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AN INTERVIEW WITH NICHOLAS BROOKE OF SUNSPEL (PART TWO)

Sunspel and What it Stands For “We think of ourselves as two things. Number one: The British jersey experts. We have developed, over the last 150 years, a number of fabrics that are unique. We are innovators in fabric development. Number two: We are manufacturers - cut and sew manufacturers in England. That is pretty rare. We're probably the last brand that manufactures cut and sew products in the UK from our own factory. There are other brands that dabble with making in the UK but they don't own the factories. The factory is not the core of the business. When we grow the range we focus on those two things - is it a jersey and is it a cut and sew product? We do make certain items abroad, our boxer shorts for instance, but we have maintained the core here. I think a lot of other brands made a mistake in shifting all of their production abroad.” The Creative Director “He ( J.W Anderson ) loves our product. He is fundamentally a product guy at heart. He knows that what he does is ...

AN INTERVIEW WITH NICHOLAS BROOKE OF SUNSPEL (PART ONE)

Earlier this month M&I visited the Sunspel factory in Long Eaton, Derbyshire. Whilst there we met with Nicholas Brooke, the director of the company since he and business partner, Dominic Hazlehurst took over 5 and a half years ago. Theirs is a tale of investing in a factory that was steeped in history and tradition – so much so that everything financial was still done on a ledger when they took over. We discussed the story of Sunspel , textile manufacturing in the East Midlands, and why Japan is so important to them. Over the next few days we will be publishing some extracts of our conversation. Taking Over “The business started in 1860 and until 1937 the factory was in Russell St in Nottingham. I’ve known Sunspel since I was about 12 or 13, when I bought my first pair of boxer shorts. My wife's aunt is the companion of the previous owner, Peter Hill, who was part of the family who started the business. My wife’s aunt would say that ‘Peter does not want to sell the company to...

FACTORY VISIT NO.2 : SUNSPEL, LONG EATON

Last Thursday we spent a couple of hours delving into the archives at Sunspel 's factory in Long Eaton, Derbyshire. Whilst there we also nipped round the buzzing factory. A full write up of our time with Nicholas Brooke of the classic underwear and clothing brand will follow here shortly, but for now, please feel free to browse some of our photos of the visit on Manufacture & Industry's Facebook page .

UPCOMING FACTORY VISITS : SUNSPEL (DERBYSHIRE) & GLOBE TROTTER (HERTFORDSHIRE)

We have two factory visits lined up this week, both of which we are very much looking forward to. On Thursday we are heading to the East Midlands, Long Eaton to be precise, to visit classic clothing manufacturer Sunspel . Following this, on Friday we are heading south, to Broxbourne in Hertfordshire to visit Globe Trotter , a luxury luggage company. Please get in touch (either by leaving a comment below, by email or via our Facebook page ) if you have any questions that you would like M&I to ask. Globe Trotter label from M&I's photo album of our first factory visit to Stevenage Knitting Company.Sunspel label from Sunspel's blog