The mills are alive in this family firm

Like most fans he thought they should have done better against the United States and he's yet to be convinced by Emile Heskey's inclusion, but there's something else that's been bothering him: Fabio Capello's dress sense.

Ian, along with brother Nigel, is joint managing director of Alfred Brown, the weaving company started by his great-grandfather 95 years ago. It was one of their fabrics which was chosen for the official England team suits – a pure new wool, black and white birdseye weave to be exact – and while commentators have been consumed with interpreting every flicker which passes across the England manager's face, Ian has been looking for creases.

The verdict, thankfully, is good. While he suspects David Beckham's grey three-piece is a slightly better fit than Capello's, the material seems to be holding up well and the bench has never looked more suave. For Alfred Brown, it's also the kind of advertising no amount of money can buy.

"We heard Capello had been quite heavily involved in choosing the fabric and the cut of the suit, so obviously we were pleased that one of ours was chosen," says Ian. "Most of the time people buy a suit and never think about where the material has come from. There's so much talk about the death of manufacturing and certainly a lot of companies have moved their operations abroad or gone out of business altogether, but we don't seem to be very good at celebrating the success stories.

"Part of that is down to us. We need to be more vocal about what goes on here, and let people know that not all the mills have closed down and weaving isn't something you just read about in history books."

Tucked away on the end of an unremarkable street in Bramley, just a few miles from the centre of Leeds, the red brick building looks like any of the other warehouses or factories scattered across the city. However, if you listen closely you can hear the low hum of the looms which run, just as they always have, 24 hours-a-day, five days a week.

History is important to those who work at Alfred Brown, and the company has seen successive generations of the same family pass through its doors. For many, like Elsie Naylor, it has been more than just a workplace. Joining as a 14-year-old straight from school, the factory was where she met her husband, Norman, and when she retired some 53 years after she first clocked on with the usual gifts and well-wishes, she took with her fond memories.

"I ran two looms and when I first started the place was quite daunting," says Elsie, now 77. "I was taught on the job by a Mrs Jackson. She was a hard task master, but we learnt quickly. She was a perfectionist and that's what she passed onto us.

"Norman was working in the warehouse when I started and whenever he came to bring the wool over we used to have a chat. It all started from there. Eventually we got married and working together meant we saw more of each other than most couples, but it wasn't that unusual back then. There were mills and factories all around here and it meant lots of families ended up working together."

Elsie still lives just across the road from the factory, and with her son Paul having followed in his parents' footsteps, retirement didn't completely sever her ties to Alfred Brown.

"Every morning I pop in to mum's to get changed into my overalls and at lunchtime I'll nip across for a sandwich," says Paul, who works in the main weaving room. "When I left school I didn't really know what I wanted to do, so my dad asked if there were any opportunities here. That was 25 years ago and I've never really looked back."

Family-run businesses with a history stretching back as long as Alfred Brown are becoming increasingly scarce. There were about 30 textile mills in the Bramley area in the 1940s, many of them independently owned. Today there are two. Much of the industry they were founded on has become obsolete or moved elsewhere and the present generation of Browns know they can't survive another century on nostalgia alone.

"We can't compete with countries like China on price alone, it's as simple as that," says Nigel, who started a furniture-making business with Ian before returning to the family firm. "However, what we offer is tradition, quality and the very best customer service.

"The textile sector has changed greatly in the last 10 years or so. The fabric we make here is for men's tailoring and a decade or so ago it was an area largely immune to fast-changing fashions. Now, retailers like Next and Marks and Spencer want four different ranges a year, they want to experiment more with colour and they want lighter fabrics.

"In the past, a man would buy one suit for wedding, funerals and christenings. They were heavy, durable affairs because people couldn't afford for them to wear out. Today men are much more interested in how a suit looks, the way it has been cut and the kind of material it's made of. Because we are independent we can adapt much more quickly to changes in the market."

The business of weaving is both time-consuming and painstaking. Every day a group of women in the mending room scrutinise yards of finished fabric removing each and every tiny flaw and knot. However, while there are some jobs which still have to be done by hand, new technology has helped Alfred Brown keep up with overseas competition. This year, the family has invested more than 750,000 in new machinery and in August 12 new looms will be installed.

Despite the economic uncertainty overshadowing much of the country, the future in Bramley looks bright.

"At the moment we are operating on full overtime just to meet current demand and by the end of the year we expect to be selling more than one million metres of fabric," adds Ian. "The experience of trying to set up our own business when we were young, taught Nigel and I a lot. Not least how very difficult it is.

"Returning to the mill was like coming home and that time away had made us realise just what a special place it is. Our sister Jo also works here, and to be honest we see every member of staff as part of a big extended family."

Every so often the team at Alfred Brown will get a call telling them their fabric is going to be made into suits for the England team or is needed for a starring role on the big screen – the firm also made the cloaks for the Harry Potter films. But most of the time they just quietly get on with what they do best: weaving wool into textile just like their ancestors did.