William Clark & Sons is the oldest Linen manufacturer in Northern Ireland and still in the hands of the original Clark family. Clark’s of Upperlands at Maghera have been manufacturing fine Linen products for the tailoring industry for over 260 years. From modest beginnings, the Clark family has created an international business that supplies garment manufacturers and bespoke tailors world wide.
Founded in 1736 by Jackson Clark, the family firm began on the banks of the River Clady. By installing the first power driven beetling engines in Northern Ireland, Jackson was able to bleach and finish Linen to a recognisably high standard. Productivity increased by 600%, and his business was no longer a cottage industry and his standards no longer simply those of the artisan. Continuing to develop with the industrial revolution, weaving was introduced in the early part of the 20th century. The Company continued as a Linen producer until the 1950’s developing a particular niche for the supply of Linen canvas for garment undercollars and interlinings. A significant development was the Company’s involvement globally with an innovative process for producing undercollars known as Collapad.
At it’s peak the Company was supplying undercollars for up to 80% of men’s jackets in the UK. By the end of the 1950’s menswear was moving from tailoring to mass manufacture and the market for traditional garment interlinings was being threatened by a radical innovation, the development of fusible interlinings which were coated with adhesive and stuck into the garments. The Company responded by developing this technology and marketing fusible interlinings under the name Everbond. Fusible interlinings developed over the years and now account for approximately 50% of the Company’s turnover. Specially developed adhesive coatings can now be applied to a wide variety of woven, knitted and nonwoven fabrics.
Today, the William Clark Linens range continues but is manufactured and distributed under the ownership and management of Ulster Weavers Apparel Limited.
William Clark itself continues with its fusible interlinings range, specialist linen canvasses and commission processing services for other textiles manufacturers. In addition, in 1999, the Company installed state of the art textile laminating technology to bond two or more fabrics together including waterproof breathable films. This investment has enabled the Company to establish a good foothold in the technical textiles arena where the end products are used not just for specialist clothing but in other industrial applications in sectors outside the traditional clothing business.
Progressive investment in new technology aimed at developing specialist performance textiles is the company’s aim.