Why Patrick Grants Loves Yorkshire and Wool

How do the King’s Guards keep out the cold and rain?
Easy, they wear tunics made from the most fantastic pure wool melton cloth made by AW Hainsworth of Pudsey in West Yorkshire the same place Community Clothing get the cloth for their fantastic Peacoat.
Patrick Grant, Community Clothing, Norton & Sons and Judge on Sewing Bee visits AW Hainsworth in Yorkshire and highlights the reasons why he always insists on their melton wool cloth for Community Clothing Peacoats.
Hainsworth are famous the world over for this exceptional compact woollen cloth. And it’s not just Guardsmen that benefit from their 240 years of cloth making experience, they also supply cloth to the Royal Navy, to some of the world’s most famous luxury brands, and for some amazing specialist applications, like the cloth which tops the world’s best billiard tables, and the pads for the keys on Steinway pianos.
Established in 1783, AW Hainsworth is one of UK’s oldest textile mills and it also has the distinction of being one of just two mills in Britain to be fully vertically integrated. Meaning that they start with raw wool at one end, and every stage of production up to the finished cloth happens under their roof. This gives them unrivalled control and ensures complete consistency of quality. Community Clothing has only ever used their melton cloth for our woollen coats.
Community Clothing have a simple mission. To make the very best quality everyday clothing; to make it from the very best natural materials in the very best factories right here in the UK; and to sell it at great prices that everyone can afford 365 days a year.

[@macsmiffy2197]

I’ve read “Less”. A lot of the history I already knew (I’m a history teacher), but the social and economic interpretation was fascinating. I’ve always knitted, but most available yarn these days is acrylic in 100g balls and wool is expensive to buy. So I started knitting FairIsle patterns with Shetland wool. They come in 25g balls, so little waste and what is left over, can be used up in smaller garments such as hats and gloves. Plus it takes me a long time!
I looked to buy T Shirts from Community Clothing, but was disappointed to find they all came with ‘badges’. Other organic outlets want to make political eco statements on their garments. I just want to buy ethical, plain, neutral clothes I can wear with anything. 🙏

[@ellenmeilee]

I’ve just started listening to Patrick Grant’s book, ‘Less’, and it’s really crystallising in my mind what I already have been thinking… less = more happiness, quality is everything, and buy British.

[@PeppermintPatties]

Patrick mentions wool from overseas, but I'm wondering how much wool from the millions of UK sheep is used?