T & A 26/7/2004
That's My Business - Graham Waddington
Owner of Turley Textiles
Born: Bradford
Lives: Bradford
Educated; Hanson Grammar School Bradford:
Bradford Technical College; ATI, School of Life!
Employment
Has worked in. textiles all his life. working his way up from trainee cloth designer, through assistant cloth designer and head designer to technical director of a local firm of cloth manufacturers. Made redundant in 1980 and, following a call from God. he and hit wife Mary founded their own firm, Turley Textiles Ltd .which is now the leading supplier of doth. braids, fringes cords and cinctures
for church, academic, legal. masonic and theatre wear to firms all round the world who make up garments
What do I do?
Lead a dedicated team einsuring quality standards are maintained, delivery promises adhered to and developing new products (or all our customer areas.
My work
First job:
Paper Boy in Bradford Moor
My hero:
My wife, Mary, for putting up with all the time I have had to devote to the business, doing without holidays for twenty years and taking on so rnany gardening, household and DIY jobs which I have never had time to do
Biggest success:
Creating, with God's help, something out of nothing.
My interests:
Christianity, reading, music, theatre, walkingfine wine, dining out, charities and travelling
Best piece of advice:
Let your word be your bond never break a promise and always remember that you never get a second chance to make a first Impression.
Five years' time:
Retirement; and catching up on all the things that I have neglected in the past 25 years, especially my wife!
My life
Last five buys on your credit card:
A retirement holiday for next year. a meal at Clarks, tickets for the Alhambra, shopping at Morrisons, shoe repairs.
Three favourite records:
True Love from High Society, Messiah by Handel aid anything by Glen Miller
Annoys you most:
People who break their promises/word.
My Bradford
Favourite restaurant:
Ring O bells Thornton
Favourite landmark:
Bradfod Cathedral
Best thing about the place:
It's location and its people, both possessed with grit.
In God we trust - for a thriving niche market
Reporter TIM WYATT continues his success stories of the district's textiles industry with a
couple who turned to the Church to find a niche market.
When Graham and Mary Waddington decided to sell their business they wanted to ensure the small
workforce would not wind up on the dole.
So instead of a quick sale to an owner who would gobble up the Cottingley firm and ditch the staff,
the couple spent more than three years grooming the new owners.
They are Paul and Sue Jowett, who will take over Turley Textiles' Regalia Mills when the Waddingtons
step down in December.
They will inherit a speciality business with links to the Church, the law, academia, the theatre
and even to a secret society
Back in 1980, as Bradford's textiles industry was shrinking into oblivion, cloth designer Graham
Waddington was made redundant by Booth Brothers of Little Germany, a firm which had exported 100
per cent of its clothing fabric.
Despite the prevailing climate of shut-downs and bankruptcies, the couple say they suddenly felt
inspired to set up their own textiles business.
"We had no customers ,' said Mr Waddington. "We couldn't afford to go into exports as we had no
money so we had to go knocking on doors. People asked to see our range. We said we didn't have one
- but we can make anything - and it started from there.'
They started the business at home and eventually moved into a tiny warehouse. By this time
the church-going Waddingtons had decided to look at supplying ecclesiastical wear after
discovering that most religious regalia took a mini-eternity to deliver.
They started selling cloth and trimmings to firms which made church robes, gradually expanding the
range while ensuring the price was right.
Along with cloth, the couple began producing braid, trimmings and embroidery - all on other people's
looms, a tradition which continues.
Academic and legal gowns seemed a natural progression. They were then approached by the people who
made garments for freemasons.
The academic side boomed in the late 1980s and early '90s as polytechnics and colleges turned into
universities.
'We had to be very careful about the shade of the cloth'said Mr. Waddington. 'If you get a load
of Oxford dons, you
have to make sure they all look the same. We've fallen out with dyers because they couldn't
maintain the shade we wanted. It's that attention to detail that's kept us at the forefront.'
The Waddingtons rapidly realised that men of the cloth were not necessarily men in black. Cassocks
were sometimes purple. Or green.
By 1988 with home markets covered, they plunged into exports and found church customers in Australia,
New Zealand and Canada.
Then they got a foothold in the lucrative US market, where priests and pastors were perhaps a shade
more style-conscious.
They were more adventurous colour-wise and valued exclusive fabrics produced just for them. In the
late 1990s Turley Textiles' New Century range made its appearance in American places of worship.
These days the firm's fabrics can be found in every UK cathedral. Even flamboyant South African
church leader Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been clothed by Turlev.
Like most other Bradford Textile businesses, the firm has thrived by developing niche markets and
staying small. There are four full-time and four part-time staff. That will remain the same when the
Jowetts take over.
With a turnover of half a million pounds-plus, exports account for between a third and a half of
sales.
'We're the largest firm of its type in Britain," said Mr Waddington. "But how we would rate on a
world scale I just don't know.'
Paul Jowett has a solid textiles background. Like his predecessor, he is wary of over-expansion:
'We don't want to get into the dog-eat-dog world of men's and ladies' suitings.'
He wants to develop the theatrical side of the business such as pantomime costumes. 'There's still
potential for custom-made brocades and braids in that market,' he said.
The Jowetts would like to see the business eventually passed on to their four children.
'When people say there's no future for the textiles trade, that's rubbish,' said Mr Jowett. 'In ten
years' time I'd like to think we'd still be here, growing stronger and taking it into the next
generation.
'There will always be religion, churches, vicars and choirs.
This electronic mail address must be treated as confidential and may not be transferred to any other person or organisation in accordance with the 1998 Data Protection Act.
All textual content and images on this site © M. Krupa; all rights reserved.
