Abraham Moon, Guiseley: The 187-year-old Yorkshire manufacturer thought to be one of last remaining vertical woollen mills in UK with famous clients including Justin Bieber

Abraham Moon was founded in 1837 by the Moon family based in north Leeds and over the last 187 years it has continued to be a family-owned manufacturing company.

For more than a century and a half, the mill has functioned as a manufacturer of woollen cloth from fibre to fabric.

The cloth has been used by many high end brands and celebrities.

Managing director at Abraham Moon, Rod Brown, told The Yorkshire Post: “We would often describe ourselves as one of the last fully vertical woollen mills in the country.

“What that means is we take fibre from our sheets all the way through to the fabric and finish product.

“A lot of [famous] people [have used Abraham Moon products]. We can probably name-drop more recent figures.

“What we make is a clothing fabric that will generally be sold to brands to be turned into garments and then the rest of our business is interior fabric.

“It could be upholstery, it could be wall covering or curtains and then we sell fridge products, so scarves and throws through our own brand but also as White Label.”

Brand and product director, Joe McCann, described how fabric from the mill has been worn by Justin Bieber, Gordon Ramsey and even used in the White House and Downing Street.

“I think in terms of major fashion brands, there aren’t people we haven’t supplied to at some point, to be honest, across our history”, he added.

“We’ve got one of our directors here who has been with the business for 49 years and he has worked with Mr Dolce, Mr Gabana, he was there when a lot of these big fashion houses were still in their relative infancy.”

Their products are also used by more affordable high street brands as well.

“You can buy our products at Next, Marks and Spencer, we’re not just more elitist top end,” Mr McCann said.

“That’s the nice thing about the product that we make, it’s not out of reach to the everyday person who wants to buy something of quality or note.

“It’s something that is quite important to us too because many companies tend to go absolutely luxury or high end.”

Jobs at Abraham Moon extend further than physical mill work.

“It could be anything,” Mr Brown said.

“One of the things that we want to get out there is a myth that coming to work at a textile mill needs to be grimy or old fashioned, it’s not that at all.

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“We’re really lucky to work in an incredibly modern space that has been repurposed in terms of what was an old manufacturing space.

“The roles we have here are everything from highly skilled artisan roles to more data based skills, we’re really trying to improve our data analysis skills through IT.”

Mr McCann said the mill was one of the largest employers in Guiseley.

He added: “Rod and I have both moved up to Leeds to take these jobs and one thing that is really apparent is how much people latch on to that family or tradition aspect.

“The local community still really respects the business and knows the business. You hear it a lot ‘my dad’ or ‘my granddad’ or someone who has worked there, it’s a really close knit society or community in that respect.

“We used to do things like drive up to Blackpool in the summer, we’d take the workers over to the beach.

“Moon was probably one of the smallest mills in Guiseley [at the time] let alone the UK but when there was that much competition, you did have to look after your staff at the end of the day.

“You see that transition going back in time from big bulk, literally working in the factories, to more artisanal, craftsmanship based.

“The skills that we have are fantastic so we have to do a lot to cherish them. We see a lot of times when they’ve been passed down through generations here, we’ve got multiple generations working in the company.”

Abraham Moon, who founded the company in the 19th century, was considered an innovator and came from humble beginnings.

“If you go back to the 1830s there were a lot of canal systems and historically where mills needed water wheels and needed the transport from the canal, they would often be situated nearby,” Mr McCann said.

“Abraham Moon saw through all the investment and the progression when it came to railway, that you don’t need to be so tethered to the canal side anymore.

“The site we’re built on is literally a stone’s throw away from the station so it allowed him to get out into the market much faster and probably at less cost potentially.

“We often describe Abraham Moon as a tenacious entrepreneur, clothier, mill owner. From our understanding he came from humble beginnings.”

In the 1920s the company was passed over to the Walsh family and went through an innovative change.

“The area that we’re in used to have multiple vertical woollen mills, Abraham Moon is the last one in the area and I think a lot of that comes down to really smart decisions from the previous owners,” Mr Brown said.

“The decision not to take the brand off-shore as in to start manufacturing in the Far East for example and stick to those roots of British manufacture standing behind quality of the product.”

Mr McCann added: “[Charles Walsh] was a designer and a real production person and often we talk about our company being very design and product-led.

“By having that kind of perspective on things the company was quite adventurous; when we look back we think wow there are some pretty punchy and out-there type designs.”