Tailor-made

Heartening news in the Yorkshire Post of a new venture which should appeal to all of a moderately Chappist disposition. Fortescue-Carruthers & Co is a new Bradford-based company promising to create quality menswear - from suits and coats to cravats and dressing gowns - from the finest Yorkshire yarns.

Best of all, it's founded by a former gentleman of the press, Tim Wyatt, formerly of the Wool Record and the Telegraph & Argus. He says of the region's textile industry:
"The surviving firms in Bradford and Yorkshire are now producing some of the finest fabrics in the world, which are highly prized among discerning buyers abroad.
"We may no longer clothe the 'asses of the masses', but what has developed are profitable niche businesses working to capacity for the first time in a generation.
"The purpose of Fortescue-Carruthers & Co is to capitalise on this dramatic renaissance of the UK textile industry, offering individual excellence in a world increasingly dominated by shoddy, low- cost mass-produced goods."

Having recently had a suit (12oz Huddersfield worsted, charcoal with subtle red pinstripe) made by Salt's of Saltaire, I can certainly vouch for the quality of clobber being made by the local specialists. It'll be good to get good Yorkshire-made cravats though. For the nuptials, I had to go to Jermyn Street for a decent handmade silk number - although it transpired that its creator, David Saxby of Old Hat, is originally from South Yorkshire himself, so that was excusable.

Another story in today's YP features another fine example of Bradford entrepreneurship. Mumtaz, the excellent Kashmiri restaurant and food producer, is to start making halal baby food, a relatively unexplored market. For a 2002 story on Mumtaz and Bradford's Asian food industry, see here.