“Made in Yorkshire” – a brand in the making

“Made in Yorkshire” – a brand in the making

Mon, 24 Mar 2014 13:08:00 GMT

Yorkshire’s textile heritage could be the stimulant for a global fashion brand 

A PROJECT to turn Yorkshire into a global style icon is being spearheaded at the University of Huddersfield.  The county already has a huge reputation for  its fine  fabrics – used by some of the  world’s leading fashion houses – but now the aim is to raise the status of its designers and producers so that garments branded as ‘Made in Yorkshire’ become a byword for fashionability. 

Dr Kevin Almond The University’s Head of Fashion, Dr Kevin Almond, has taken up the challenge and has received backing from key figures in the industry, notably the Barnsley fashion entrepreneur Rita Britton, whose Barnsley boutique Pollyanna is regarded as one of the world’s best. 

When asked if Yorkshire was perceived as a fashion centre, she replied: “No, but it is our job to turn it into one”, adding that if the county’s clothes designers did more exciting things with is “exquisite” fabrics, then a “Made in Yorkshire Brand” could be established.

Dr Almond – whose University of Huddersfield department has established itself as one of the UK’s  leading centres for the study of fashion – has published an article that explores Yorkshire’s textile and manufacturing heritage and the problems that could be encountered during an attempt to turn the county into a brand that would rival London, Paris or New York. 

Novels such as “Wuthering Heights” had played a major role in establishing Yorkshire’s identity, but “the archaic ‘ee bah gum’ dialect of the archetypal Yorkshire person contradicts wildly with the more sophisticated language used in cosmopolitan fashion circle,” he writes.  “This makes the argument for Yorkshire being taken seriously as an urbane fashion entity challenging.” 

Dr Almond believes that “the challenge in packaging the region as a viable fashion entity arguably lies in the careful distillation of its heritage, combining the traditional with the new.” 

Yorkshire’s textile heritage 

His article, newly published by the fashion journal Catwalk, is based on detailed research into Yorkshire’s textile heritage, especially the once-massive Leeds clothing industry.  It draws on interviews with fashion industry insiders and talks with Huddersfield Textile Society. 

Research is continuing and will now be boosted by the award of a bursary to a PhD student, who will explore the “Made in Yorkshire” concept, drawing heavily on the collections held by Leeds Museums and Galleries, which have already furnished many of the illustrations for Dr Almond’s article.  The student will then design a “Made in Yorkshire” collection. 

Sharon Bainbridge The position has gone to Sharon Bainbridge, Course Leader for Short Courses at Leeds College of Art, who after graduating worked extensively in Europe and on her return to the UK she worked within the commercial sector as an Account Manager in the recruitment and headhunting field.

Whilst taking a career break to have a family she re-trained within textiles and millinery and began teaching in the FE sector. She delivered the City & Guilds programme in Huddersfield, where for five years in a row, her students were awarded the prestigious C&G Medal of Excellence.

Dr Almond’s article is entitled “Made in Yorkshire: Harnessing the Zeitgeist” and one of his key themes is the extent to which, in the globalised modern fashion industry, new centres such as Shanghai, Los Angeles, Copenhagen and Melbourne, can join the established centres of New York, London, Milan and Paris.  Now the aim is to see if Yorkshire can do the same.

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