Fabric Suppliers For Re-Enactment Clothing

Our 150 years of knowledge has been utilised in the production of our present woollen fabric range to supply cloth to re-enactment groups from around the world. From the 1880’s to 1907 J & S Taylor supplied most of the world’s Navies with Kersey and Serge.

Our range of melton fabrics are particularly suitable for re-enactment purposes. We also produce Kersey and Broadcloth. Our lighter weight fabrics are ideal for woollen shirts or even summer dresses.

We can match the traditional dye colours using modern dyeing techniques.

Should you require it we can also flameproof the fabric.

Broadcloth is so called not because it is finished wide, 54 inches not being particularly wide, but because it was woven nearly half as wide again and shrunk down to finish 54 inches. This shrinking, or milling, process makes the cloth very dense, bringing all the threads very tightly together, and gave a felted blind finish to the cloth.

These factors meant that it was harder wearing, more weatherproof and could take a raw edge; the hems of the garment could be simply cut and left without hemming as the threads were so heavily shrunk together as to prevent fraying.

Kersey was a relatively cheap twill cloth made in imitation of the more expensive Broadcloth. The use of a twill weave enabled the finishers to raise a nap on the cloth more easily than Broadcloth, although the cloth had less substance and the finish was consequently slightly less hard wearing.

Serge is a cloth with a worsted warp and woollen weft, although in this case twill woven. The twill helps to maintain the stability whilst retaining enough flexibility to be used as a lining material. It comes in a variety of weights for different end uses.

Bay is a loose, plain-weave cloth with a worsted warp and woollen weft frequently used for lining soldierís coats from the 17th to the 19th century.