The Princess of Wales’s visit to a textile mill had her marvelling at the fabric used for her husband’s wedding military uniform and she loved the smell of the wool used in the process.
Kate visited Yorkshire manufacturer AW Hainsworth. She was given a guide tour, from the yarn to the fabric, of the firm, which has a strong association with her.
The company, based in the small town of Pudsey, makes textiles for a range of clients, from fashion houses like Gucci and woven felt for Steinway pianos to the red tunics worn by guardsmen, and bought a woollen manufacturer from the princess’s family in the 1950s.
Amanda McLaren, AW Hainsworth’s managing director, said after the visit: “Her love for textiles was clearly there.
“She was commenting that she loved the smell of wool, for example.
“She was fascinated by some of the traditional processes and also things like the dye house where she could see the fabric that is worn by the Buckingham Palace guards…being dyed red, and it really brought home to her the intricacies of the process and the skills of our people.”
William wore the Irish Guards uniform for his wedding in 2011, reflecting his role as the Colonel of the Irish Guards at the time.
Kate wore an emerald Burberry suit and chatted with Zeb Ahtar, a senior weaver trainer. He talked her through how to weave the fabric for the tunics.
Later Mr Akhtar said the royal guest had asked if the machines were ever stopped: “And as we were talking one of the ends broke and the machine stopped automatically.”
As the visit concluded, she ran her hand over the merino-wool fabric of the jacket.
Rachel Hainsworth, a seventh generation of the family-run business who sits on AW Hainsworth’s family council, chatted to Kate about Lupton & Co, the woollen business they bought from Kate’s paternal family.
She said about Kate: “She knows about the history, her parents have been talking to her about it,” and she was interested to hear how the Lupton company specialised in “collar Melton” a piece of woollen cloth used to give body and definition to a jacket collar.
Ms Hainsworth added: “It was a time when it was an amalgamation of all the textile industries, when people were struggling and we were starting to get the imports from overseas.”
Later, the Princess of Wales continued the textiles theme to her day, crossing the Pennines to visit Standfast & Barracks, a printworks dating back to 1924, in Lancaster.
The company, which is now part of Sanderson Design Group has a long history in textile design, and employs 160 people to design and produce 35,000 metres printed fabric each week.
Kate spent more than an hour touring the factory, speaking to staff and directors, who gave her a demonstration of their work, from conventional flatbed printing, of the design known as, ‘Strawberry Thief’ to rotary printing of a design, ‘Mr Fox’, to printing the design ‘Hollyhocks’ using digital printing, a more sustainable technique, with each metre of fabric produced using approximately 80 litres less water than the traditional way.
Kate met with Frieda Gormley, Javvy M Royle and the founders of House of Hackney – a British interiors company – who are champions of print and craftsmanship to preserve age-old crafts.
They are now collaborating with Standfast & Barracks, to pioneer sustainable, traceable materials in their work.
Mr Royle said: “The whole re-gen thing is quite important to us, so we have been on this journey looking at all our fabrics.”
Kate said: “There is a growing need, isn’t there? And some understanding, from the consumer, about where their products come from.”
Later, Kate rounded off her tour by meeting Peter Elliston, the factory’s longest-serving employee, who will clock up half a century at the firm in November.
Kate was able to get down on her knees to speak with the youngster, Emily May Catto.
Emily shares an interest in dance with Kate’s own daughter, eight-year-old Princess Charlotte.
Mr Elliston said: “She asked her about what colours she liked. She told him to keep dancing. She told us about her daughter, Charlotte, she likes ballet and tap.”