John Smedley, the knitwear manufacturer whose Derbyshire factory is the oldest continuously operating in the world, is navigating a difficult luxury market by combining its 18th-century heritage with modern innovation. The brand, which holds royal warrants from King Charles and Queen Camilla, has faced falling sales and profits but is responding with new designs, celebrity collaborations and investment in equipment.
A historic factory with modern technology
The company's site in the Peak District, Derbyshire, includes a building dating to 1784. Inside, hi-tech Japanese knitting technology sits alongside skilled artisans who finish garments by hand and some machines more than 60 years old that require bespoke parts to keep running. A smaller Smedley factory in Armthorpe, South Yorkshire, also finishes garments.
Workers produce 4,500 items a week under the John Smedley name and under contract for high-end brands including Lanvin, Margaret Howell and Daks. The company not only knits and assembles garments but dyes cotton yarn and washes, steams and packs finished products in Lea Bridge, near Matlock. Water comes from a brook running under the factory, with steam generated by both ancient-looking boilers and new silver ones.
Investment and new directions
In 2024, John Smedley invested more than £4m in updating machinery to become more efficient and increase the range of styles it can make. Jess McGuire-Dudley, who became managing director last year after a decade at the company, says the family owners are "open to change". "As long as it is in an appropriate way, that's always embraced," she says.
The company is not struggling to attract new workers, as McGuire-Dudley says young people are interested in craft skills and the sustainability of making goods closer to home. To help attract and retain staff, it has refurbished housing on site for cheap accommodation alongside benefits including pilates classes and a running club. However, the factory is racing to train younger workers as its most skilled employees near retirement age, with apprenticeships taking up to two years.
Heritage and celebrity partnerships
The commitment to craft skills is part of the founding philosophy that has protected John Smedley when other British-made brands have fallen away. "He always had a vision of the highest quality produced for the top end of the market," says McGuire-Dudley. "That is what we have tried to stay true to."
The business is owned by about 65 members of the founding family and chaired by the eighth-generation descendant Ian Maclean. The first John Smedley was brought in to manage the original factory, owned by the family of Florence Nightingale. The Smedleys took control in 1818, eventually adapting it to spin wool and cotton yarns and knit them into clothing. By the mid-1800s the company was known for underwear, with some claiming the term long johns takes its name from John Smedley. The brand was registered in 1876, and by the end of the century it had diversified into men's clothing. In 1932, its machines began making the three-button polo shirt, still a bestseller.
The actor Bill Nighy recently collaborated with the label on two collections, having worn its three-button polo shirt since he was 17. The brand also created a cheaper diffusion line, JS, sold in John Lewis in 2024 and now via the Smedley website and in Japan.
Turnaround amid tough market
John Smedley's sales fell 5% to £16.8m in the year to 31 March 2025, while the group slid to a £720,000 pre-tax loss after a £270,000 profit the year before, according to accounts filed at Companies House. A drop in the value of the yen hit sales to Japan, a key market responsible for half of international trade.
McGuire-Dudley and her team have responded with an improved online presence, more direct European sales and a dedicated French website, plus a new showroom in Milan testing pop-up sales events. The Nighy deal, the JS line and a new website helped drive the first year of UK sales growth in more than five years in the 12 months to the end of March 2026. "The market is still extremely tricky," says McGuire-Dudley. "This year we are in the midst of a turnaround. The last several months have been profitable." While the recent rise in the yen may help sales in Japan, she says: "We can't run a business on hope. We have had to pivot."
The company has benefited from family shareholders who have held out against buyout offers. Robert Marsden-Smedley, an eighth-generation family member and board director, says: "When my father was chairman we had a couple of approaches. That was tempting and we felt they were trying to buy it with a view to asset stripping and what was left would not be us." UK manufacturers face higher costs, with increases in employers' national insurance contributions and the legal minimum wage adding £700,000 to Smedley's bills last year. McGuire-Dudley says: "From a manufacturing point of view it was slightly shortsighted. Many manufacturers smaller than us went under." Marsden-Smedley says the family is determined to prioritise its Derbyshire factory over short-term profit: "The family is very proud of what we have got here. Sure, we could do things more cheaply overseas but it wouldn't be what the family want to support. It's a responsibility. I feel part of our job is being custodians of the business today to pass it on to the next generation in as good a state or a bit better."
