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In The Factory With Ian Maclean MBE Of John Smedley
Time To Read: 8 minutes
Meet Ian Maclean MBE, the man running the oldest UK factory at John Smedley, whose garments are synonymous with quality and royalty (much like our own). Ahead of their latest launch, we caught up with Ian at his mill in Derbyshire to hear a little more about flying the flag for British manufacturing whilst continuing a family legacy of 8 generations.
In The Factory With Ian Maclean MBE Of John Smedley
Time To Read: 8 minutes
Meet Ian Maclean MBE, the man running the oldest UK factory at John Smedley, whose garments are synonymous with quality and royalty (much like our own). Ahead of their latest launch, we caught up with Ian at his mill in Derbyshire to hear a little more about flying the flag for British manufacturing whilst continuing a family legacy of 8 generations.
How long has Smedley been going for, tell us about the history and how the brand has changed over time?
John Smedley’s business dates back to the beginning of the industrial revolution, when cotton spinning began in factories in Derbyshire in the 1770s and ‘80s. The first knitted products would have been hosiery and then woollen underwear that would have been worn pretty much year-round by everyone. John Smedley makes the claim that “Long Johns” were invented here, as the long woollen underwear that men wore to keep warm during the winter. The factory experienced a big period of growth and success during the 50-year period from 1825-1875 when John Smedley 2nd ran the business, developing a lot of new products, expanding into exports, and selling both wool and cotton knitted garments of a very fine quality. John Marsden-Smedley, nephew of John Smedley 2nd, incorporated the company in 1893, purchased the freehold of the factory site from Florence Nightingale in 1894, and went on to run the company as Chairman for some 70 years, which must be a British record! The company has remained family owned since the start, and although our fortunes have fluctuated over time, we continue to employ 320 people in two factories in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire, and make 100% of our garments in the UK. John Smedley was contracted by the Government to make underwear for the armed forces during both World Wars, and after WWII there came a big change in the market as sales of Long Johns declined. My Grandfather, Ian Maclean, was the Chairman in the 1960s and oversaw a big move into knitted shirts, pullovers and cardigans – all the products we are familiar with today. This led to a big change in the “visibility” of the brand, as celebrities such as Marylin Monroe, The Beatles and Audrey Hepburn were photographed wearing John Smedley. In the 1980s we began to develop our business in Japan with a family business called Mashimo & Co who had similar values to ourselves. In the 2000s we were able to start trading directly with the Royal Households, eventually gaining the Royal Warrants of Appoint from Her Majesty The Queen (2013) and HRH Prince Charles (2021). Today, the business is very thankful for the loyalty of its retail customers and many valued consumers around the world for helping us to recover from the worldwide downturn during Covid. Our business is beginning to thrive again as we start to write the next chapter of our long history.
How many generations have looked after the business and what are the challenges you’ve faced over the years?
I am the 8th generation of the Family to run the company since it was founded in 1784. A portrait of my Great Grandfather, John Marsden-Smedley, hangs in the Boardroom and he was Chairman of the company for fully 70 years, which is amazing. His era spanned the late Victorian period, the Edwardian period, the First World War, the Great Depression, the Second World War and the post-War rationing period. It’s difficult to imagine just how challenging the World War periods were, as we haven’t experienced anything like that in our lifetimes.
Industry was entirely re-organised, and our company had to produced knitted underwear for the forces while dealing with the huge social changes brought about by men being drafted, and women entering the workforce for the first time in huge numbers. After the War, the challenge of dealing with so many export markets that had been crushed by the conflict, and then trying to re-build must have been enormous. In more recent times, during my 30 year business career, the biggest influence on our business has been Globalisation. The lowering of global tariffs to trade in textiles has wiped out 90% of the UK textile manufacturing industry over the last 50 years. In the 1970s, 25% of the UK economy was manufacturing and 1m people worked in textiles. Today, only 10% of the UK economy is manufacturing and only around 150,000 people work in textiles. The loss of the “ecosystem” around businesses like ours has been a huge challenge – we don’t have support from textile industry machine makers, spinners, engineers, chemists, mechanics and the like, because they hardly existing in the UK any more. Looking forward, the big challenge that we are already trying to address (without much success yet at an industry scale) is climate change, sustainability and ecosystem damage. We are very much at the beginning of our journey. We have calculated and published our carbon footprint for the first time this year, and we are working closely with the New Zealand Merino company to understand how their farmers will change working practices on the farm to sequester carbon and increase biodiversity and ecosystem resilience. Covid and Brexit were also challenges for us, but somewhat pale into insignificance alongside Globalisation and CO2 reduction, if you take a longer term view.
It seemed fitting to celebrate our best of British theme with the finest knitwear manufacturer in the world, what makes your knitwear products the best?
I think it is because we are obsessed by quality, and we have a great feel for what our customers want in terms of fit, finish, detailing and colour. You could say we are all a bit eccentric in these matters! Our Technical Director and Design Team really do travel the world to meet suppliers and understand how the raw materials are grown, and how they are processed in the steps along the supply chain. Interestingly, the suppliers we deal with – many of whom are family businesses themselves – like the attention we pay them and reciprocate with ideas of their own for improvements. There are many times I have welcomed farmers from New Zealand to Lea Mills to show them around the factory. They also recognize the fact that both Her Majesty the Queen and the Prince of Wales purchase their knitwear from us says something special about what we (collectively) do. It’s the ultimate symbol of quality and a job well done.
How long has Smedley been going for, tell us about the history and how the brand has changed over time?
John Smedley’s business dates back to the beginning of the industrial revolution, when cotton spinning began in factories in Derbyshire in the 1770s and ‘80s. The first knitted products would have been hosiery and then woollen underwear that would have been worn pretty much year-round by everyone. John Smedley makes the claim that “Long Johns” were invented here, as the long woollen underwear that men wore to keep warm during the winter. The factory experienced a big period of growth and success during the 50-year period from 1825-1875 when John Smedley 2nd ran the business, developing a lot of new products, expanding into exports, and selling both wool and cotton knitted garments of a very fine quality. John Marsden-Smedley, nephew of John Smedley 2nd, incorporated the company in 1893, purchased the freehold of the factory site from Florence Nightingale in 1894, and went on to run the company as Chairman for some 70 years, which must be a British record! The company has remained family owned since the start, and although our fortunes have fluctuated over time, we continue to employ 320 people in two factories in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire, and make 100% of our garments in the UK. John Smedley was contracted by the Government to make underwear for the armed forces during both World Wars, and after WWII there came a big change in the market as sales of Long Johns declined. My Grandfather, Ian Maclean, was the Chairman in the 1960s and oversaw a big move into knitted shirts, pullovers and cardigans – all the products we are familiar with today. This led to a big change in the “visibility” of the brand, as celebrities such as Marylin Monroe, The Beatles and Audrey Hepburn were photographed wearing John Smedley. In the 1980s we began to develop our business in Japan with a family business called Mashimo & Co who had similar values to ourselves. In the 2000s we were able to start trading directly with the Royal Households, eventually gaining the Royal Warrants of Appoint from Her Majesty The Queen (2013) and HRH Prince Charles (2021). Today, the business is very thankful for the loyalty of its retail customers and many valued consumers around the world for helping us to recover from the worldwide downturn during Covid. Our business is beginning to thrive again as we start to write the next chapter of our long history.
How many generations have looked after the business and what are the challenges you’ve faced over the years?
I am the 8th generation of the Family to run the company since it was founded in 1784. A portrait of my Great Grandfather, John Marsden-Smedley, hangs in the Boardroom and he was Chairman of the company for fully 70 years, which is amazing. His era spanned the late Victorian period, the Edwardian period, the First World War, the Great Depression, the Second World War and the post-War rationing period. It’s difficult to imagine just how challenging the World War periods were, as we haven’t experienced anything like that in our lifetimes.
Industry was entirely re-organised, and our company had to produced knitted underwear for the forces while dealing with the huge social changes brought about by men being drafted, and women entering the workforce for the first time in huge numbers. After the War, the challenge of dealing with so many export markets that had been crushed by the conflict, and then trying to re-build must have been enormous. In more recent times, during my 30 year business career, the biggest influence on our business has been Globalisation. The lowering of global tariffs to trade in textiles has wiped out 90% of the UK textile manufacturing industry over the last 50 years. In the 1970s, 25% of the UK economy was manufacturing and 1m people worked in textiles. Today, only 10% of the UK economy is manufacturing and only around 150,000 people work in textiles. The loss of the “ecosystem” around businesses like ours has been a huge challenge – we don’t have support from textile industry machine makers, spinners, engineers, chemists, mechanics and the like, because they hardly existing in the UK any more. Looking forward, the big challenge that we are already trying to address (without much success yet at an industry scale) is climate change, sustainability and ecosystem damage. We are very much at the beginning of our journey. We have calculated and published our carbon footprint for the first time this year, and we are working closely with the New Zealand Merino company to understand how their farmers will change working practices on the farm to sequester carbon and increase biodiversity and ecosystem resilience. Covid and Brexit were also challenges for us, but somewhat pale into insignificance alongside Globalisation and CO2 reduction, if you take a longer term view.
It seemed fitting to celebrate our best of British theme with the finest knitwear manufacturer in the world, what makes your knitwear products the best?
I think it is because we are obsessed by quality, and we have a great feel for what our customers want in terms of fit, finish, detailing and colour. You could say we are all a bit eccentric in these matters! Our Technical Director and Design Team really do travel the world to meet suppliers and understand how the raw materials are grown, and how they are processed in the steps along the supply chain. Interestingly, the suppliers we deal with – many of whom are family businesses themselves – like the attention we pay them and reciprocate with ideas of their own for improvements. There are many times I have welcomed farmers from New Zealand to Lea Mills to show them around the factory. They also recognize the fact that both Her Majesty the Queen and the Prince of Wales purchase their knitwear from us says something special about what we (collectively) do. It’s the ultimate symbol of quality and a job well done.
Your products are made in the UK, why is it so important to manufacture in Britain?
I couldn’t argue that it’s intrinsically important in itself, but it does certainly give us a point of uniqueness in the market that we can exploit. We have all of Bitain’s “soft power” at our disposal when we tell the story of how and where our garments are made. We like to tell the story, and our consumers like to hear it. But really we are a dinosaur from a different age. That said, I think that addressing the problems of climate change and sustainability will make it more viable in the future for garments (maybe even knitted ones) to be made in Britain with a very short supply chain. When I say this, I do not mean to hark back to an earlier era, and I do not expect we will re-grow the old textile industry…not at all. I expect that an entirely new kind of textile industry will grow out of new technologies, new ways of thinking and new expectations from consumers. And making in Britain could be critical in this context.
What’s it like running the oldest factory in the UK?
Lots of fun and challenges! And it's an easy story to tell… People remember it, when I say it.
We use time honoured techniques and traditions in our own factory here at Cottenham House, how are your knitwear garments crafted with care?
Even though we are in a period of change, with old machines and old software being superceded by much faster stuff, the same old rules apply: We have to keep focused on the raw materials and making sure that they are grown to the very high standards that we need. Training is key. We need to make time and space for new people – who won’t have been trained in any other textile factory, because there aren’t any – to understand what makes John Smedley garments great and how to keep the standards up in every manufacturing step.
Tell us about your efforts during covid-19 and being awarded your MBE?
Covid-19 was a huge shock to our business, as it was for everyone. Initially, we agreed to close our factory for 6 weeks in the period from March-May 2020 as everyone was uncertain and fearful about what was happening. During the closed period, myself and a small crew of my colleagues worked on making the factory safe, including moving workstations apart, putting in one-way systems, acquiring PPE and developing new cleaning systems. At the same time, my colleague Jess McGuire-Dudley, was in touch with a network of Designers in London who were mobilizing efforts to make PPE in the UK for the NHS and Care sectors.
It was with the help of this group that we formulated our plans to return to work in our factory in mid-May 2020, initially by making re-usable scrubs for Doctors, nurses and care home staff in Derbyshire. We asked for a small team of volunteers (around a dozen) to come into the factory, learn how to make the garments, and then re-start production. They were very brave and amazingly positive, and the team came together to do great work. Once they had seen the newly arranged factory, and all the new systems and processes in place to make it work, they were able to give other colleagues the confidence to return to work as well, and our knitwear manufacturing soon re-started. Eventually, I was hugely honoured to accept the MBE on behalf of the work we had all done during that difficult period – and I asked that, instead of myself going to the Palace to receive it, the Lord Lieutenant should come to Lea Mills to present the award in our factory, which graciously she did.
Can you tell us about the updates you are making to manufacture more sustainably?
We have taken several steps, but it feels like we are still only at the beginning of our journey. In the last month we have received planning permission for our first ever installation of solar panels on the roof of the Lea Mills factory. Eventually, in combination with a Building Management System, solar panels across the entire roofscape of the Mill should contribute to covering the electricity base load of the entire factory operation. Regarding the raw materials we use: We are working with New Zealand Merino to change the way farming of sheep is done, so that more carbon can be sequestered on the farms. We are also in the testing phase of a source of organic cotton, and various packaging alternatives. The list of other activities we are investigating and experimenting with is long and eclectic!
Tell us about your role with UKFT?
I have been a Director of UKFT for 6 years now. The transition of the organization to a forward thinking, practical, industry focused, body under CEO Adam Mansell has been outstanding. He has built a great team around him and they are delivering very valuable services for the membership. I am also encouraged that previously “distant” parties, such as the textile industry-related Livery Companies, are now collaborating actively with UKFT to bring about further positive change. Everyone wants to see a bigger and more successful textile industry, and UKFT can be the fulcrum around which this can happen. The next big step is to bring about a sea change in the way Government views our industry. To this end, I have been playing my part, alongside Adam and newly appointed Ops Director, Judith Rosser-Davies, to organize a comprehensive research project into the scope and scale of our industry in the UK and to plot a path towards identifying Government interventions that could double or triple its size. This is very energizing.
How are you safeguarding the future of your brand?
Two things: first, by keeping investing, and second, by remaining a family business with a long-term view.
Why have you partnered with PWVC on this partnership/project? What do you like about PWVC as a brand?
It’s no secret that I am personally a huge fan of PWVC and its garments. I was introduced to Ventile®
fabric when I worked in the technical clothing industry in the US in the 1990s. To me, Ventile® is some kind of mysterious magic fabric – cotton that is waterproof – and I have been in love with it ever since. I currently own 6 PWVC Ventile® jackets. My most recent purchases have been the Ventile® Storm Smock in Dark Navy for myself when I go cross country skiing, and a small Harrington for my wife (don’t tell her, it’s not her birthday until October!). Do I need to say any more about why we need to be partners? No excuses needed…
IAN’S PWVC PICKS
Your products are made in the UK, why is it so important to manufacture in Britain?
I couldn’t argue that it’s intrinsically important in itself, but it does certainly give us a point of uniqueness in the market that we can exploit. We have all of Bitain’s “soft power” at our disposal when we tell the story of how and where our garments are made. We like to tell the story, and our consumers like to hear it. But really we are a dinosaur from a different age. That said, I think that addressing the problems of climate change and sustainability will make it more viable in the future for garments (maybe even knitted ones) to be made in Britain with a very short supply chain. When I say this, I do not mean to hark back to an earlier era, and I do not expect we will re-grow the old textile industry…not at all. I expect that an entirely new kind of textile industry will grow out of new technologies, new ways of thinking and new expectations from consumers. And making in Britain could be critical in this context.
What’s it like running the oldest factory in the UK?
Lots of fun and challenges! And it's an easy story to tell… People remember it, when I say it.
We use time honoured techniques and traditions in our own factory here at Cottenham House, how are your knitwear garments crafted with care?
Even though we are in a period of change, with old machines and old software being superceded by much faster stuff, the same old rules apply: We have to keep focused on the raw materials and making sure that they are grown to the very high standards that we need. Training is key. We need to make time and space for new people – who won’t have been trained in any other textile factory, because there aren’t any – to understand what makes John Smedley garments great and how to keep the standards up in every manufacturing step.
Tell us about your efforts during covid-19 and being awarded your MBE?
Covid-19 was a huge shock to our business, as it was for everyone. Initially, we agreed to close our factory for 6 weeks in the period from March-May 2020 as everyone was uncertain and fearful about what was happening. During the closed period, myself and a small crew of my colleagues worked on making the factory safe, including moving workstations apart, putting in one-way systems, acquiring PPE and developing new cleaning systems. At the same time, my colleague Jess McGuire-Dudley, was in touch with a network of Designers in London who were mobilizing efforts to make PPE in the UK for the NHS and Care sectors.
It was with the help of this group that we formulated our plans to return to work in our factory in mid-May 2020, initially by making re-usable scrubs for Doctors, nurses and care home staff in Derbyshire. We asked for a small team of volunteers (around a dozen) to come into the factory, learn how to make the garments, and then re-start production. They were very brave and amazingly positive, and the team came together to do great work. Once they had seen the newly arranged factory, and all the new systems and processes in place to make it work, they were able to give other colleagues the confidence to return to work as well, and our knitwear manufacturing soon re-started. Eventually, I was hugely honoured to accept the MBE on behalf of the work we had all done during that difficult period – and I asked that, instead of myself going to the Palace to receive it, the Lord Lieutenant should come to Lea Mills to present the award in our factory, which graciously she did.
Can you tell us about the updates you are making to manufacture more sustainably?
We have taken several steps, but it feels like we are still only at the beginning of our journey. In the last month we have received planning permission for our first ever installation of solar panels on the roof of the Lea Mills factory. Eventually, in combination with a Building Management System, solar panels across the entire roofscape of the Mill should contribute to covering the electricity base load of the entire factory operation. Regarding the raw materials we use: We are working with New Zealand Merino to change the way farming of sheep is done, so that more carbon can be sequestered on the farms. We are also in the testing phase of a source of organic cotton, and various packaging alternatives. The list of other activities we are investigating and experimenting with is long and eclectic!
Tell us about your role with UKFT?
I have been a Director of UKFT for 6 years now. The transition of the organization to a forward thinking, practical, industry focused, body under CEO Adam Mansell has been outstanding. He has built a great team around him and they are delivering very valuable services for the membership. I am also encouraged that previously “distant” parties, such as the textile industry-related Livery Companies, are now collaborating actively with UKFT to bring about further positive change. Everyone wants to see a bigger and more successful textile industry, and UKFT can be the fulcrum around which this can happen. The next big step is to bring about a sea change in the way Government views our industry. To this end, I have been playing my part, alongside Adam and newly appointed Ops Director, Judith Rosser-Davies, to organize a comprehensive research project into the scope and scale of our industry in the UK and to plot a path towards identifying Government interventions that could double or triple its size. This is very energizing.
How are you safeguarding the future of your brand?
Two things: first, by keeping investing, and second, by remaining a family business with a long-term view.
Why have you partnered with PWVC on this partnership/project? What do you like about PWVC as a brand?
It’s no secret that I am personally a huge fan of PWVC and its garments. I was introduced to Ventile®
fabric when I worked in the technical clothing industry in the US in the 1990s. To me, Ventile® is some kind of mysterious magic fabric – cotton that is waterproof – and I have been in love with it ever since. I currently own 6 PWVC Ventile® jackets. My most recent purchases have been the Ventile® Storm Smock in Dark Navy for myself when I go cross country skiing, and a small Harrington for my wife (don’t tell her, it’s not her birthday until October!). Do I need to say any more about why we need to be partners? No excuses needed…