UK textile manufacturer Camira’s products are literally on the move. Each day, untold numbers of people interact with Camira’s textiles in locations ranging from mass transit systems such as buses and trains, to offices, hotels and educational establishments. Director of Marketing Ian Burn met with Richard Hagan to discuss how Camira is continuing its decades-long tradition for innovation, with several exciting new developments in its robust sustainability programme.
Each year, the textile sector is estimated to generate 92 million tonnes of waste, with less than 1% of all textiles being recycled into new products. Camira has set out on a journey to lead the industry into a new era of sustainability.
One of the ways in which Camira aims to achieve this is through its partnership with iinouiio. Founded by Dr John Parkinson, the name ‘iinouiio’ comes from the phrase ‘it is never over until it is over’. iinouiio specialises in textile reprocessing: converting high value raw materials from textile manufacturing waste, pre-loved wool and cashmere products, back into fibre which can then be re-spun into a yarn to make new fabric.
Camira acquired a majority shareholding in iinouiio in 2022 out of a desire to expand Camira’s capacity in textile circularity; using its own waste inputs to recycle, re-spin, reweave and breathe new life into discarded textiles.
“Our biggest challenge is transportation yarn waste, for which we use an 85 per cent wool, 15 per cent nylon mix,” said Ian Burn, Director of Marketing “We have since developed a fabric made from recycled transportation yarn waste. Named ‘Revolution’, we introduced the fabric at the Stockholm Furniture Fair in Sweden in February 2022. Revolution contains 31 per cent recycled material, consisting of 26 per cent recycled wool and 5 per cent recycled nylon from transport yarn. It was a successful proof of concept to see what we could do with our own waste.”
Camira’s partnership with iinouiio, however, is only the latest effort in the company’s decades-long commitment to sustainability.
A man and his car
Camira was originally founded in 1974 by David Hill as Camborne Fabrics in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. Mr Hill had identified an opportunity to supply fabrics to the office furniture market, which, thanks to his relationship with local weavers, he was able to supply faster than the industry’s existing supply chains – and without the limitation of minimum order quantities.
Supplying his fabrics to customers across Lancashire out of the back of his car, Mr Hill’s ability to quickly supply customers ensured that his fledgling business soon flourished.
By the late 1980s, Camborne Fabrics had its own manufacturing facility and had begun exporting its wares
to customers worldwide, gaining market share not only in Europe but also in the Middle East, the Far East, North America and Australasia.
A number of buyouts and acquisitions followed, until in 2006, Camira was established. During the foregoing period, when the company was part of the global Interface flooring organisation, Camira developed substantial expertise in producing environmental fabrics. Consequently, by the time Camira was established, textile ecology had become part of the company’s core business philosophy.
Today, Camira is an illustrious textile designer and manufacturer operating in two broad market segments; specifically
commercial interiors (offices, hotels and education) and mass transit (trains and b uses). Camira is able to design and man ufacture various kinds of weaving and prints to furnish those kinds of interiors, all with specifications according to the customer’s precise needs.
“We are an environmental textile manufacturer seeking to be the natural choice for textile solutions globally,” said Mr Burn. “We bring colour, design, texture, comfort, safety and acoustic performance into all kinds of interiors.”
Fabric for global operations
From its headquarters in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, Camira manages a substantial network of manufacturing sites across
the UK and abroad. Its head office hosts a centre for design, development and marketing, as well as support functions such as customer services, human resources and finance.
Altogether, the company employs 650 people spanning its headquarters and six manufacturing sites worldwide. A particular highlight in its portfolio is the large Huddersfield location which boasts over 100 looms, textile finishing, digital printing and a technical lab, as well as warehousing and distribution.
In addition to its large UK and European operations, Camira has a facility located in Grand Rapids, Michigan in the USA. As North America’s centre for office furniture manufacturing, it is strategically located close to the company’s key customers. Finally, the company also operates warehousing in Melbourne and in Shanghai.
Partnering for the environment
It comes as no surprise that in 2008, in collaboration with a university in Leicestershire and other partners, Camira introduced a brand-new textile, Sting, made from wool and harvested nettles, grown on UK farmland. “Our competence in working with this type of material came about from a 1998 project called STING - Sustainable Technology in Nettle Growing,” explained Mr Burn.
“Progressing from nettles, we began exploring other types of plant-based materials with the same characteristics, including moving to grow hemp from cannabis plants with low THC properties. This culminated in us introducing a fabric made from wool and hemp.”
In addition to the sustainability benefits involved, wool blend fabrics made from plant fibres demonstrate inherent flame retardancy, making Camira’s bestselling wool-based fabrics Hemp, Main Line Flax and Main Line Twist especially popular in the commercial interiors market.
More recently, in 2020 Camira introduced Oceanic, followed by Quest; recycled polyester fabrics made from ocean waste plastic in partnership with the SEAQUAL INITIATIVE. The fabric’s yarn is created using plastic bottles taken from the land and the sea, highlighting the issue
of marine plastic pollution while supporting clean-up projects in the Mediterranean, the River Nile and the Caribbean.
In celebration of the company’s 50th anniversary in 2024, Camira will launch its next recycled wool fabric which will boast a further increased level of recycled content. Several other exciting product launches and events are planned to take place throughout 2024 as well, and readers are invited to follow the company on social media for more details. n
