Lancashire’s global reputation was built on textiles. Much of that proud heritage has been lost in recent decades but one Lancaster firm has been woven into the fabric of the city for 100 years.
Standfast & Barracks is one of the UK’s biggest home furnishing printers. It’s a multi-million pound business and prints a million metres of material a year for clients including household names such as Ralph Lauren and John Lewis.
This month is the focal point of their centenary celebrations and alongside a museum exhibition, an open day and a new club for former employees, the company is also investing in the future.
They are restoring the grade II listed clock tower which was designed by Lancastrian Edward Paley and was completed in 1864. The four clock faces have told different times for years but are being refurbished and will be fully working again, and lit at night, from this month. Heritage group Lancaster Civic Vision will unveil a plaque on the clock tower to mark the refurbishment.
Standfast & Barracks are also working on an exhibition at this year's National Festival of Making and will open their site for the Heritage Opens Days in September. They will also be involved in Light Up Lancaster in November.
To mark for the firm’s centenary, Lancaster Museum is hosting a special exhibition – which will close at the end of this month – inviting visitors to explore the journey of the company which still operates from the same site on which it was established in 1924.
Highlights of the exhibition include rare artefacts showcasing the evolution of textile machinery, vintage photographs capturing the daily lives of factory workers, and interactive displays that allow visitors to engage with the printing process firsthand.
Creative and commercial director, Emma Douglas, said: ‘As we celebrate a century of Standfast & Barracks, we are delighted to partner with Lancaster Museum to showcase the remarkable journey of our textile factory.
‘This is not just an exhibition; it's a tribute to the dedicated individuals who have contributed to our legacy and a chance for everyone to witness the rich history that has shaped our community.’
The factory, on one of the main routes into the city, was built in 1864 for the manufacture of luxury coaches and in 1914 it was used as prisoner of war internment camp – the name Barracks is often thought to refer to this period, but was added in the 1990s after the buyout of a firm based in Macclesfield.
In 1923, Carlisle-based textile firm Morton Sundour were looking for suitable premises to expand their business and the presses started to roll the following year. During World War Two the site produced black-out material and in the pandemic a skeleton staff were on site making anti-viral materials.
The site is noted for its stone wall which stretches a fifth of a mile along Caton Road and its factory shop which sells discontinued lines and seconds. It does a roaring trade all year round and coach trips frequently visit.
The firm has always prided itself on being a British manufacturer with top quality design. In the 1950s it printed many of the designs for Horrockses when colour and print was in vogue. Although they’ve thrived over the years, the sort of fabrics they are capable of designing and printing are fashionable again, and in demand around the world.
In 2000 Standfast & Barracks became part of Sanderson Design Group, an international group of companies which design, manufacture and distribute all over the world, which include the brands Sanderson, Morris and Co, Clarke and Clarke, Harlequin, Zoffany, and Scion.
Sister company Anstey Wallpaper Factory in Loughborough, also part of the group, is the largest wallcovering printer in the United Kingdom with the broadest machine profile in Europe, working in partnership with Standfast and Barracks to deliver collaborative collections.
The company, which now employs around 150 people, aims to be Net Zero emissions by 2030 and is installing solar panels on a vast newly reinforced roof. They have also been at the forefront of the move to digital printing and have invested millions of pounds in new machines in recent years.
‘Digital does not have constraints so we can do larger designs with more colour, do shorter runs and use things like photographic images,’ added Emma, who has worked at the site for 31 years. ‘We are also looking at what artificial intelligence can do for us and how it can help shape our work in the future.’
About a third of everything designed and manufactured by Standfast & Barracks – who were awarded a Queen’s Award for International Trade in 2020 – is eventually sold overseas.
The company exhibits once a year on the banks of Lake Como in Italy and are frequently in Europe and America to discuss their products.They often use their archive for inspiration. In the US in particular, a lot of the most popular designs are created from their archive but updated using colour.
‘Every year we analyse sales by market – there are huge differences in different areas,’ said Emma. ‘We know the style for each customer. The east and west coast of the US buy different cloths. We look at data from sampling to see what people are looking at and data from exhibitions and market research to determine the trends.’
And operations manager Simon Palmer, who has worked there for 35 years, added: ‘The archive has more than 20,000 items, some dating back to the 17th century – although we’ve been here 100 years, companies we have bought in that time have longer histories. And we are now digitising the archive so customers will be able to search it online.
‘We source fabric from all over the world – we try to buy as much as possible from Lancashire where possible – and we prepare it for printing. Having everything on one site is unique, from design to printing and finishing.
‘We use three different printing techniques: rotary, flat bed and digital. Each piece goes through ten processes and every finished piece is inspected by eye.
‘A lot has changed here over the last 100 years, but that attention to detail and commitment to quality remains the same.’
