To celebrate Wool Month 2022, Future Fashion Factory is hosting an exhibition of Yorkshire wool and textiles at Salts Mill from the 5^th – 26^th October.

The exhibition will include garments from AW Hainsworth and loan pieces from the Yorkshire Fashion Archive. Showcasing Yorkshire textile and fashion manufacturing through the years, the exhibition serves as an insight into Yorkshire as both a centre of textile heritage and a champion of innovation. Personal histories will be told through the archival garments on display, which reflect the lives of their donors.

The exhibition will also demonstrate Yorkshire’s longstanding place within the world of luxury fashion, including pieces from designers such as Lee Hurst, Commes des Garcons and Thierry Mugler.

On display will be a variety of historical garments and examples of luxury fashion. As a demonstration of the earliest form of coding used within the textile industry, there will be a selection of jacquard punch-cards on display. Jacquard weave is still in use today, apparent across home décor textiles and as a fabric that affords fashion a level of bespoke and heritage value. Also in the exhibition, will be a royal guard’s jacket, made from the iconic scarlet Hainsworth cloth.

As part of the exhibition, Future Fashion Factory is holding a competition for Fashion students across the region. As part of the competition, students will submit images to reinterpret and capture the exhibition in visual form, building on a heritage of excellence across textile and manufacturing within the region. There will be prize-giving ceremony at Salts Mill at the end of the exhibition.

“Future Fashion Factory supports creativity and innovation at every stage of the supply chain, bringing academics and companies together in collaboration, to ensure sustainable development and growth of the UK’s fashion and textile industry.

“This exhibition celebrates the rich history of innovative design and manufacturing in Yorkshire’s wool textile industry, which continues to thrive today with products that are internationally renowned for their aesthetics, quality and performance” said Professor Stephen Russell, Co-Director of Future Fashion Factory.