Member Article

Yorkshire fabric manufacturer hires trio of textile graduates

AW Hainsworth, a 240-year-old fabric manufacturer and woollen mill responsible for the look of iconic England, has hired three textile graduates from northern universities.

Angela Augusto, Rachael Frame, and Polly Armond are the newest additions to the Hainsworth team and part of the company’s future of textile expertise.

Angela and Rachael have joined the team as Technical and Innovation Managers, responsible for driving innovation, product development and continuous improvement. They have recently graduated with a Masters in Textile Science from the University of Leeds and are already applying that knowledge at the mill.

Polly is a Design and Development Manager joining the Replin team to create bespoke fabric designs for aviation and rail. Polly studied textiles at Manchester Metropolitan University, specialising in weaving, and is already contributing to key projects as part of the design team.

AW Hainsworth is committed to bridging the skills gap in the UK textile industry, and these recent hires are part of that pledge. The family-run, heritage textile mill is also investing significantly in UK textile innovation - ensuring continuous quality, skills and sustainability improvement to secure the firm’s future as an innovator in fabric development.

As part of this, AW Hainsworth completed the development of a UKAS-accredited, state-of-the-art laboratory in 2022 that includes a range of advanced instruments and machinery to enhance in-house testing abilities.

Amanda McLaren, Managing Director of AW Hainsworth, comments, “We are so pleased that Angela, Rachael and Polly have chosen to join us and excited to leverage the knowledge they all bring to their roles. All three talented graduates have settled into life at the mill seamlessly, and we are excited to see what their careers at AW Hainsworth will bring.

“It’s no secret that there’s a huge skills gap to fill in the UK textile industry, largely due to a shift away from creative education in schools and lack of new people joining the workforce. That’s why it’s essential that we hire and develop apprentices and graduates with a passion for the industry and hunger to learn.”

AW Hainsworth is a vertical textile mill that creates exquisite woollen cloth, high-performing textiles, and iconic fabrics for customers worldwide. It can process a product from raw fibre to finished cloth entirely from its site in West Yorkshire. The specialist textile company is the parent company to Hainsworth Fabric of a Nation, Hainsworth Protective Fabrics, Hainsworth Toptable, Natural Legacy by Hainsworth, John Atkinson, Hainsworth Technical Felt, Northern Rubber by Hainsworth, and Replin by Hainsworth.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophie Marsden .