I was shopping in Nottingham on Saturday and happened to walk past Joe’s Store. Attracted by the fabulous window display, I soon learnt all the products on display are British products, made in the UK, perfect.
Delightful window display
Shop a range of products from these fabulous sausage dog cushions to beautiful satchels hand made in Great Britain.
Sold as a set
It is with great pleasure and excitement I can announce today that John Smedley has received the first Royal Warrant in our 229 year history.
Her Majesty The Queen, through her household, has been purchasing fine knitwear directly from us for several years. The Royal Warrant of Appointment is granted by Her Majesty and as such is a very public acknowledgement of the excellence of our garments.
John Smedley has a proud history of manufacturing the finest Merino wool and Sea Island cotton garments, both underwear and outerwear, in Great Britain. Interestingly, the Royal Warrant document states specifically that we have been “appointed into the place and quality of Manufacturer of Fine Knitwear”. I emphasise the word quality as I know that every one of our 390 employees has quality as a topmost priority and takes pride in every garment that passes through their hands. Indeed, quality is one of our core brand values because John Smedley, our founder, made it the distinguishing feature of the yarns and garments he produced.
Many of my colleagues have contributed to the application for The Royal Warrant and I must thank them all. At the same time, we recognise that a condition of application is the need for our company to address the many and complex issues of sustainability – not just the sustainability of the resources we use in production, but the sustainability of our very organisation. We will address these issues as we go forward.
Mr Ian Maclean
Managing Director
Our Managing Director, Ian Maclean was at the Olympics last week. The only suitable attire for the outing was the John Smedley X Umbro sweaters of course. Ian models both garments, the field sweater and the tangeru shirt and we think they look fantastic! Come on Great Britain!
Ian and Miriam in the Olympic Stadium
Ian Maclean wearing the field sweater
Umbro Tangeru Shirt
With an impressive 228 year heritage, John Smedley prides itself on its rich history and knitwear expertise.
John and Jane are archivists at John Smedley and work extremely hard piecing together the company’s history. Items include garments dating back from the 19th century to stamps once used in all underwear produced by John Smedley.
John and Jane working in the archive department
The archive continues to inspire the design team and elements have been drawn upon for the Autumn/Winter 2012 Collection. The 1930’s saw a huge upsurge in interest in sports and sportswear. A key piece in the John Smedley range of the time was our 3-button tennis shirt and this was branded with a special sportswear logo in 1934. This striking modernist logo has endured as a classic design and we have had to make little change to it for our use today.
The sport collection takes functional pieces and adds a subtle twist of sophistication with contrast trimmings and metal buttons. The red, white and blue colours identify us as rooted in Great Britain, where all our garments have been made since 1784.
Menswear Designer, Gemma Jackson talked us through the new Sport Collection:
“This area of the range has given lots of scope for design and lends itself clearly to creating a particular look. We have had sporty elements in the past in our styles but this season we bring all the element s together to create a special range. Styles have a sports casual feel and are identified by the reworked Jay Bird logo tab which appears on the hemlines of the key styles. Stripes are fine appearing with elements of tipping. A coordinating straight pant Freeman is included to complete the look.”
The Men's Sport Collection
Womenswear Designer, Pip Jenkins spoke about how the archive influenced her design process for the Autumn/Winter 12 Collection:
“I felt this new collection reflected the relaxed and casual look of some of the garments found in the archive, especially the new seamless lounge pant, which has similarity to the traditional long john.
All the garments have a stylish edge with the contrast trims and metal buttons. The form of the garments are relaxed but shapely, some are created on the whole garment machine to make the fit even more comfortable to wear.”
The Women's Sport Collection
To shop the new Autumn/Winter 2012 Collection visit www.johnsmedley.com
If you feel you have a piece of John Smedley’s past you would like to share with us, we’d love to hear from you. Please e-mail press@johnsmedley.com.
Imogen Clark is a superstar in the making. Daughter of our technical manager Tim Clark, Imogen hopes to compete for a place within the GB squad and represent Great Britain in the next Olympics. A member of her local swimming club – RYKNELD, Sharley Park Clay Cross nr Chesterfield, Imogen trains with the Derbyshire Elite Squad “Derventio Excel”.
Imogen practices with the DX squad in the pool and on land for over 16 hours per week, covering approximately 30,000 metres in the pool. At a recent Open Swimming Meet at Eckington in May 2011 Imogen beat a record for the 50m freestyle that had stood since 2000, a record that was held by Britains double Olympic gold medallist, Rebecca Adlington when she was 11. Imogen beat this time by 0.48 seconds to remove Rebecca from the record books.
Imi has qualified for 12 Midlands swims held at Coventry (June) and has also qualified for the British Gas Nationals held at Ponds Forge Sheffield in July. In addition she has also made a current qualifying time for the British Championships.
Imogen will be carrying the Olympic relay torch on June 29th at Buxton.
We will be sure to keep you updated with news and photographs – Watch this space!
Imogen Clark from Alfreton
Torchbearer on 29th June 2012
