Adamley Textiles this year celebrates 50 years in the silk business. Based in Macclesfield, often described as being at the end of The Silk Road, it's one of two silk businesses in the area, representing a long history of silk production and printing in the area in which the first silk mill was established in 1743.
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| Adamley's printed silks are used in particular for ties, scarves and pocket squares |
I had the pleasure of working with Adamley a year or two ago when I was given access to their archives to select a silk lining for a bespoke Norfolk jacket which was being made for me by local tailor, Brita Hirsch (read the story here on the blog). The silk design, of fox heads, was printed specially by Adamley and is shown bottom left below. During its lifetime, Adamley acquired part of the archives of David Evans & Co (no relation!), a silk business that sadly went out of business some years ago and these were some of the designs that I was able to view.
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| At Adamley with Brita Hirsch and the final design for the jacket lining (below left) |
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| Looking through Adamley's archives - the basis for the final design is top right |
Joanne Ratcliffe, Design Director at Adamley, told me more:
"The print division of Adamley was set up on the site of the original laundry that served all the silk mills in Macclesfield (the official end of the silk road). We were known as Park Adam and had a weaving mill in the town centre.
In the early days we would have still block printed all the patterns onto cloth. By the beginning of the 1970’s we moved over to screen printing. This was helped and enabled by the start of a company called Langley screens in the same village that engraved all the screens for us.
Today we have both hand and automated print tables and two digital printers, and employ 37 people. As the company progressed it became apparent that weaving cloth in the town was not viable and so this part of the company ceased to exist. Adamley continued to print cloth as one of the only remaining silk mills in the town, eventually , and still being one of two, the other based in Bollington.Eventually as the 1980s recession took hold Adamley itself began to suffer, but was thrown a life line by silk Industries who took over ownership of Adamley, allowing the management team to run the company themselves. Eleven years ago the then management team had a buyout of their own headed by M.D. Tro Manoukian. Under Tro’s guidance and leadership the company has gone from strength to strength.
We constantly invest in the latest technology, whether that be beneficial to the shop floor, the design studio or any other part of the process. With this reinvestment we are set to blow the budget this year and to print a record breaking amount of silk, keeping us at the forefront of the men’s neckwear industry and the clothing industry in general."
Most of Adamley's products are for necktie manufacture, but much goes for scarves and pocket squares as well. We can only wish Adamley all the best for a further successful fifty years of silk printing.
See Adamley's website for more information.
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| A silk square celebrating Adamley's fifty years |
