Demand rises for coffins that are to die for

Natural Legacy, based near Pudsey, Leeds, started manufacturing the fully biodegradable coffins from 100 per cent pure new British wool in 2009.

The firm is currently selling around 120 of the coffins a month, compared to just 15 per month last year and forecasts an increase in sales to around 200 per month by the end of 2013.

“It was a slow start as something new in such a conservative market, but it is such a unique product. The rapid growth in sales indicates that people like the idea of having a stylish, aesthetically pleasing woollen coffin for their loved ones,” said quality director Rachel Hainsworth.

“It has a gentleness that is a real comfort to families. People literally like to stroke it when they go up to the coffin to pay their respects, and I think families like the fact that it is tactile and warm, it is like their loved ones are wrapped in a blanket. It is almost incidental that it has an environmental credential.”

The coffins cost around £600 each and are handmade at the Hainsworth Mill from three fleeces per coffin.

The range was developed after a marketing student, who was employed to look at various products manufactured at the mill, stumbled across an interesting fact –that in 1667 an Act of Parliament decreed that everyone had to be buried in a woollen shroud to support the woollen textile industry.

More than 300 years after the Act a similar concept, of being buried in wool, is also helping to support the British wool industry and has created a new income stream for the £13m-£14m business which itself dates back 229 years.

Ms Hainsworth said: “We have taken a 17th century concept and brought it into the 21st century.”

The coffins are lined with organic cotton, reinforced with recycled cardboard and edged in jute and can be embroidered with a personal name plate.

They were designed and developed at Hainsworth Mill and once a prototype was created, the company took the advice of independent coffin manufacturer JC Atkinson to ensure that it met the technical requirements of the industry.

“We get a lot of repeat business from funeral directors. They like the fact that our coffins are very visual, tactile products which look particularly beautiful when decorated with flowers,” said Ms Hainsworth. “They have a softer look than more traditional coffins which can make a real difference at a funeral. We have had tremendous feedback which has been most humbling.”

Staff at the Hainsworth Mill, which employs 177 people, carry out every process in the manufacturing of the woollen coffins, which are tested for up to 42 stone in weight, from the selection of raw wool to finished cloth.

The company produces a vast range of specialist textile products including the protective fabrics worn by the fire and police officers, snooker and pool cloths, many of which are exported to China, woollen cloths for pianos and the red cloth which the Buckingham Palace Guards’ scarlet tunics are made from.

The uniform Prince William wore on his wedding day was made from Hainsworth cloth as was Prince Harry’s and others in the wedding party.

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