Courtaulds was a
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-based manufacturer of fabric, clothing, artificial fibres, and chemicals.
Foundation
The Company was founded by
George CourtauldGeorge Courtauld was the founder of Courtaulds which was to become one the United Kingdom's largest textile businesses.-Career:Apprenticed to a Spitalfields silk weaver in 1775, George Courtauld first worked on his own as silk throwster. Between 1785 and 1794 he made a number of visits to America...
and his cousin Peter Taylor (1790–1850) in 1794 as a silk, crepe and textile business at
PebmarshPebmarsh is a small village and a civil parish the Braintree district, in Essex, England. It is situated to the north east of Halstead close to the A131.- External links :*****...
in north
EssexEssex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
trading as
George Courtauld & Co. In 1810, his
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-born son
Samuel CourtauldSamuel Courtauld was an industrialist and Unitarian, chiefly remembered as the driving force behind the rapid growth of the Courtauld textile business in Britain....
was managing his own
silkSilk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
mill in
Braintree, EssexBraintree is a town of about 42,000 people and the principal settlement of the Braintree district of Essex in the East of England. It is northeast of Chelmsford and west of Colchester on the River Blackwater, A120 road and a branch of the Great Eastern Main Line.Braintree has grown contiguous...
.
In 1818, George Courtauld returned to
AmericaThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, leaving Samuel Courtauld and Taylor to expand the business – now known as Courtauld & Taylor – by building further mills in
HalsteadHalstead is a town and civil parish located in Braintree District of Essex, England, near Colchester and Sudbury. It has a population of 11,053. The town is situated in the Colne Valley, and originally developed on the hill to the north of the river...
and
BockingBocking can refer to:*Bocking, a village near Braintree, Essex*Bocking 14, a cultivated strain of the plant Comfrey*Powerbocking, the use of powered stilts patented by Alexander Böck...
. In 1825 Courtauld installed a
steam engineA steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
at the Bocking mill, and then installed
power loomA power loom is a mechanized loom powered by a line shaft. The first power loom was designed in 1784 by Edmund Cartwright and first built in 1785. It was refined over the next 47 years until a design by Kenworthy and Bullough, made the operation completely automatic. This was known as the...
s at Halstead. His mills, however, remained heavily dependent on young female workers – in 1838, over 92% of his workforce was female.
By 1850, Courtauld employed over 2,000 people in his three silk mills, and he had recruited partners including (in 1828) his brother, George Courtauld II (1802–1861) and – in 1849 - fellow Unitarian social reformer
Peter Alfred TaylorPeter Alfred Taylor was a British politician and radical.He was the son of another Peter Alfred Taylor, a silk merchant, and the nephew of Samuel Courtauld. He was educated at a school in Hove, Sussex, run by J. P. Malleson, his cousin and the Unitarian minister for Brighton. Here he met Clementia...
(1819-1891 – son of Peter Taylor who died the following year). By this time, Courtauld was a very wealthy man but was also suffering from deafness. He planned to spend more time on his country estate
Gosfield HallGosfield Hall near Braintree in Essex, England was built in 1545 by Sir John Wentworth, a member of Cardinal Wolsey’s household, and hosted Royal visits by Queen Elizabeth I and her grand retinue throughout the middle of the 16th century....
near Halstead, but could not persuade himself to retire, and continued to play an active role in the company until just before he died in March 1881.
His great-nephew
Samuel CourtauldSamuel Courtauld son of Sydney Courtauld and Sarah Lucy Sharpe was an English industrialist who is best remembered as an art collector...
(1876–1947) became chairman of the Courtauld company in 1921 but is chiefly remembered today as the founder of the
Courtauld Institute of ArtThe Courtauld Institute of Art is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art. The Courtauld is one of the premier centres for the teaching of art history in the world; it was the only History of Art department in the UK to be awarded a top...
in
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
William Julien CourtauldWilliam Julien Courtauld was 1st Baronet Courtauld of Penny Pot, and part of the Courtauld family empire in Great Britain-Personal life:He was the son of Sydney Courtauld and Sarah Lucy Sharpe....
was also a benefactor of the arts: he gave artworks to the Essex County Council chamber at
ChelmsfordChelmsford is the county town of Essex, England and the principal settlement of the borough of Chelmsford. It is located in the London commuter belt, approximately northeast of Charing Cross, London, and approximately the same distance from the once provincial Roman capital at Colchester...
and the town hall at
BraintreeBraintree is a town of about 42,000 people and the principal settlement of the Braintree district of Essex in the East of England. It is northeast of Chelmsford and west of Colchester on the River Blackwater, A120 road and a branch of the Great Eastern Main Line.Braintree has grown contiguous...
in the 1930s.
Expansion
Courtaulds had entered the market of cellulosics (
viscoseViscose is a viscous organic liquid used to make rayon and cellophane. Viscose is becoming synonymous with rayon, a soft material commonly used in shirts, shorts, coats, jackets, and other outer wear.-Manufacture:...
and
acetateAn acetate is a derivative of acetic acid. This term includes salts and esters, as well as the anion found in solution. Most of the approximately 5 billion kilograms of acetic acid produced annually in industry are used in the production of acetates, which usually take the form of polymers. In...
) in North America with the setting up of the American Viscose Corporation (AVC) in 1909. The investment in the USA was highly successful, but its sale was enforced in 1941 as part of the negotiations which preceded
Lend-LeaseLend-Lease was the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945. It was signed into law on March 11, 1941, a year and a half after the outbreak of war in Europe in...
.
Meanwhile in Europe Courtaulds expanded its cellulosics business both directly and in joint ventures, including
British CellophaneBritish Cellophane Ltd was a joint venture company formed in 1935 between La Cellophane SA and Courtaulds, when they began building a major factory for producing Cellophane in Bridgwater, Somerset, England....
.
In 1945 Courtaulds remained one of the four groups which dominated the man-made fibre industry in Europe (counting the German VGF and the Dutch AKU as one group, and including also the CTA—later merged into Rhone-Poulenc~-in France, and
Snia ViscoseSNIA S.p.A. was an Italian firm located in Milan that manufactured defence products, textiles, chemicals, perfumes, and corrugated paper among other products. SNIA was founded in Turin in 1917 as a shipbuilder and gradually diversified into other areas of manufacturing...
in Italy). Courtaulds activities in continental Europe consisted in a wholly owned, one-factory viscose fibre business employing some 3,000 people in France, a 50% share in a similar business in Germany (of which the other 50% was owned by VGF, the major competitor), and a minority shareholding which controlled 20% of the voting capital in the Italian firm Snia Viscosa, also primarily a viscose fibre producer. This activity expanded until the 1960s, when these products were replaced by newer developments
Post World War II
Courtaulds was one of the earliest companies in the UK to establish an
economicsEconomics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
department. In the three decades following
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
that department made notable contributions to the understanding of
investment appraisalCapital budgeting is the planning process used to determine whether an organization's long term investments such as new machinery, replacement machinery, new plants, new products, and research development projects are worth pursuing...
and the formulation of British - and later European - trade policy. The function also played a significant role in the development of Courtaulds from a rather sedate, man-made fibers producer to the world's largest textile manufacturer, a position the company attained in the mid-1970s. The economics department then influenced the early stages of the subsequent extensive restructuring of the company, a process that culminated in the
demergingDemerger is a form of corporate restructuring in which the an entity's business operations are segregated into one or more components. It is the converse of a merger or acquisition....
of its textile activities as a separately quoted company in March 1990
Break-Up
By the late 1980s, the manufacture of clothing was quickly moving to South East Asia, and
ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. Courtaulds had shut many of its UK based factories and moved production to new Asian based sites but its main customer Marks and Spencer wanted better prices. Secondly, its main profit was coming from its chemicals business, which was being held back by the textiles business.
In 1990, Courtaulds plc split itself in to two parts:
- Courtaulds textiles - the fibre manufacture and clothing business
- Courtaulds plc - the chemicals business
Courtaulds plc
The global chemicals industry was in a distinct recession, and the company faced difficult times. The company employed 23,000 and had £2 billion ($4 billion) in annual revenue, with 30% from the United States, 40% from Europe and 15% from Asia-Pacific. CEO Sipko Huismans had focused the company on rationalisation and cost cutting:
We have to cut costs. We can't count on sales growth to pay us more or to allow us to buy more of our favorite things. In 1991, the company closed its French viscose plant, allowing its other plants to boost output to 93% capacity, compared with an industry average of 75%. This enabled the share price to double in the first three years following the demerger.
Although prices were stable, the company had a potential revenue generator in
Tencel, a man-made fibre Courtaulds had spent £100 million and 10 years bringing to market. Like viscose, Tencel is made from cellulose derived from dissolved wood pulp. While rayon production generates large amounts of sulfurous waste, Tencel is made with a "closed loop" chemical process in which the solvent can be filtered and reused. The final product is far stronger than rayon or cotton, which allows a huge variety of different forms and feels - from ultrasoft yet strong denim jeans, to shirts that feel like silk, to scarves that ape the texture of cashmere.
To aid its goal of expanding its business, specifically in Asia-Pacific, Courtaulds plc delivered part of its development in joint ventures, particularly with
Akzo NobelAkzo Nobel N.V., trading as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational, active in the fields of decorative paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, and employs approximately 55,000 people. Sales in 2010 were EUR...
. In 1998, Akzo-Nobel proposed a merger, which the EU approved subject to the sale of Courtauld's aerospace business.
In October 2000,
PPG IndustriesPPG Industries is a global supplier of paints, coatings, optical products, specialty materials, chemicals, glass and fiber glass. With headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PPG operates in more than 60 countries around the globe. Sales in 2010 were $13.4 billion...
announced it had agreed to buy Courtaulds Aerospace for $512.5 million. Based in Glendale, CA, the aerospace business has annual sales of approximately $240 million (U.S.), employs 1,200 people. It manufactures sealants in Glendale, CA, and
ShildonShildon is a town in County Durham, in England. It is situated 2 miles to the south east of Bishop Auckland and 11 miles north of Darlington. It is 13 miles away from Durham, 23 miles from Sunderland and 23 miles from Newcastle-upon-Tyne...
, England; coatings and sealants in Mojave, CA; glazing sealants at Gloucester City, NJ; and coatings at Gonfreville, France. The business also operates 14 application-support centres in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.
Courtaulds Textiles
Courtaulds Textiles is Britain's largest producer of lingerie and underwear. The organization employs around 20,000 people across 16 countries in Europe, North America and Asia, and has annual turnover exceeding £1billion, 40% of which is earned by sales to Marks & Spencer. It markets its products under leading retailer labels across the world as well as its own reputed brands which include Aristoc,
BerleiBerlei is a brand of women's lingerie and in particular bras and girdles.-History:The brand originated in Australia in 1917. Berlei undergarments are now sold in Australia by Pacific Brands and in the United Kingdom by Courtaulds Textiles....
and Gossard and Well. Additionally, Courtaulds Textiles had an international network of lace and stretch fabric businesses.
The business has moved most of its manufacturing jobs offshore, most of which is now divested in joint ventures for flexibility. Investments in
Sri LankaSri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
include joint venture partnership with MAS Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, a £2million investment which employs 2,000 people and manufacturers lingerie and leisurewear for retailers including
Victoria's SecretVictoria's Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products. It is the largest segment of publicly-traded Limited Brands with sales of over US$5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006...
, Marks & Spencer,
BHSBHS may refer to:* Baggage handling system, a type of conveyor system installed in airports* Barbershop Harmony Society, the first of several organizations to promote and preserve barbershop music as an art form* Beck Hopelessness Scale, a psychological test...
and Hanro. A second joint venture of £3.1million employs 1,100 and exclusively manufactures men's underwear and baby wear for Marks & Spencer. A £3million expansion phase is underway which will increase the 700 strong workforce to 1,100
In 2000, Sara Lee attempted to acquire Courtaulds Textiles. A bitter battle ensued and Courtaulds issued various counter measures to survive as an independent company. However, Sara Lee's chairman announced that
the acquisition will strengthen our European presence and give us access to a range of exciting market opportunities - so they increased their offer to £150million, and won.
While the name Courtaulds disappeared in the chemical merger with Akzo Nobel, the Courtaulds textile name remains as a division in Sara Lee. However, to survive it again had to slash jobs and axed many of its factories as it grappled with the high costs of manufacturing in the UK and M&S, under
Stuart RoseSir Stuart Alan Ransom Rose is a British businessman, who was the executive chairman of the British retailer Marks & Spencer. For this role he was paid an annual salary of £1,130,000...
, continuing to squeeze its suppliers. In February 2005,
Brenda C. BarnesBrenda C. Barnes was the president, chairman and chief executive of Sara Lee , and previously was the first female CEO of Pepsi-Cola North America.-Career:...
became the chairman and CEO of Sara Lee - and had a far more focussed strategy. Courtaulds was seen as basically a British-based brand and company, and did not fit with a global business. Barnes agreed sale of the business was right, and for some time tried to sell the Courtaulds business, which had a turnover in 2005 of $560m (£302m), but was hampered by Courtaulds' pension deficit. It was eventually agreed with the UK pension regulator to increase payments into the deficit from £20m to £32m a year until 2015. In May 2006, Sara Lee announced the sale of Courtaulds Textiles to PD Enterprise Limited, a major supplier of clothing to Courtaulds Textiles. No sale price was announced, but it was announced that Sara Lee would continue to hold the $483 million (£260 million) pension deficit, and Brenda Barnes commented that Sara Lee had effectively "given away" the unit.
PD Enterprise Ltd., a privately held company based in
Hong KongHong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, operates nine facilities that produce more than 120 million garments annually. Its products include bras, underwear, nightwear, swim and beachwear, formalwear and casualwear, jackets and coats, babywear and socks.
Brands
- Berlei
Berlei is a brand of women's lingerie and in particular bras and girdles.-History:The brand originated in Australia in 1917. Berlei undergarments are now sold in Australia by Pacific Brands and in the United Kingdom by Courtaulds Textiles....
- ladies' underwear
- Gossard - ladies' underwear
- Aristoc - ladies' Hosiery
- Pretty Polly - ladies' Hosiery
- Elbeo- ladies' Hosiery
Production sites
- Flintshire
Flintshire is a county in north-east Wales. It borders Denbighshire, Wrexham and the English county of Cheshire. It is named after the historic county of Flintshire, which had notably different borders...
- German Glanzstoff Manufacturing Company started an artificial silk factory in Flint in 1907. During World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
the factory was taken over by Courtaulds in 1917, who in 1920 built Castle Works followed the Deeside Mill in 1922. At its height Courtaulds employed over 10,000 people at four sites. At Greenfield, FlintshireGreenfield is a village on the outskirts of Holywell, Flintshire, north-east Wales, located on the edge of the River Dee estuary. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 2,741.-History:...
, some 5 miles (8 km) further down the Dee estuary, two additional large rayon production facilities existed from 1936 onwards, named Number 1 and Number 2. These mills employed over 3,000 people. Textile production declined from 1950, and Aber works shut initially in 1957, opened for rayon in 1966, and pulled down in 1984. Castle works closed in 1977 and Deeside Mill in 1989. The number 1 facility at Greenfield was mothballed in 1978, and the entire site was decommissioned in the mid 1980s.
- Preston - A large rayon production facility, called the Red Scar mill, existed in Preston. The main product was tyrecord. It employed around 4,000 people. It was decommissioned in 1980.
- Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
- A rayon facility existed in Carrickfergus, which was designed specifically to make a fibre suitable for the Irish linen industry. Many of the latterly held British-based jobs were based in the grant-aided infrastructure of Northern Ireland. LimavadyLimavady is a market town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, with Binevenagh as a backdrop. It lies east of Derry and south west of Coleraine. It had a population of 12,135 people in the 2001 Census, an increase of some 17% compared to 1991...
employed 185 jobs, which were lost in May 2004.
- Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
- Dunstall Hall Works - Rayon facility.
- Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
- Foleshill Road Works
- Courtaulds Research - DF&VL and SAF labs developed Kesp and synthetic tobacco.
- Courtaulds Grafil - Production of Carbon Fibre for use in sports, aerospace and automotive industries
- National Plastics - Production of specialised plastic products including British military bulletproof helmets
- Courtaulds Engineering - Design of plant, production of spinneretts.
- Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
- Spondon Works - Acetate fibre, water soluble polymers
- Grimsby
Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...
- based on the Humber Bank this site produced Tencel fibre and rayon and acrylic fibre. Made acrylic dope for Grafil. Sold in 1999 to Accordis, it is now owned by the Lenzing Group.
- Trafford Park - Manufacture of Carbon Disulphide, base of Cowburn & Cowpar (chemical transport)
- Worksop
Worksop is the largest town in the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England on the River Ryton at the northern edge of Sherwood Forest. It is about east-south-east of the City of Sheffield and its population is estimated to be 39,800...
- Formerly known as "Bairnswear" The 9 acres (36,421.7 m²) factory first opened its doors in 1953 as Bairnswear knittwear. The site was located on Raymoth Lane and it employed over 1000 employees (1950's-1970's). In the late 1960s it was rebranded as Courtaulds. In 1989 Princess Diana visited the site, at the same time as shevisited to the new Basettlaw hospital. Rumours of the siteś closure circulated in the 1990s and this happened in 2000. A small factory shop stayed open for another year selling all it's goods off cheaply. The factory was still in good condition and a buyer was sought. The site deteriorated for three years; Westbury homes bought the site for residential redevelopment in 2003. In spite of local objections including the MP, John MannJohn Mann may refer to:* John Mann , British actor* John Mann * John Mann , farmer and author from New Brunswick, Canada* John Mann , English cricketer...
,planning permission was granted, asbestos was stripped and the factory demolished in 2004, and the site has been redeveloped.
- Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
- started as factory then moved solely to warehousing and distribution closed July 2010
External links