Haworth's Wyedean Weaving: The military uniform company seen in Trooping of the Colour and Saving Private Ryan

“The Trooping of the Colour is our shop window,” says managing director Robin Wright, who took over the business from his father David – a Second World War fighter pilot - in 1990. “All they’re wearing in terms of ‘bling’ is made by Wyedean, including what's on the horses. Everything on the horses from the saddles, the bridles, the stirrups, the reins, the whole range is what we make on what we call the equine contract.”

The full variety of what they make both at Bridgehouse Mill in Haworth and at sites overseas is considerable, and includes: uniforms, braid, insignia, regalia and accoutrements for the British Army, Royal Navy, Royal Airforce, authorities such as the Metropolitan Police and those working on behalf of the United Nations.

"There's never a news bulletin that doesn't have some Wyedean in it,” says Robin. “At trouble spots around the world, there are people wearing uniform. Ceremonial occasions, obviously we’re there. But every soldier is wearing some form of rank insignia, designation or something, and Wyedean will be in there.”

Wyedean Weaving was founded as a manufacturer of braid and military uniform accoutrement in Haworth in 1964 by David Wright, who ran the business with his own father Frank Wright, a former textile machine designer who was awarded an MBE in recognition of his invention of a new yarn spinning technique called centrifugal spinning.

In the entrance to Wyedean, proudly garlanded with the company’s products, Robin looks over a Guards full dress sash, a type used in state occasions. “It's now a synthetic gold. Way back in the 80s, when I started in this business, we were using pure gold, and they were costing 20 to 30 grand a sash. It’s still expensive because of all the hand work in it.”

A lot of their work is creating uniform accoutrements for rankings, which Robin calls “the three Ds – decoration, distinction and designation”.

He says: "There's a lot of detail in there that to the untrained eye, they wouldn't recognise but it's all of the specifications. A lot of them go back to Victorian days, when they were set, and tradition. It's all about tradition and maintaining that tradition, and the uniformity and continuum from that point of view. So in that sense, we are upholding the traditions of the British monarchy and the Armed Forces that look after us.”

Wyedean’s work can also be seen on the big and small screen, with elements of helmets and webbing created for the likes of Fury, starring Brad Pitt, Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. “We typically will supply costumiers – the most famous is Angels on Shaftesbury Avenue in London – so quite often we don't even know what it's going for, but sometimes if it’s a big enough production, they will come direct to us.”

In 2023, Wyedean secured a seven-year, £5million contract to replace British Armed Forces’ Colours and Standards with the new King’s insignia and the Tudor Crown. These items seen in public will be changing gradually as part of a “wasting out process”. Robin says: "Every monarch has a different Crown. In this case, the King's choice was for the Tudor crown, which is pretty much the same as George VI.”

An example of recent projects, completed in the autumn of the company’s 60th anniversary year in 2024, was on the other side of the world in New Zealand, a founding member of the Commonwealth.

Wyedean’s team of expert embroiderers spent 900 hours working on the new Regimental and King’s Colours for the 2nd/1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment. The two new colours – flags – were hand-stitched by Wyedean embroiderers Aileen Henderson, Wendy Hatton and Susan Jones and were the first in New Zealand to be updated with the King’s insignia – a process which can only begin after the designs have been submitted to for approval by the Monarch himself.

The three embroiders, along with project manager Melanie Kaye, were recognised in spring last year by the Ministry of Defence as recipients of the King’s Coronation Medal for their exceptional work on the new Colours and Standards for the Royal Navy, the Life Guards, the Royal Air Force, and the Grenadier Guards.

Indeed, a number of Wyedean employees have given decades of service. Joanne Mitchell, a weaver, says: "Yorkshire Biscuits shut down and I was working there. My boyfriend at the time’s auntie was secretary here, so she got me an interview and that's how I’ve come to work here.”

After joining aged 22, she is now in her early 60s and has just celebrated her 39th anniversary at the company.

Thirty years ago, there were 150 people working at the Haworth site, says Robin, but now there are around 24 under the roof, with sites in China, India and Pakistan helping the business fulfill its demand. "Had we not done that, we wouldn't be in business anymore,” he adds. Samples of everything they make, though, are sent back to Yorkshire for inspection.

And one thing never changes – family is part of the business. Robin’s mother Norma Wright, who recently turned 100 years old, remains company chairwoman. His wife Debra Wright is sales director and his daughters, Rosie and Susannah, are business development director and systems director respectively. Vicky Fattorini and Vivien Zink, Robin’s older sisters, both worked at Wyedean for spells in the past and “were a great help” to his parents when getting the business going in the early 1960s, he says.

Country, tradition, family – it’s all in a day’s work.