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Why the name?
“I’ve been working in China in textiles
for 18 years and when we decided to
establish a second supplementary
business, to re-start knitwear
manufacturing in London, we felt
we wanted a name which really
reflected British history and gave us
a British identity. Albion is the old
Celtic name for Britain so it seemed
like a good choice.”
Why Tottenham?
“This area is one of the better choices
because there is some manufacturing
space left. Having been to university in
London I know this area well and many
of the design talents in our luxury
fashion industry also live in this area.
And the reason we chose this
particular industrial estate is because
of the great people next door at
Fashion Enter who have been very
helpful in giving us advice.”
Case Study
Fun fact
The Albion Knitting Company is
believed to be the first fully-
fashioned flat knitting company
that has opened in London since
World War Two. It is also believed
to be the biggest factory of its
kind in the capital.
The Albion Knitting Company
Co-founder:
Christian Murphy
Established:
2014
Christian says:
“Flat knitting differs from circular pattern
knitting because we can deal with more
complex designs. We have specialists from
China working with us and training apprentices
and we generally focus on making high end
garments for luxury brands and designers such
as Alexander McQueen, Paul Smith, Victoria
Beckham and M&S.
“At the moment we can make about 2,500
garments a month but we would like to double
that capacity within two years. We also employ
around 30 staff but – if we have access to
enough industrial space – we have the
potential to employ 100 people in here over
the next five years. We really want to inspire
the next generation to become involved in
manufacturing and we work closely with
universities to take on graduates and help
them forge a pathway in their own careers.
“The UK has a surfeit of great design talents
but I would love young people interested in
fashion and textiles to consider a great future
in manufacturing. Here you can learn unique
skills that put you in a very small pool of talent.
We want to be seen as part of a revival in re-
shoring some manufacturing back to Britain
and take great pride in our ‘Made in England’
label. I would like London to be known as a
knitwear manufacturing destination.”