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Moxon Huddersfield

53°33′40″N 1°48′43″W / 53.561°N 1.812°W / 53.561; -1.812

Moxon Huddersfield
Company typePrivate
IndustryManufacturing
HeadquartersYew Tree Mills, Holmbridge, Holmfirth, United Kingdom
Key people
Firas Chamsi-Pasha, Managing Director
ProductsCloth, accessories

Moxon Huddersfield Ltd is a high-end British textile manufacturer of luxury worsted and woollen suiting fabrics. It is located at Yew Tree Mills, Holmbridge, near Holmfirth, Kirklees in Yorkshire.

History

Loom at Moxon's plant, Yew Tree Mills.

The company was incorporated in 1924[1] but claims it can trace its roots to the 16th century.[2] In the 1910s, it traded under the name of B. H. Moxon & Sons and was located at Springfield Mills, Kirkburton, near Huddersfield.[3] At that time it patented an improvement to the dobby loom.[3] In the 1930s, it was exporting to Japan[4] and the United States.[5] In 1950, it moved to a new 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m2) site in Kirkburton.[5] In the 1950s, it was noted for its fancy worsted fabrics,[6] In the 1980s, it was specialized in worsted mohair[7] and silk blends aimed primarily at the Japanese market.[8]

Moxon was one of the first British weavers to replace British Dobcross looms with wider Swiss Sulzer looms.[7][9] In the early 1960s, after the retirement of Matthew Moxon,[10] it became part of the Tulketh Group,[9][11] which went into receivership in the early 1970s.[12] It was acquired in 1971[13] by the Allied Textiles group.[14]

Today

Moxon's archives, Yew Tree Mills

The company was acquired in 1993[15][n. 1] by British industrialist Firas Chamsi-Pasha,[17] formerly of textile firm Hield Brothers.[18][n. 2] 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,[16] with retail price up to £4,200 a metre in 2005[20] for fabrics such as a 12.9 micron wool[21] or a super-fine wool with an 18 ct gold stripe.[22] Mr Chamsi-Pasha marketed Super 180s fabrics in 1998[23][n. 3] and Super 210s fabrics in 2000.[26] He claimed in 2003 that 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.[27] The company uses antique machinery[28] together with up-to-date equipment, such as a £120,000 scouring machine.[16]In 2006, Joanne Alsop, then head designer of the company, won a Silver Shuttle Award from the Worshipful Company of Weavers.[29] 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.[14] As of 2011, its fabric are priced between £300 ($480) and £11,000 ($17,600) per metre.[19] 95% of the production is exported.[19]

Cashmere socks

In 1999, the company introduced socks woven with a very fine cashmere from the Altai region. They were priced at £400 ($640) in 2011.[19][n. 4] The company claims to sell 140 pairs per year.[19]

Notes

  1. ^ According to other sources, the company was acquired in 1996.[14][16]
  2. ^ According to another source, the company was bought by Chamsi-Pasha's father and the son was "asked in 1996 to look after the business".[19]
  3. ^ The numbering system used to describe the fineness of wool fibers has been codified by the International Wool Textile Organization and, in the United States, the Wool Suit Fabric Labeling Fairness and International Standards Conforming Act.[24] Super 180s have an average section not wider than 14.75 microns; Super 210s, not wider than 13.25 microns; a fiber not wider than 11.5 microns is a Super 240s. Despite this "numbers game", fineness of the fiber is just one of the components of its quality, together with length, strength, color, and crimp.[25]
  4. ^ The alleged price of these socks varies extensively. Other sources quote $400 in 2010,[30] or "£200-plus" ($320) in 2011.[31]

Sources

  1. ^ Companies House
  2. ^ a b Maycumber, S.Gray (12 April 1999). "Fabric looms larger in the finest suits". DNR. Archived from the original (fee required) on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2010. Moxon dates back to 1556, it claims, and keeps archives of its fabrics going back many years, including some fabrics it made for men's fashions of the '30s.
  3. ^ a b Textile World Record. Vol. 34. Lord & Nagle Co. 1908. p. 510. B. H. Moxon & Sons, Springfield Mills, Huddersfield, England. This firm has recently brought out an improved form of their dobby motion, which it claims renders the dobby more effective.
  4. ^ Japan directory. Vol. 1. Japan Press. 1931. p. 399.
  5. ^ a b "Memory Lane". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. 15 June 2009. Retrieved 22 February 2021. The company made high grade fine worsted cloths, often for the American market. Work on the 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m2) site had started in 1948 and it was completed two years later.
  6. ^ British Style. National Trade Press. 1958. p. 40. One of the best known names in the fine, fancy worsted industry with a reputation for unsurpassed quality in texture and design.
  7. ^ a b Fallon, James (2 March 1987). "UK mills buy looms but still big on oldies". DNR. Archived from the original (fee required) on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2010. Moxon, a mohair and fine worsted producer.
  8. ^ "London fabrics show stars light woolens, worsteds". DNR. 18 October 1989. Archived from the original (fee required) on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 9 November 2010. Moxon of Huddersfield has developed a range of worsted and silk blends aimed primarily at customers based in the Far East in addition to its usual collection of fine worsteds.
  9. ^ a b Avison, John (2 August 2010). "Family History: Mill veteran Reg Stone's extraordinary working life". The Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 9 November 2010. In June 1977 two section of 20 looms were scrapped and replaced by a modern Sulzer loom.
  10. ^ "Moxon's mill". BBC. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  11. ^ Textile guide to Europe, 1970. Noyes Data S.A. 1970. p. 180.
  12. ^ "Unemployment, Yorkshire". UK Parliament. 10 May 1971. Retrieved 11 November 2010. Mr. Edward Lyons asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is taking to limit the spread of unemployment in the Yorkshire region, following the decision to appoint a receiver for the Tulketh Group and other closures.
  13. ^ Hardill, Irene (1987). The regional implications of restructuring in the wool textile industry. Gower. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-566-00823-8. The group has adopted a policy of selective acquisition to preserve its market share and to diversify its interests within the textile realm, for example, Reid and Taylor (Langholm) 1974, BH Moxon (Huddersfield) 1971.
  14. ^ a b c "European Report 2010" (PDF). Australian Superfine Woolgrowers' Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  15. ^ Kissel, William. "Best of the Best 2002". Robb Report. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  16. ^ a b c Ginns, Bernard (21 July 2009). "Moxon backs local manufacturing as it plans Chinese expansion". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 4 November 2010. Moxon, which dates back to the 16th century, invested about £120,000 in the new scouring machine made by Holmes Heaton, also of Huddersfield.
  17. ^ "MOXON 1556 LTD people - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  18. ^ "Cloth of Gold". The Economist. 24 June 2004. Retrieved 4 November 2010. Firas Chamsi-Pasha arrived in Huddersfield from Syria in 1981 when Hield Brothers, an old family-run weaving business for whom he was an agent, ran into trouble. He bought the company and cut its middle-market cloth production to concentrate on the top of the market [...] In 1993, he bought another Yorkshire company, Moxon. [... The socks] cost £275. "You can only wear them ten times," he says.
  19. ^ a b c d e Ginns, Bernard (30 August 2011). "Moxon satisfying the global taste for luxury". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 22 October 2011. Three decades ago, his merchant father rode to the rescue of a supplier, Hield Brothers of Bradford, which was under threat of hostile takeover.
  20. ^ "Quality counts as CBI chief makes textile industry plea". Yorkshire Post. 12 March 2005. Retrieved 4 November 2010. Moxon makes some of the world's most luxurious suit cloth – which sells for up to £4,200 a metre. It also makes cashmere socks which cost £300 a pair.
  21. ^ "Opposite attracts". DNR. 4 October 2004. Archived from the original (fee based) on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2010. Moxon peddled a plain, 180-gram woolen made of 12.9-micron yarn that was far softer and more costly than even the most expensive of vicuna.
  22. ^ "Wool - The Golden Fleece for Suits". Savile Row: Style Magazine. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
  23. ^ Maycumber, S. Gray (5 October 1998). "Strong U.S. buying contingent helps offset loss on far east business". Archived from the original (fee required) on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2010. There was one mill, Moxon of the U.K., that had a limited quantity of Super 180s.
  24. ^ "Fine and Superfine Wool. US Regulation". National Textile Association. Retrieved 16 November 2010.
  25. ^ Walther, Gary. "The Numbers Game - What Does Super Wool Mean?". Retrieved 16 November 2010. Fineness is just one quality component: Length, strength, color, and crimp are also important, with the first two particularly so. Length is critical because the longer the fiber, the stronger the yarn that can be spun from it. Strength is critical because the yarn must be twisted very tightly (hence the name high-twist fabric) to achieve a fine weave. The way in which the fabric is finished also plays an enormous role in the feel and look.
  26. ^ "New super fabric for the super man". DNR. 22 March 2000. Archived from the original (fee required) on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2010. Moxon, the small but famous Huddersfield, Yorkshire, mill has now introduced its super 210s.
  27. ^ Kissel, William (1 January 2003). "Style: Bale Hearing". Robb Report. Retrieved 4 November 2010. Chamsi-Pasha of Moxon says his consortium of New Zealand breeders have been gathering wool from a flock of 100,000 sheep for more than a year to amass about 26 pounds of a wool fiber measuring 11.5 microns. He hopes to have enough for cloth production within five years. "This particular wool was not bought on the auction market," explains Chamsi-Pasha, who says he is able to secure finer wools than large firms because he does not buy at auction and is willing to pay "silly prices" for the privilege.
  28. ^ Zientek, Henryk (20 June 2006). "No trouble at mill". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 10 November 2010. Mr Chamsi-Pasha said Moxons was unusual in manufacturing on older machines that others in the industry had discarded. He added: "Our main aim has been to rebuild old machines and reintroduce manufacturing techniques that have died out elsewhere."
  29. ^ "Summary of textile awards 2006/2007". The Worshipful Company of Weavers. Archived from the original on 15 May 2011. Retrieved 9 November 2010. In November 2006, given the opportunity to take control of the design department at Moxon Huddersfield Ltd, she grasped it with both hands. In just one year Joanne has transformed the design department, producing superb collections and encouraging new customers, including Tom Ford, Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Kiton and Isaia to visit the mill and work with her to produce exclusive collections. In addition to attending both Premier Vision in Paris and Ideabiella in Italy, she has twice travelled to the Far East to work on styling projects with new and existing customers.
  30. ^ Susannah Cahalan (17 October 2010). "Getting hosed". New York Post. Retrieved 15 November 2010. British-textile company Moxon Huddersfield is selling its line of cashmere socks for $400.
  31. ^ Curtis, Nick (August 2, 2011). "Summer shoes are so easy for women but so hard for men". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on August 3, 2011. Retrieved October 26, 2011. The £200-plus price tag of the world's most expensive socks, made by the venerable British firm of Moxon Huddersfield from cashmere gathered from goats in the Gorno-Altai region of the former Soviet Union
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