Our coat is drop-red gorgeous, says Pudsey firm (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Our coat is drop-red gorgeous, says Pudsey firm

7:00am Thursday 8th March 2012 in Business By Chris Holland, Business Reporter

A historic textile manufacturer has teamed up with a top designer to showcase its growing work with fashion houses using cloth traditionally used for military uniforms, including by Prince William on his wedding day.

Hainsworth commissioned Anita Massarella Design Couture to produce the Hainsworth coat from the firm’s scarlet doeskin cloth, more often used for military mess dress and uniforms. The traditional British fabric is woven in the 229-year-old firm’s mill near Pudsey.

The coat is intended to raise the profile in fashion circles of Hainsworth’s mill which supplies luxury fabric to the world’s royalty, including the Queen. It has exclusively supplied ceremonial woollen cloth to the Ministry of Defence for Royal Guards outside Buckingham Palace .

While the coat has been produced as a one-off, Hainsworth said it would be interested in manufacturing commercially, subject to demand.

Managing director Tom Hainsworth said: “It’s an exciting time for us and we are looking forward to working with more designers and high-end retail houses, not just in Britain but across the world.

“We have the capacity to deal with large or small orders and pride ourselves on being able to manufacture onsite in the UK where we have complete control of the production process.”

Designer Anita Massarella said: “It was fantastic to work with Hainsworth and to be able to use the very best quality materials that money can buy to design this full length coat. A team of five spent over a hundred hours creating it using traditional tailoring skills and handwork.”