality fibre business in Bradford with Ernst Schneider, known as E. Schneider Limited and R. Seal Limited.

Five years after the sale of these companies to the Wool Company in 1965, Mr Seal established Seal (Bingley), a trader of camel hair and mohair. Initially running the office from his home in Bingley with the help of four staff, in 1977 the business finally settled at Ladywell Mills, Bradford, home to company headquarters ever since.

At the time, the business was being jepardised by unreliability of third party warehouses. In an effort to assume direct control of its own warehouse and shipping, the company began processing the fibre at its 175,000sq ft Ladywell Mill site. Starting with camel and cashmere dehairing, the Seal brand then moved onto mohair and alpaca combing.

Mr Seal excelled at selling in Eastern European areas such as East Germany, Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic. Having established strong buying links with China, he was the first European to open an office in Beijing following the fall of Chariman Mao. Under Mr Seal's supervision, the company opened two offices in Texas in the 1980's, a main supplier of mohair, as well as establishing a joint venture cashmere dehairing factory in Mongolia.

"My father was ahead of his time, forward thinking and willing to try different things," explained Andrew Seal, group managing director." "He was keen to meet suppliers even in the days when travel was hard."

First and foremost a family business, Raymond's son Andrew joined the comapny in 1976, followed by his younger brother Jeremy in 1982, who is now managing director of the fibre division. Mr Seal's grandsons have also joined the company. Philip Seal is currently training at William Halstead and Joshua Seal is a trainee in the fibre division.

Mr Seal retred in 1995, but remained company chairman until his death. The catalyst for his retirement was the fall of communism, which caused the company's customers in Eastern Europeancountires to disappear. To rebuild turnover, the decision was made to focus on the Far East and Western Europe. "At that time my father realised he had to take a step back and let others concentrate on these areas, which is what we've done ever since.
"He did however maintain a keen interest in the company and was always supportive of new directions and ideas," said Andrew Seal.

The umbrella company SIL Holdings Limited now incorporates fibre, production, yarn and fabric divisions. The core of the business is Seal International Limited, a manufacturer and merchant of cashmere, mohair, alpaca, silk, camel, angora and yak sourced from counttries as diverse as Chia, Mongolia, Afghanistan, South Africa, Peru and Bolivia.

The company portfolio also includes Animal Fibres (Europe) Limited, Cape Wools International Limited, Cashmolane, Fantasy Fibers Limited, Joseph Dawson (Cashmere) Limited, Mr Mohair Limited and Seal South Africa Limited.
The production division encompasses Bridehaugh Limited, Cashmere Combing Company Limited, George Ackroyd (2001) Limited, Mohair Combing, Ladywell Blending Limited, Mohair Spinners (UK) limited, Roberts Dyers and Finishers Limited and Stanley Mills Weavers Limited.
Further downstream, SIL Holdings owns a variety of family businesses with a longstanding textile heritage, including interior textile company Abbotsford 2010 Limited, woven fabric producer Charles Clayton, and worsted fabric weaver John Foster (1819) Limited.
SIL Holdings is also the parent company of cashmere specialist Joshua Ellis, manufacturer of flame retardant furnishings Sea Green Limited and mohair fabric manufacturer William Halstead Limited.

Currently the group employs over 200 people worldwide. "The key lessons my father taught us were to treat everyone with respect, treat suppliers as you would your customers and treat your staff well, look after them through the good times and bad."

Mr Raymond Seal passed away on February 24, 2012. He leaves behind a wife, two sons Andrew and Jeremy, and four grandchildren Philip, Jessica, Joshua and Georgia.

(Page 44 Twist magazine April 2012) 

October and November at William Halstead

The months of October and November have been the busiest I can remember for a long time at William Halstead.

We have visited many countries including Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Paris and Russia for various events and promotions of the company.

Korea

The first event was in association with a very special customer of ours in Korea. Cambridge Members hosted an event in Seoul Korea in support of the Campaign for Wool to which William Halstead were delighted to attend.

The event was held in Ambassador Uden’s residency in Seoul and attended by a select handful of British manufacturers and customers to promote British fabrics in Korea and especially help cement our relationship with the Cambridge Members team.

We were driven round the production plant the next day and got a real insight into the next stage of the production process and it was exciting to see where our cloth is delivered once it has left the mill in Bradford.

Over the entire trip was a huge success and we felt privileged to be included in such a prestigious event so a personal thank you to the Cambridge Members for this kind invitations.

Russia

The second event William Halstead attended was at Zhukoffka Plaza in Moscow’s Luxury Village.

 The event was set up to promote Italian designer Vincenzo Brandonisio who had a fabulous fashion show displaying his creations on the catwalk.

This was an excellent opportunity to meet with the store owner and by extension the general public who buy the finished garments made from our cloth which is always interesting.

As a new market for William Halstead we really got to understand the element of luxury desired by the Russian people, particularly our Cashmere by Joshua Ellis and Vicuna products by William Halstead were of great interest.

Dream Suit Event

The main reason for the trip to Russia was to launch our newest product to the market place which is 100% Worsted spun Vicuna.

We are offering this into Russia through our customer Dream Suit who will be selling the Vicuna on a made to order basis for each individual suit length. We can supply Black Navy and Natural colours, if a customer has a particular design they wish to create we can also work closely with the customer to create the desired design for the suit length. We can also personalize the selvedge with the customer and or tailors name and even design a pinstripe to state the customer’s name in the stripe. A surcharge will is applied for this service.  

The price is 2500 GBP per meter

Dream Suit hosted an evening with 60 of their top customers to present the William Halsted 100% worsted spun Vicuna to the public. This will feature in their new store which is launching this month in Moscow.

Also featuring in the event were our sister companies Joshua Ellis, Charles Clayton and John Foster.

There was great enthusiasm from the Russian press and Forbes magazine and Russian shopping guide are particularly keen to feature this project in the next issue of their magazines.

This event has really given the SIL group companies great exposure into Russia and over the coming months we expect our business to grow thanks to the help and support of the Dream Suit event.

Press

We were fortunate enough to be contacted through Twitter @WilliamHalstead by The Tweed Pig who has featured William Halstead in a small section on their blog.

It is so rewarding for us to feature on this blog as the “Masters of Mohair” A title we quite like the sound of.  

A special thank you to The Tweed Pig for including us in your blog

http://tweedpig.blogspot.com/2011/11/william-halstead-masters-of-mohair.html

We have also had confirmation we will be featuring in Twist magazine - UK

Wish Magazine - Australia

Forbes Magazine - Russia

Russian Shopping Guide - Russia

Talking about our design your own cloth project and the 100% Worsted spun Vicuna

Coming Soon

For the next month we are preparing now to launch our fabrics with a personal friend of mine who has recently launched his own store in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire called 13 Nelson Street.

 

http://www.13nelsonst.co.uk/

13 Nelson Street ran by Marlon Williams is to host a store launch in January where William Halstead fabrics will feature. Marlon will also be offering the design your own cloth to his wide range of customers as well as the stock supported bunches. More details of this event to follow shortly.

The Cambridge Members event, in support of The Campaign for wool - Korea 2011

Pictures of the 100% Bespoke suit length for John Cutler Australia

Camdeboo Mohair Clip

Customer Designed 100% Bespoke Suit Lengths Made by William Halstead - Number 1

New Bespoke Fabrics - Made by William Halstead

I am delighted to inform you that J. H. Cutler is now offering new truly bespoke fabrics by William Halstead exclusivley in Australia designed to your specific requirements that you can order for your next bespoke suit.

You can personally design the fabric, with John's input if required, to feature any colour or combination of colours, any pattern and any weight.

We will then hand produce the fabric on a wooden 100-year-old sample loom at the Bradford mill in West Yorkshire, England.  A town that has been producing woollen fabrics since the 18th century. It’s the old style wooden loom that allows us to produce the relatively small quantity required for an individual suit.

Bespoke fabrics such as this have featured in Hollywood blockbusters, fashion catwalks and celebrity fashion shoots.

An esteemed client of John's for many years standing has already ordered William Halstead's first length of bespoke fabric that is currently awaiting delivery.

Each Suit length is limited edition and comes numbered with a certificate of authenticity and special woven label inside the presentation gift box. 

We will keep you informed on progress, but if you would like more details on this exciting development exclusively from John H Cutler in Australia please call John on 02 9232 7122. Or for the rest of the world contact Sales@WilliamHalstead.co.uk

William Halstead Barathea featured by Calvin Klein

William Halstead Barathea featured in Calvin Klein runway show 2011

Sister companies featured together in fashion look book

William Halstead (right) and Joshua Ellis (left) fabrics stand together in a fashion look book for 2011

William Hlastead boating stripe cloth was featured in this 2011 look book for a customer in New York. The suit worn on the far left, is that of sister company Joshua Ellis,

Milano Unica - Ideabiella September 2011

Milano Unica is the biggest show of the year for William Halstead and we are proud to exhibit at Ideabiella in February and September. This season we were particularly busy at the show seeing roughly 60 top customers from around the globe.

We share our stand with our sister company Joshua Ellis http://www.joshuaellis.co.uk/

The collection was well received and in particular our Winter Mohair flannels, Coatings and new stock service all Wool “British Classic” bunch to add to our range, and our vintage looks in the suiting collection. All of which can be viewed at our website http://www.williamhalstead.co.uk/

We were happy to see new customers from Russia and China and happy as always to see our existing customers that come back to see us time and time again. The quality of customers at the show is particularly appealing to William Halstead and this is why we feel that this show is better for us to exhibit at rather than Premier Vision in Paris.

We are now busy getting our priority selections out to customers and look forward to our agents in Italy, Japan, Korea, Russia, Singapore, Hong Kong/China  showing this seasons collections around the marketplace.

Munich Fabric Start September 2011

Munich Fabric Start in Germany was the first show for William Halstead this season. Our representative Jane Cook attended the show with our German contact Matthias.

William Halstead are pleased to announce that we have have officially appointed a new agent in Germany named Ivo Voehringer who will also be looking after Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands and Switzerland for us. His details will appear on our website http://www.williamhalstead.co.uk/ in the near future.

We saw many customers from all corners of Europe and our presence at the show is going from strength to strength and is helping build solid relationships with new and old customers.
With the launch of our new stock service bunch "British Classic" later this month and our brand new Travel suit range coming in November this was an exciting prospect to deliver at the show. For more information visit our website http://www.williamhalstead.co.uk/

Although Munich Start is not as popular as Premier Vision Paris or Milano Unica for William Halstead it is an important show as we can meet many customers from smaller markets in Europe who don't travel to the bigger shows in Italy or Paris. This is our third year at Munich start and we hope to continue to grow our business and presence in Europe continuing to exhibit at this show.

We are busy now preparing our selections to send out to the customers and are eager for Ivo to start showing the collection around market.

The Campaign For Wool

HRH Prince Charles visited Bradford in November 2010 in support of the Campaign For Wool (to which William Halstead are brand supporters) to meet industry workers, and William Halstead were invited to a special gathering at the Town Hall in Bradford.

HRH gracefully met with Iain Milligan and Philip Seal from William Halstead and spoke for a few minutes about the Mill and the history behind the company. He was particularly interested in the archive book on display that shows designs from every cloth we have ever made from 1875 to present day. He then met with other representatives from local companies in the industry and proceeded to Haworth Scouring for a tour of their production plant.

The Campaigns website is http://www.campaignforwool.org/ and is doing magnificent work to raise the awareness of this magnificent fiber

William Halstead first blog

Hi There and welcome

Our first blog will be a little introduction into who we are and what we do.

So our Company has been running since the year 1875 ina small town in the North of England called Bradford. We are the world's finest weavers of super mohairs and fine worsteds. Our company name is William Halstead and our website is http://www.williamhalstead.co.uk/

We make cloth for mens suitings and we are very good at it. Our customers are worldwide and we have one of the best reputations in the industry for producing the highest qulaity products. These cloths grace the catwalks of Paris, Milan and New York every season for the world's leading fashion houses. We are owned by a textile group named SIL Holdings http://www.silholdings.co.uk/ also based in Bradford which like William Halstead is a family run business.

Some other companies in our group are Chalres Clayton http://www.charlescayton.co.uk/ Joshua Ellis http://www.joshuaellis.co.uk/ Roberts Dyers and Finishers http://www.robertsdyers.co.uk/ Abbotsford 2010 http://www.abbotsford2010.co.uk/ and finally John Foster http://www.john-foster.co.uk/

Twice a year we show a collection at the fabric shows Munich Fabric Start in Germany and Ideabiella in Italy where we meet the most prestigous brands in the world and they make selctions of our collection.
We also run stock supported bunches all year round available direct form the mill in British Mohair and British Super 120's. We also have a new bunch which will be available at the end of September called Explorer.

We have excellent loyal customers who come and see us at these shows and without their support we would not be here today. Our biggest market would be South Korea and we are known as the biggest mill in this market.
Other good markets for us are Italy, Japan and increasingly in the USA.

Using technology and social networking websites we can also be found on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/ and our username is @WilliamHalstead.
We also have a Facebook page which is www.Facebook.com/WilliamHalstead

Please sign up to this blog and we shall keep you posted on our world of textiles and the generations that we are weaving together.