ABRAHAM MOONS & SONS
WOOLLEN MILL, GUISELEY, WEST YORKSHIRE
Wool has a long and vital role to play in British history. As far back as medieval times it was observed that English wool had a particularly special quality to it. It’s very strong and the outside fibres are long, making them easy to spin. The innermost fibres are soft and dense and offered warm insulation. This was of course due to the sheep’s evolutionary adaptation to the British environment. This excellent quality of fleece was found to be most prolific in sheep grazed around the West Riding of Yorkshire where there still is extensive pastures to support the flocks. The streams and rivers of the Pennines offered a supply of fresh, soft water to wash, scour, dye and power the machinery. Yorkshire grew incredibly affluent, all thanks to wool, with the economy and employment of most towns and villages coming from the local wool mills. Most of these have sadly been closed for many decades, but the few that remain carry the flag for that once thriving British industry.
Abraham Moons & Sons is one of these incredible mills, established during the wool boom 180 years ago in Guiseley, West Yorkshire. They work with local English fleece, as well as carefully sourced merino fleece predominantly from South Africa and Shetland quality pure new wool from New Zealand, turning them into the most exquisite woven fabrics. They are now one of the UK’s last remaining vertical wool mills, which means that they complete all the various processing of the wool on site to produce woven cloths. They still use processes that haven’t changed much since the mill opened, each stage being carefully scrutinised for quality. Moon’s employs a local workforce of skilled people, some of whom have worked for the mill for over fifty years, something that the company is incredibly proud about.
THE PROCESS
Once the raw wool has been cleaned and combed it is sent to the Dye House. Here they use a precise quantity of dye, pressure, temperature and time- the combination of which is kept top secret to protect the mill’s unique colour palette. They currently use over 500 different shades and colours. To ensure exact continuity with each colour year after year they have a library of shade standards and recipes with which to follow. These coloured wools then go through a blending process, which they say is “the secret to creating beautifully rich colour”. The blended wool then continues through the next stages of processing. Carding is when the wool is softened and smoothed, by the application of a little water and oil and passed through a series of combed rollers to tease the fibres first one way then the other. Then onto Spinning, the process which sees the wool spun into the most amazing and huge range of yarns, some incredibly intricate in shades depending on the cloth they are created for. From spinning, the cones of yarn are then sent on to the Warping stage of the process where the yarns are wound over a drum and a warp (lengthwise threads) are made for weaving. The weaving is of course the exciting stage where the many different yarns are woven and the cloth is finally revealed.
"EVER SINCE OUR ESTABLISHMENT IN 1837,
BALES OF RAW WOOL HAVE BEEN ARRIVING AT OUR
MILL'S DOORSTEP TO BEGIN THE PROCESS OF
CREATING BEAUTIFUL FABRICS."
It’s clear that this mill is special, they have found a way to survive the huge changes to the clothing manufacturing industry, where others sadly didn’t. They use their heritage along with their unrivalled expertise in wool production to move them forwards and to adapt to the demand for commerciality. They are a company who are progressive and constantly looking for ways to innovate. It is, of course, though the fabrics that speak for themselves, the calibre of which is unspeakably good, thanks to the premium quality of the natural raw materials and processes.
"WE FEEL WE FLY THE FLAG FOR MODERN BRITISH INDUSTRY, COMBINING HERITAGE AND INNOVATION."
Better is Greater Than More
The exacting standards for all these processes is something that resonates very strongly with us at Aubin and the way we believe in producing our own ranges. Moon’s, like us, believe strongly in doing things well. We have thoroughly enjoyed our partnership with Moon’s for this A/W collection. With such a similar brand ethos it is a pleasure to underpin many of our key looks and designs on the foundations of the simply fabulous wool cloths they have created for us. They are championing ancient crafts that have a story to tell, writing each stage from start to the finished product. This then offering the customer a chance to wear a piece of clothing with such integrity; you know where it has come from, you know where it has been created and you know by the resounding quality of it that it will serve you well and last a lifetime.
