This follows recent news of Leeds textile manufacturer Hainsworth racking up a £1 million order for China’s booming piano manufacturing industry and expanding pool and snooker markets.

And possibly a little tongue in cheek, Skopes’ commercial manager Malcolm Campbell is considering a fabric with a small amount of wolf hair, branded: “A wolf in sheep’s clothing: Are you man enough?”

He believes macho young Americans would beat a path to Leeds for this sort of gear!

Leeds textile manufacturer Hainsworth has racked up a £1 million order for China’s booming leisure market.

Adam Hainsworth, a seventh generation director of the international family-owned textile group, reported growing sales of baize for Chinese snooker and pool tables and felt for piano makers, insisting on the finest materials as they upgrade production quality.

“Snooker and pool are expanding so rapidly in China that it has grown to represent 40% of our baize sales. Our cloth has long been recognised as providing the ideal playing surface for these games and we devised a new, fast playing surface for the successful launch of Power Snooker.

“Chinese piano makers are also moving upmarket, determined to compete with world-leading standards and they too are specifying our felts. Each piano takes two kilos of wool felt, so this too is a growth area with substantial potential.

“Our trade with China is now so buoyant that we’re shipping products out by the container load and, as the containers return fully laden, this reduces freight costs to a minimum and provides profitable export business.”

There are huge opportunities for further growth, according to speakers at the recent conference organised by the Yorkshire & Humber Manufacturing Advisory Service. Steve Watson, managing director of David Brown Gears, explained how the Huddersfield manufacturer has become a major player within the renewable energy sector in just twelve months by focusing on producing gear boxes for wind turbines, hydroelectric plants and tidal turbines. With the renewable industry is currently showing growth rates of up to 25%, compared to 2-6% in traditional markets, David Brown aims to grow its renewable sales to £200 million by 2014.

Taxation and government legislation will also stimulate the market for green technologies, as emphasised by VeryPC chief exec Peter Hopton. Feed in tarriffs and funding available through the Carbon Trust for capital replacement projects where an energy saving or carbon reduction is evident, represent a major ‘green opportunities’ which manufacturers need to be alert to.

The point was driven home by Richard Shacklady, chairman of Pressure Technologies: £900 million is being spent on a large offshore wind farm off the Kent coast but only 20% of the money is being spent in the UK. Through its Chesterfield BioGas offshoot, the Sheffield company is leading the way in the production of raw biogas from natural waste. The process is already widely used in Scandanavian countries to produce fuels for public transport

But the green revolution is driving innovation in more traditional industries as demonstrated by Cheryl Kindness, design and development director at Camira Fabrics. The textile manufacturer, which specialises in advanced fabrics for the transport industry, has developed a range of recyclable, renewable and carbon neutral product lines.

Natural materials such as nettle fibre, hemp and jute have been combined with wool to produce innovative flame-retardant and anti-microbial fabrics. The company is also exploring the use of metals in combination with wool to produce fabrics which rely on light refraction rather than dyes for coloration. The new product line is also highly flame resistant and, with 33 different flammability standards currently in place around the world for fabrics used in transport, it could be a major breakthrough.

Laxtons specialist yarns, both Worsted and Fancy, are now being manufactured at the new production facility, believed to be the first factory of its kind to be set up here in the UK for 25 years.

All aspects of the production process – fibre selection and blending, through spinning and twisting, to finished packaging – are being handled by the new plant.

With the emphasis on natural fibres such as wool, silk, mohair and alpaca, the yarns are finding their way into a diverse range of products including chunky yarns for branded hand knitting, boucle and slub yarns to add character to furnishing fabrics or woven apparel and British Wool for machine knitted accessories..

James Laxton, the forth generation of his family to run the business, says the company have brought production back to give greater control over lead times, raw materials and quality.

Like growing numbers of manufacturers he is increasingly conscious of the need to reduce environmental impacts: “Bringing manufacturing back to the UK has environmental benefits as we are no longer shipping products around Europe every week, so this move reduces our carbon footprint substantially.”

The Business Desk reports that Perry Uniform recently relocated to Bramley in a £300,000 self-funded move that created 23 new jobs in an 18,000 sq ft complex that houses production, a design studio and sales call centre. The company, which has a 38-strong workforce, has further expansion plans for its customer service department.

Mananging director Bernard Bunting said: “We operate in a cut throat and competitive market but our value added services set us apart from the multiple retailers. We are available 24/7 – 364 days of the year and we carry stock all year round – not just during the peak back to school period.

“Importantly, we use hard wearing, long lasting cloth milled in Yorkshire for our blazers, jackets and suits; we embroider school crests on garments to establish a sense of belonging and identity that reflects the ethos and heritage of the school.”

Perry Uniforms also sews in personalised embroidered name tapes and offer free delivery and returns of orders direct to home or offices. It has also introduced a repair and alteration service.

Much of the North’s prosperity is rooted in its rich heritage of textile manufacturing. Despite the challenges of recent years, some companies such as Hainsworth are proving able to adapt and carve out a place for themselves in 21^st century commerce. From its origins in woollen ceremonial cloths (the Woolsack in the House of Lords is covered in Hainsworth cloth), the company has diversified to establish itself as a major producer of protective fabrics, interior furnishings and even snooker and pool cloth.

Bio-degradable

Specialising in quality textiles for 226 years, Pudsey-based Hainsworth boasts a unique success story with the eighth generation of the family still heading affairs.

Much of the North’s prosperity is rooted in its rich heritage of textile manufacturing. Despite the challenges of recent years, some companies such as Hainsworth are proving able to adapt and carve out a place for themselves in 21^st century commerce. From its origins in woollen ceremonial cloths (the Woolsack in the House of Lords is covered in Hainsworth cloth), the company has diversified to establish itself as a major producer of protective fabrics, interior furnishings and even snooker and pool cloth.

Bio-degradable textile coffins lifted the company into the headlines again this year and there’s a whole lot more going on as this remarkable enterprise continues to develop. A complete and modern re-branding has narrowed down the operational divisions from a dozen to a more manageable four and plans for a joint venture in the USA are well-advanced.

The company has also established its own, award-winning textile innovation centre for which has become an internationally recognised authority in the design and development of woven textiles for its own and other firm’s products. Sales of protective clothing fabrics are launching into Europe – they already supply many UK emergency services and the Red Arrows flyers. And if you feel like treating yourself of someone else this Christmas, Hainsworth is also re-launching its range of luxury blankets, available through Harrods and other top stores.

Watch this space!