Alsico Group, the workwear garment manufacturers announced moving 90 per cent of its fabric sourcing to fellow Lancashire company Carrington. The new contract, however, will move the supply of polyester cotton products – a staple textile of the workwear industry – back to the UK for the first time in 50 years.

Alsico’s decision to move textile sourcing to its Lancashire neighbour was based on several factors. This included Carrington’s ability to supply products ideally suited to the industrial laundry (workwear rental) sector – Alsico’s largest market.

David Toon, chief executive of Alsico, said that this is really great news for manufacturing in Lancashire – with two companies coming together to create high quality products and jobs in the UK.

The arrangement will see Adlington-based Carrington supply 2 million metres of fabric in 2017, with scope to rise to 4 million during 2018, in a contract potentially worth £12m over the first two years.

The Alsico contract will now also see Carrington increase its workforce by 15 percent.

Carrington, one of Europe’s largest workwear fabric manufacturers, recently announced it was increasing its production capacity to more than 50 million metres per year and investing £10m in its Lancashire headquarters – where it will be developing a state of the art R&D facility.

Neil Davey, sales director at Carrington, said that Lancashire has such a strong heritage in the textile industry. It’s great to see the region again building such a strong reputation in the workwear sector.