The John Smedley story began during the infancy of the Industrial Revolution at our factory in Lea Mills, Derbyshire, where you can still find us, over 230 years later.
In 1784 our factory started its life producing plain muslin fabric and spinning cotton and in 1825 we switched to the production of more complex garments using one of the first fully fashioned knitting machines, creating the original.
Let's move on to 1914 when we started exporting to the far reaches of the globe and over time established ourselves as one of Great Britain's most famous clothing brands. Brittany.
In the 1950s and 60s we became the brand of choice for many famous faces, including Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and the Beatles, and by 1980 we had established ourselves as the brand reference knitwear for British designers such as Dame Vivienne Westwood. and Sir Paul Smith.
