Graham Johnson sat back, stunned and in disbelief. Was that a call he had just taken from billionaire Sir Richard Branson's London team, or was he dreaming?

Graham toyed with the idea that it could be a wind-up. Surely he hadn't just received a request to tailor-make a Union Jack suit for Britain's most high-profile entrepreneur?

Indeed he had. And what was probably the biggest celebrity coup in Graham's career began as a hobby from home.

Graham has been a Royalist, although he says not staunchly, since boyhood when he visited many of London's regal buildings.

"I guess I've always been interested in the Royal family," he says. "I was into Princess Diana, I followed that story and that got me going. I was always interested in Buckingham Palace. I've been round there and I used to visit various historic buildings."

You would assume that a fascination with the Union Jack was an extension of Graham's Royal interest. It wasn't.

While seeking a Union Jack T-shirt for his cousin, who emigrated to America 30 years ago, Graham discovered a niche for suppliers.

He was working in IT at the time and was looking into building a website as a hobby.

"Then when my cousin wanted a Union Jack T-shirt I looked for one in Leeds and Bradford but couldn't find any up here. Generally they were based in London," says Graham. "I looked around shops I thought would have something like that but I couldn't find anything. I also looked on the internet and couldn't find anything there so I got one printed myself. That got the ball rolling."

Graham seized on the Queen's Golden Jubilee as an opportune time for turning what began as a hobby into a business. He left the company where he was working and launched Union Jack Wear.

"People didn't seem interested at first," recalls Graham. "Then, suddenly, everyone jumped on the bandwagon. It really took off."

Since then he's been fulfilling requests for Union Jack gear from customers throughout the globe. Demand for stock forced him to relocate the business from his Oakworth home to a unit in Keighley.

The perception of patriotic memorabilia tends to be flags, mugs, hats and buntings. Graham supplies those and much more - his speciality is the double duvet. He can even supply one with the Scottish flag. He'll even source underwear! "We've had e-mail requests for Union Jack thongs!" he laughs. "The most unusual was probably for tartan kilt thongs!"

When former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell walked on stage at the Brits wearing her famous Union Jack mini dress, fashionistas were clamouring to copy the patriotic look. The copy-cat dress Graham had his suppliers create is among his best-sellers.

His Def Leppard T-shirts - sleeveless T-shirts with a Union Jack on the front - are popular across the Atlantic with Stateside followers of the Sheffield rockers. Graham has even supplied patriotic toilet seats for thrones' all over the globe!

Graham's greatest coup is supplying celebrity clientele. The most recent request was for a Union Jack suit tailor-made for Sir Richard Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic. The cotton suit was stitched to Sir Richard's requirements by Graham's Silsden-based tailoress who, Graham says, was very excited about the celebrity assignment!

Graham says Sir Richard wanted the suit for promotional purposes, staking the UK claim on an Island on the World, a man-made archipelago of 300 islands in the shape of a world map under construction off the coast of Dubai.

Sir Richard jumped out of a red London telephone box sporting the colourful suit.

"It's a good achievement isn't it?" says Graham modestly.

But what did Sir Richard himself think of sporting a piece of Bradford's manufacturing talent? "It was great to be able to wear a little piece of Britain," said Sir Richard.

"Despite 40 degree temperatures, the suit was perfect for the occasion and proved British manufacturing is still among the best in the world."

Creating a suit for Britain's most famous entrepreneur wasn't Graham's first celebrity assignment. Last year his company provided the Union Jack silk tie sported by Terry Wogan when he presented the Eurovision Song Contest. Graham has also provided patriotic trousers for some of the world's top golf stars and recently supplied items for a photo shoot involving England football star Peter Crouch's model girlfriend, Abi Clancy.

"The Miss England team also rang up for some St George bikinis," says Graham.

Graham believes there is still a place for patriotism. "A lot of people are proud to be British," he says.

And with London hosting the 2012 Olympics, he predicts business could be booming. He has already sourced sporting-inspired bunting from his suppliers to meet the demand he predicts, and he doesn't mind flying the flag to promote his own patriotism. "I often wear Union Jack boxers!" he laughs.

One of Graham's regular customers is Mark Palmer, whose interest in the Royals stems from his great-grandfather's profession as a chauffeur for the family of Captain Mark Phillips, Princess Anne's first husband.

"I like the Royal family and that's where my interest began," says Mark.

For a decade he has been involved in the Nuneaton carnival and three years ago he discovered Graham's web business while looking for Union Jack items.

Graham has since supplied Mark with a Union Jack suit that he wears to other carnivals he visits. His most recent purchase was a pair of patriotic trousers.

"The Union Jack is known the world over as the British flag so why not be proud to be British?" says Mark.

For more information visit www.unionjackwear.co.uk