Fox cloth cuts like rich butter with tailors' shears and the dense, rich finish makes a superlative flannel suit.
- Simon Cundey, Henry Poole & Co
Legend has it, that when Sir Winston Churchill made his most memorable speeches in Parliament or on the BBC Radio he was clad in a suit cut from the finest West of England flannel, woven by his woollen mill of choice, the iconic Fox Brothers & Co.
Much like Churchill, Fox Brothers is a British institution of near national significance; at one time one of the largest and most prestigious woollen mills in the country, an employer to five thousand tradesmen, occupying a monumental site of several square miles, filled with the imposing red-brick towers and belching chimneys synonymous with good old Victorian industrialism in Wellington, Somerset.
Fox Brothers have been producing woollen and worsted fabric in Somerset since 1772, ie for the past two hundred and fifty years. Officially credited as the original creators of flannel, to this day we combine traditional manufacturing processes with state of the art design technology, to create the finest wool and cashmere cloth available in the world.
The mill's scale of production at its peak was quite frankly biblical; in 1914, with the outbreak of the First World War, the mill received the single largest textile order of the conflict, for 825 miles worth of khaki - a fabric which Fox Brothers can lay claim to having invented in 1901.
Sadly, such days are long behind many British manufacturers but fortunately today, Fox Brothers is experiencing a heart-warming renaissance and has returned to form as one of the finest producers of worsteds and woollen flannels in the United Kingdom.
In 2009, upon hearing that Fox was in dire straits, Douglas Cordeaux and his business partner Deborah Meaden, didn't think twice about running to the rescue and taking over Fox Brothers. Cordeaux was a menswear designer with a long history in luxury menswear and a passion for British heritage brands.
Thirteen years later, their brave decision and extraordinary vision has revitalised the mill and business now growing at a rate of knots - supplying cut lengths to the finest bespoke tailors and clothiers far and wide, and also weaving commercial orders for a huge number of international luxury brands; from Hackett to Aquascutum, Louis Vuitton and just about every single house on Savile Row.
Generations of men - and increasingly women - are grateful that Fox Bros have been the mainstay of their bespoke Savile Row suit or jacket. One of my woollen jackets from Huntsman carried the Fox Bros unshowy and understated label inside.
