Hi: Wow - I didn't expect to get this much info. Did anyone else have family go to Mexico to work in the Coats & Clark factory? Heather David Rorer <[email protected]> wrote: It's funny that the name Viyella should come up. My second great uncle Alexander James McNab was one of the principles in developing the practical manufacture of the thread called Viyella, in his mill at 171 Boden Street Glasgow. This building still existed as late as the 1970's and in fact I've looked at the aerial photos in Google Earth and it still appears to be there. Part of the story is quoted below. David Rorer Renison McNab & Co., Powerloom Cloth Manufacturers of Glasgow In 1863 Alexander James McNab and William Renison founded Renison McNab & Co., Powerloom Cloth Manufacturers, on Hosier Street, in the Bridgeton district of Glasgow. Later they appear to have built a new building at 140 Boden St. Renison McNab & Co specialized in weaving cloth on commission, utilizing power driven looms. One of their yarn suppliers was William Hollins & Company, Ltd of Derby, England, which had developed a specialty yarn known as Viyella. Unlike other yarns, Viyella was not made of a single fiber, but was a combination of wool and cotton fibers. Renison McNab & Co was one of the firms called upon to solve the problem of weaving this yarn into cloth. The problem with combining wool and cotton fibers in the same yarn is that different sizings were normally used for these fibers. The trick to successfully weaving the mixed fiber yarn was finding a sizing that would work well with both cotton and wool. Renison McNab & Co was one of the first mills to solve this problem and satisfactorily weave it into cloth for Hollins. Eventually, in order to ensure the quality of the cloth woven from it's yarn; Hollins purchased the Boden St Mill, in 1900, from Alexander McNab who by then was operating it as a sole proprietor. The mill was taken into the Hollins organization and there cloth was manufactured for the company for over three quarters of the 20th century. The Alexander McNab name was continued as the distributor of unbranded cloth on a wholesale basis until at least the 1950's. > >> > >>The connection between Paisley and Guadalajara is that Paisley was once > >>the > >>World's leading town for the manufacture of sewing thread. There were 2 > >>huge > >>family businesses, the Clarks and the Coats, which eventually merged as > >>United Thread Mills Ltd, a subsidiary of J & P Coats Ltd, which is now > >>part > >>of the Coats Viyella Tootal group. By the end of the 19th century, lots of > >>countries were erecting tariff barriers to limit imports and foster local > >>industry. Mexico was one such, and one of the Paisley companies set up a > >>mill there (I'm not sure which), but in the 1960s & 70s when I worked for > >>Coats, they had a mill in Guadalajara and another in Mexico City, as well > >>as > >>in countless other places around the world. Some googling should yield > >>further info. > >> > >>I hope this helps, > >> > >>Ken Mathieson, > >>Uddingston SCT Cualli Tonalli! Mariposita Obsidiana, P.A. http://www.thelensflare.com/u_mariposa.php http://mariposadreaming.blogspot.com/ "I am an amateur and I intend to stay that way for the rest of my life." - Andre Kertesz, Hungary, 1930 --------------------------------- Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and 30+ countries) for 2¢/min or less.