Ripping yarns innovation in traditional family firms
Martin Greig Family Business UK
exploring the use of non-traditional, advanced materials like carbon fibre and thermoplastics, and three- dimensional weaving techniques to reinvent and improve products for industries like aerospace and Formula One. Today, Antich & Sons continues to weave high-quality fabrics. But it is also weaving 3D and net-shaped products that go into high-value parts that could be used in jet engines and hydrogen fuel cells. Using the same tools and techniques, David is creating new markets with exciting products which, in turn, are attracting young talent back into the sector. “The reason we’re in these new areas,” says David, “is because of the history, heritage and the skill we’ve learned over the years. So, yes, it’s innovation but we’re still weaving, and bringing back the true value of the skills that still exist in this area.” H. Dawson H. Dawson was founded in the late 19th century when Harry Dawson first sailed to Australia, and other coun- tries, to buy wool on behalf of UK mills. “Wool from anywhere was the essence of the time,” says Jo Dawson, fourth generation Chairman and CEO of H. Dawson.
tailors on Saville Row, fulfilling one contract after another. For Antich & Sons, predominantly a commission service, this included producing for the likes of Prada and Chanel, British Airways and Marks & Spencer. During his apprenticeship into the industry and the family business, David spent a year working in China, studying and cataloguing production in the Far East. It was here that he realised the business had to change. “I went to one particular weaving mill and walked past hundreds of looms where I saw textiles being produced with the words ‘Made in Huddersfield, England’ woven on the selvedge,” says David. “I couldn’t believe it! It really hit home that, as a market, we have some real challenges and diversification made sense.” David understood that the market for service-based weaving mills was shrinking in the face of global competition and a shortage of skills. “There was no point me competing for or stealing work from my neighbours,” says David, “that was only going to end one way. We needed to look at new sources of income, doing things my competitors couldn’t.” David began the process of turning a traditional service-based weaving mill into a product-based business,
There are few industries more traditional than textiles. The mechanisation of fabric production was a key part of the Industrial Revolution, transforming what had been a rural cottage industry into a mechanised, urban factory system. Across the industry, family ownership is common amongst companies which are frequently perceived as being “run of the mill”. But, for two Yorkshire-based firms – H. Dawson, a fourth generation wool specialist, and v, a second generation weaving busi- ness – innovation is key to a sustainable future. Antich & Sons (Huddersfield) Ltd David Antich grew up watching his father build a weaving business in Huddersfield, a town with a global reputation for producing the finest fabrics used in couture houses around the world. Over the years, the words “Made in Huddersfield, England” on the selvedge (the name on the edge) of cloth produced in the town became a kitemark of quality. Mills, typically structured as vertical businesses, would produce yarn and fabrics for high-street brands and
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