In conversation with Wooltex

What is the history of Wooltex?

Located in the heart of Yorkshire’s textile industry, Wooltex has been designing and manufacturing textile fabrics since 1996. Wool is at the heart of everything we do, and we pride ourselves on the very highest quality standards and market leading innovation. Our textiles are used in office seating, public buildings and concert halls, with most of our sales exported for distribution within the EU and beyond.

The company has expanded rapidly since its inception and our range of manufacturing services has increased in line with this growth. Our strong technical team continually research and develop new product categories and production methods to meet the needs of our customers, and our investments in the latest machine technology enable us to produce these world class textiles efficiently.

Wooltex has insourced all production processes from yarn spinning to finishing – we are a vertical mill. Warping, weaving and mending have always been carried out in-house, and there has been continuous investment in warping and weaving machines to increase capacity, resulting in weaving production speeds that have more than doubled since 2014. In 2015/16 we installed a new state-of-the-art dyeing and finishing facility at Wooltex, and in 2022 we opened a new worsted yarn spinning facility – the first to be installed in the UK for many decades.

Aside from what we can produce in house, it is our policy to use approved local suppliers wherever possible in the manufacture of our products and we insist that products are made to the same exacting standards we set for ourselves. This local approach ensures fast, high-quality production and minimises costs, as well as reducing the impact of our carbon footprint.

How long have Kvadrat and Wooltex worked together?

After its founding in 1996, Wooltex quickly became a supplier to Kvadrat and in 2011 Wooltex entered into a partnership with Kvadrat. This partnership results in a seamless supply chain which has allowed us to introduce exciting new textiles across all sectors, from hospitality to transportation. Wooltex is now responsible for the majority of Kvadrat’s woollen textiles.

Can you tell us about the geography of the area and the role of the textile industry?

The wool textile industry was developed in Huddersfield during the Industrial Revolution (1760 – 1840), and Huddersfield is still the centre of wool manufacturing in the UK. The local geography and climate are an important part of why. The area is surrounded by the Pennine hills and weather systems coming from the Atlantic bring higher levels of rainfall than would be normal for other areas. These conditions are perfect because moisture plays a very big part in the manufacture of wool. For example, without the correct humidity in the room you can’t spin yarns. Today we have new systems that keep the rooms at the right humidity, but going back a couple of hundred years, they were reliant on our weather systems. In addition, the rock formations and geology of Huddersfield result in an abundance of ‘soft’ water, which is vital for the finishing of woollen textiles.

Unfortunately, the textile industry has declined significantly over the last years, resulting in a much-reduced potential local supply chain. Of the remaining businesses in the area, most are run by 3rd or 4th generations who have a wealth of knowledge and skills, and it is important to keep this going. At Wooltex, we depend on several local suppliers, but we also ensure that we retain skills in-house for the future by hiring young people directly from school or university. Textiles courses still operate at Leeds and Huddersfield Universities, and we also make extensive use of the local Textile Centre of Excellence for our training needs.

Where does Wooltex source the wool used for Kvadrat textiles? Currently, our wool is mainly sourced from Australia and New Zealand, but we have started to purchase more European wools, particularly from Norway and the UK. All raw materials must comply with our strict specifications for the relevant type being purchased.

What are the benefits of British wool?

Each type of wool has various qualities that are suited to different textiles. The unique strength and resilience of British wool makes it perfect for contract upholstery and makes it possible to create monomaterials that avoid the need for man-made fibres to enhance durability. For us, there is also the benefit of locality in terms of reducing transportation. British wool, such as that used in Technicolour, is sold in Bradford (just 18km from Wooltex) and comes directly to us, from which point we carry out all other processes, right through to the finished fabric.

What impact has the new Wooltex spinning site had?

The installation of a new spinning plant has made way for many new possibilities as it uses state-of-the-art automated processes to complement our highly skilled workforce. Having the full production process in-house allows us more flexibility and creativity in terms of the textiles that we are able to make – both in terms of the types of yarn and the colour possibilities. Technicolour is a perfect example of a textile we would not be able to make without our own spinning facility.

As a result of the investment, we are also in total control over how we can recycle waste produced in spinning. Today, we already reuse wool waste in textiles like Re-Wool and Sabi, but we can also now reuse plastic cones, pallets and cardboard, which would otherwise be returned for recycling externally or sent to landfill.

What efficiency and sustainability measures have Wooltex brought into effect, and what are the future ambitions?

Protecting the environment is very important to everyone at Wooltex, especially as we specialise in one of the most natural and renewable of all fibres: wool. In terms of sustainability measures, the fact that we have insourced all production processes and upgraded our machinery has made our production far more resource efficient.

The new machines we have installed over recent years use much less water. For example, our dyeing machines use less than half the amount of water per kg of material dyed compared to older machines. In addition, around 85% of our water is recycled. All of our process water is sourced from our own borehole beneath the mill, avoiding the need to use the public water supply. Fabric finishing, where the fabric is cleaned and relaxed, is traditionally seen as an area where there is intensive use of water and associated chemicals. However, investment in new technology means that we now process more than half our total production without the need for water or chemicals.

Specifically for Technicolour, across the full colour palette, 30% of the wool is undyed. This means that whilst some colourways are fully dyed, others are only partially dyed, which also significantly reduces the quantity of dyes and chemicals used.

Our recent major investment in spinning means that not only do we have the very best production machinery, but the machinery also uses less than half the amount of power when compared to older machines. The use of solar energy for our production has formed an important part of our power generation for more than a decade. During 2025, we are expanding this to include our spinning mill, where all available roof space will be used for new solar panels. All other externally sourced electricity that we use is guaranteed to be 100% generated from renewable energy sources. Insulating dyeing machines and all pipe feeds to the machines has also resulted in an annual energy saving of around 860,000 kWh. Our buildings are also well insulated and generally also employ LED lighting to lower power consumption. And finally, the mill is accredited to ISO 9000 and ISO 14000.