The Natural Fibre Company (TNFC) is a British wool

Wool

Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....

 mill based in Launceston, Cornwall, and is the only small-scale full range textile mill in the UK.

The main focus of the business is to add value to naturally coloured raw fleece which it buys from farmers, smallholders and rare sheep breeders. Through this commission spinning work it is providing support in the preservation of rare breed sheep and is helping to improve commercial returns within the wool industry.

It is one of only a handful of mills worldwide that processes yarn in small quantities for craftspeople and smaller businesses. It also operates the UK’s only organically accredited dyeplant.

Company history

The Natural Fibre Company has been spinning wool since 1991. Following its takeover and relocation to Cornwall in 2005, TNFC launched its own brand of wool products, Blacker Designs.

At the same time it started a minor revolution in the textile industry by doing almost everything in small quantities. Its commission spinning business adds value to fleeces supplied by farmers and turns them into high-quality yarn.

Although the company was started in Merthyr Tydfil

Merthyr Tydfil

Merthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...

 by Myra Mortlock in 1991 to spin wool on a small scale, largely for smallholders, it was effectively a continuation of a business bought from Rose Elworthy who had launched it in the mid-1980s.

With her husband Philip, Myra produced natural and undyed wool in the traditional way, later moving the business to an industrial unit at Lampeter

Lampeter

Lampeter is a town in Ceredigion, South West Wales, lying at the confluence of the River Teifi and the Afon Dulas.-Demographics:At the 2001 National Census, the population was 2894. Lampeter is therefore the smallest university town in both Wales and the United Kingdom...

 in Mid Wales before selling it to Sue Blacker after the Mortlocks decided to retire in 2004.

Sue Blacker had a small flock of Gotland sheep and was a TNFC customer. She approached other customers past and present with a research survey to determine exactly what they wanted and put together a business plan approved for European Union Objective One funding in the spring of 2005.

TNFC was finally taken over from the Mortlocks on 14 November 2005 and relocated to a 15000 sq ft (1,393.5 m²) factory at Launceston in Cornwall close to the Devon border.

The Natural Fibre Company today

The Natural Fibre Company scours, cards, spins and dyes fibre in either wool or worsted

Worsted

Worsted , is the name of a yarn, the cloth made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from the village of Worstead in the English county of Norfolk...

 form working in batches upwards of 20 kilos. There are also frequent organic production runs. In Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, the county most commonly associated with the processing of fleece, the various processes are rarely completed under the same roof and involve tonnes a day rather than kilos.

In addition to advising sheep owners how to get the best fibre from their flocks and turn it into a form they can sell, The Natural Fibre Company is increasingly buying wool from its customers for use in its own specially developed, branded range of products, Blacker Designs.

This new direction for the TNFC started in 2005 when managing director Sue Blacker and her family bought the company from its previous owners. It received help from European Union Objective One funding, outside investors and fund managers Finance Cornwall.

All the wool going through the mill is British and includes some from the Falklands Islands. TNFC believes in buying and making local and sees a healthy future for high-quality UK-manufactured goods.

External links

• The Natural Fibre Company's website
• The Objective One Partnership for Cornwall and The Isles of Scilly
• The New Consumer featuring natural blankets
• Blacker Designs, The Natural Fibre Company's own brand of wool products - Commercial site, but shows how The Natural Fibre Company is adding value to raw fleece
• The Natural Fibre Company playing an educational and community role