Our Story

Founded in 1783

Our heritage is steeped in centuries of tradition, craftsmanship, and innovation.

We continue to honour our heritage while embracing modern advancements, ensuring that every piece of fabric we produce reflects our rich history and unwavering commitment to quality.

We proudly share our story, dating back to the 18th century, which shows how we developed and branched out into the many different industries we are in today. Three things have remained constant throughout – we have always been owned by the Hainsworth family, we have always been based in West Yorkshire, and we have always made woollen cloth of exceptional quality.

Hainsworth through the years

Established in 1783, our heritage is a testament to enduring craftsmanship and innovation. Explore our heritage and experience the tradition of excellence 
that defines AW Hainsworth.

Warping machine in the 1930s

Looking back through our history

old picture of A W Hainsworth mill

240 years

Managing Director, Amanda McLaren talking in a presentation

Our team away day

240th Birthday

We celebrate our 240th birthday, marking our long history with a team away day.

Laboratory Technician, Mary Lyon looking down at the yarn samples

Our new colour testing room

AW Hainsworth Laboratory with a display of fire fighters uniform and the royal guards uniform

The laboratory space

Hainsworth protective fabric being tested for strength at the Laboratory

New testing equipment

A state-of-the-art testing laboratory

We invest in the future of textile innovation – a quarter of a million-pound state-of-the-art new laboratory space.

The UKAS-accredited space includes a range of new testing instruments and advanced machinery supplied by leading manufacturers.

A collection of Replin fabrics by AW Hainsworth folded in layers

Replin fabric

Replin by Hainsworth logo

Replin by Hainsworth

Replin by Hainsworth fabric featured on airplane vertical surface. Fabric is a teal and grey print with a large leaf design. Headphones can be seen hanging from the surface in the distance along with a bright light to the right of the surface.

A first class aircraft seat

Hainsworth purchase Replin Fabrics

Hainsworth purchase Replin Fabrics, one of the world’s leading designers and manufacturers of transport fabrics. Manufacturing moved from Peebles to the Hainsworth mill in Stanningley.

raw wool with visible vegetal matter

Guaranteed fibre content

The Woolmark Company logo

The Woolmark

two sheep smiling at the camera with the mountains in the background

Pure Merino Wool

Hainsworth become a member of the Woolmark

Hainsworth becomes a member of the Woolmark and gain the ability to use the mark on our products.

“The iconic Woolmark logo represents an unwavering commitment to quality, ensuring outstanding performance and guaranteed fibre content in every certified product.”

Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales being shown the Royal guards uniform on a mannequin

Our connection to the Princess

Royal guards marching towards the Buckingham Palace wearing the Scarlet cloth produced by AW Hainsworth. Union Jack displayed across The Mall

Another Royal Wedding

Prince William wears Hainsworth cloth for Royal Wedding

For the Royal Wedding, Princes William and Harry wear Hainsworth cloth. This was an event with double meaning for Hainsworth, along with the connection to Kate Middleton through her Great Grandparents and William Lupton & Co.

Natural Legacy casket by Hainsworth

Woven from wool

Natural Legacy coffin by Hainsworth on a meadow

Soft and comforting

clifftop on a moor

A natural legacy

Hainsworth develop woollen coffins

Hainsworth develop Natural Legacy woollen coffins. At the launch of Campaign for Wool at the Wimpole Estate, Prince Charles famously dubbed the product “A coffin to die for”.

Royal Warrant plaque display at the AW Hainsworth mill site

The Royal Warrant on our wall

Royal Warrant logo

By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen

Broadcloth, an interiors fabric produced by Hainsworth

Broadcloth, an interiors fabric

Our Royal Warrant

Hainsworth receive the Royal Warrant for providing furnishing fabrics to Her Majesty the Queen.

Directors July 2005, (left to right) Adam Hainsworth, Steve Hemming, Kevin Brook, Gerald Wightman, Thomas Hainsworth, Rachel Hainsworth and Roger Hainsworth

The Company Directors at the time

The Queen's awards for enterprise: Innovation 2003 logo

Queen's Award for Enterprise

Hainsworth wins Queen's Award

Hainsworth win the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation for TI-Technology™.

Royal guards on horses in front of Buckingham Palace

The Royal Guards

Diana and Charles on their wedding day

Charles and Diana on their wedding day

Prince Charles in Hainsworth Cloth

Prince Charles (now His Majesty the King) wore Hainsworth cloth on his wedding to Lady Diana Spencer, as did the Guards in their scarlet tunics lining the Mall. This was televised to a global audience of 750 million.

Hainsworth Cue Sports Fabrics Math cloth, with branded selvedge showing across the edge of the fabric.

Snooker cloth

World champion Terry Griffiths, snooker and pool player

The Championships

old Television receiver

Seen by 18 million people

Snooker cloth on display to the world

Hainsworth provide snooker cloth for the world championships watched by 18 million people.

cones of the gold and dark blue Nomex inside a metal tin container

Using Nomex for protective cloth

Firefighters standing in a line smiling as they wear the AW Hainsworth protective fabric uniform proudly

A history of innovation

Logo on Dupont and Nomex

A partnership with Dupont

The first protective Nomex® fabrics in the UK

Hainsworth had always embraced innovation and in 1975 the company took the decision to work with DuPont introducing the first protective Nomex® fabrics into the UK. This was a revolutionary step for a market used to wool, but one which was to prove very successful. This area of the business grew rapidly with the company to this day supplying fire services and military personnel around the world.

black and white photo of the £1.2 million reorganisation of 1986, including a new wool store

A re-organisation in 1986, including a new wool store

AW Hainsworth mill suffered a major flood due to a violent storm

Hainsworth under water

Disaster strikes again

The mill was hit by another disaster and suffered a major flood due to a violent storm. The beck underneath the mill overflowed, which resulted in the mill being flooded with four feet of sewage laced water.

The following two decades saw a programme of improvement works to modernise and protect the mill.

Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales touching the Hainsworth Cue Sports Fabrics Math cloth, with branded selvedge showing across the edge of the fabric.

Princess of Wales mill visit

poster of the William Lupton & Co broadcloth overcoating and plain suitings

William Lupton & Co advert

Hainsworth buys William Lupton & Co

AW Hainsworth buys William Lupton & Co, which was owned by the great-grand parents of the Princess of Wales, Olive Lupton and Noel Middleton.

Lupton’s made collar meltons, a specialised woollen cloth used for lining jacket collars. Lupton’s had two mills, in Leeds and Pudsey, and in 1958 these were absorbed into Hainsworth’s operations.

fire broke out which destroyed three quarters of the entire mill

The mill on fire

newspaper clipping of the fire that destroyed three quarters of the AW Hainsworth mill in 1955

A newspaper cutting from 1955

Mill destroyed by fire

Amidst strong growth came the night of 11 December 1955, when disaster struck the mill. Arthur Moffatt, the firm’s caretaker, noticed a red glow in the low side weaving shed. He raised the alarm and ran to move his horse from the adjoining stable. Within minutes the fire had spread to the two-storey spinning block and in total it was estimated that three quarters of the entire mill had been destroyed. The life’s work of three generations, and a fourth just starting, came crashing to the ground in just three hours.

Through disaster came the opportunity to rebuild and renew, and the company decided to move away from steam to electric power. The rebuild included a new two-storey main mill, a single-storey spinning mill, and the scribbling department was re-roofed and a new raw materials shed erected.

Elizabeth II & Philip after Coronation

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip

Royal guards marching towards the Buckingham Palace wearing the Scarlet cloth produced by AW Hainsworth during the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth's Coronation

The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

1953 saw the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and Hainsworth were chosen to produce a special cloth in regimental colours to mark the occasion. It was just what the country, company and industry needed after so long at war – textiles used in celebration.

In total Hainsworth provided over 30 different fabrics, and we still have the letter of thanks from the Ministry of Supply.

AW Hainsworth fabric in grey

RAF Blue Fabric

617 Squadron at Scampton, Lincolnshire, 22 July 1943 Flight Lieutenant H S Wilson's crew in Hainsworth uniform cloth

The Boys in Blue

The 'Boys in Blue'

The ‘Boys in Blue’ are in blue thanks to Hainsworth. When the Air force separated from the Army in 1918 and approached Hainsworth for colour ideas to allow them to have their own identity, it was Hainsworth that proposed the distinctive blue cloth that they have worn ever since.

In 1899 Hainsworth saw the first orders for Khaki Serge, a worsted warp woollen weft fabric for the British military.

Soldiers wearing khaki serge

Khaki serge fabric

Khaki serge fabric

In 1899 Hainsworth saw the first orders for Khaki Serge, a worsted warp woollen weft fabric for the British military.

Soldiers wearing khaki serge

Spring Valley Mills and Khaki Serge

Abimelech started weaving worsted fabric, and to continue expansion he bought Spring Valley next door, which forms the main part of the mill today.

The scarlet cloth for the War Office had long been an important product for Hainsworth, but at the end of the 19th century demand for bright, distinctive combat wear plummeted when the increasing use of rifles and artillery in the Boer War led to a demand for a more protective colouring for army cloth.

The company had already started working with Yorkshire College to create experimental new fabric constructions and in 1899 saw the first orders for Khaki Serge, a worsted warp woollen weft fabric.

Letterhead showing Cape Mill in the 1880s allowing for some artistic license

A letterhead showing Cape Mills in the 1800s

old picture drawing of the AWH mill site

The mill in 1882

OS Map of 1908 Temperance Mill and Spring Valley Mills

OS Map of 1908

The purchase of Temperance Mill

A second mill, Temperance Mill in Stanningley, was purchased. The current partners decided they would split the company with one partner taking the Cape Mills site and the younger Abimelech Hainsworth (‘Young Bim’, the grandson of ‘Old Bim’) taking over Temperance Mill.

When ‘Young Bim’ took over the mill, it was empty. Within 2 years the Temperance Mill had been re-equipped with 55looms as well as scribblers, condensers and mules, for various spinning processes, pairs of stocks and eight milling machines for different finishes.

white bobbin yarn on a shuttle used for weaving

Shuttles

black and white picture of an old weaving loom

An early Dandy Loom

A new weaving shed

In 1869 along came industrialisation and a new weaving shed was opened to house the new power looms. This saw the end of the time-honoured practice of handloom weaving on which the company had been built. A new era had begun.

black and white photo of the Hainsworth Family

The Hainsworth Family

black and white photograph of A W Hainsworth as a young man

AW Hainsworth

'Young Bim' is born

Abimelech William Hainsworth (‘Young Bim’) was born.

close up image of map of Farsley from 1836

Farsley is a small village in 1836

Captain Charles Hainsworth (1826 - 1875)

Captain Charles

Abimelech Hainsworth dies

Abimelech died, his mill now employing half of the town of Farsley.

When Abimelech died in 1836 he was the wealthiest man in the district and left a personal estate of £12,000 and two thirds of Cape Mills. This included five acres of land, 14 cottages and a blacksmiths shop. His shares automatically passed to his three sons and three nephews but in just four years, five of the partners had passed away. With none of their sons of an age to succeed their fathers it left just one partner, John Senior and his son Charles to run the business.

British soldiers charging on horses dressed in scarlet military cloth by Hainsworth

The Battle of Waterloo

Scarlet tunic cloth

Scarlet Tunic Cloth

The Duke of Wellington at The Battle of Waterloo in 1815 along with the British soldiers dressed in scarlet military cloth by Hainsworth

The Battle of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo

When the might of Napoleon’s Imperial Guard was bearing down on the British lines of Waterloo, the ‘thin scarlet line’ was scarlet thanks to Hainsworth fabric.

old painting of Samuel Marsden

Samuel Marsden

raw merino wool with visible vegetal matter

Merino Wool

Samuel Marsden returns from Australia

Samuel Marsden, who was from Farsley, arrived back with the first bale of Wool from Australia in 1807. The wool was deemed to not of sufficient quality to be used by Hainsworth. Samuel took instruction from AW Hainsworth on the required specification and returned to Australia via Spain, taking with him Merino sheep. When he returned to AW Hainsworth with his new Australian-grown merino wool, this was accepted and thus the Australian merino wool trade was born.

4 acres in Farsley

4 acres in Farsley

An extract from Abimelech's account book

An extract from Abimelech's account book

Buying land and employing weavers

By 1800, Abimelech Hainsworth had saved up enough money to buy 4 acres at the bottom of the village of Farsley, Cape Mills, and in partnership with his brother Joseph gradually employed a number of handloom weavers.

drawing of a man weaving on the old wooden hand looms

An illustration of a hand loom weaver

Cape Mill tenter house

Leeds Cloth Hall

The Start of AW Hainsworth

Abimelech Hainsworth, ‘Old Bim’, started his clothiers (cloth merchant) business in Farsley Yorkshire, buying his cloth from cottage weavers in the area.

Cloth would be woven by hand loom weavers in their cottages and collected by ‘Old Bim’ who would then transport it by horse and cart to Leeds Coloured Cloth Hall. The tradition in the district at the time was to produce cloth dyed in the wool before spinning and weaving.

Abimelech began his trading with just half a crown. Following the sale of his first consignment of cloth, he brought a silver pint mug which he gradually filled with gold sovereigns.

Hainsworth and the military: woven together in history

In 1815, the troops at the Battle of Waterloo wore red thanks to the striking scarlet cloth produced by Hainsworth for the soldiers. In 1899, the military requested a new, less conspicuous fabric for the troops to wear while on duty. As a result we introduced Khaki Serge. When the Air Force separated from the Army in 1918, we proposed the distinctive blue cloth they have worn ever since

To this day, the Royal Guards wear scarlet tunic cloth at the most prestigious national events, and we work closely with our military tailor partners to maintain the same standards.

royal guards in a line wearing the Scarlet cloth produced by AW Hainsworth

Resilience in the face of adversity

AW Hainsworth’s history hasn’t all been plain sailing – in fact, the mill faced disaster on two occasions in quick succession. In 1955, a fire broke out which destroyed three quarters of the entire mill. After a process of rebuilding, the mill then suffered a major flood due to a violent storm.

On both occasions, at a time when the business could have ceased to exist, Hainsworth took the opportunity to rebuild and come back stronger. This resilience is part of who we are as a company, and one of the reasons why we are still able to make cloth in the UK despite so much of the textile industry moving overseas.

Stanningley bottom during the flood in 1968

New markets, new innovations

We have a long history of exploring new markets and developing new products, while progressing our core woollens business. Supplying wool melton to the London Fire Brigade in the early 1900s has since developed into our thriving Hainsworth Protective Fabrics business, with market leading innovations in flame-resistant cloth. We entered the Cue Sports arena in 1968, and now our cloth is on snooker and pool tables around the world.

We have explored, adapted and innovated, and in the current day have an enviable and diverse range of products and brands.

Firefighters standing in a line smiling as they wear the AW Hainsworth protective fabric uniform proudly
close up image of warping yarns in vertical motion

Customer Testimonials

“Hainsworth are reliable, honest and trusted. We have established a consistency with Hainsworth over 15 years which allows us to supply our customers on time.”

James Heal

“Hainsworth has always been a loyal supplier and we receive high quality products. The service has always been top class.”

Knud Danielson ApS

“A trusted and reliable partner for Parsons, with exquisite production. We appreciate their excellent communication and prompt after-sales services.”

Parsons Music Corporation