John Smedley: The Establishment of a Tradition in Fine Knitwear (1), c. 1750-1874

摘要

John Smedley Ltd, the upmarket knitwear manufacturer, has a history reaching back to the eighteenth-century. The factory at Lea Bridge, a relatively isolated village near Mat-lock in Derbyshire, has been in continuous production since 1784 - yet the history of the company and of the Smedley family is little known. This article considers the career of the founder, the eccentric John Smedley (1803-1874), to discover how he lifted a small family business from near insolvency at the beginning of the nineteenth century to a position of market leader in the hosiery trade by the time of his death in 1874. Part of the answer lies in his adoption of new technology, the spinning of a very fine merino and silk yarn that was knitted into the very best quality underwear for both men and women. The other part lies in his unique and forward-thinking approach to marketing: simultaneously finding outlets with the leading London wholesalers, with the foremost New York warehousing firm of his day and with the best-known retail specialists in outfits for colonial markets. A sequel article will show how Smedley's successors have maintained the growth of the firm.