David Walters: Exquisite Fabrics for Luxury Home Interiors
HRH Princess of Wales Visits David Walters
On Thursday 11th September Sudbury Silk Mills were honoured to host Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales on a private visit to our jacquard weaving mill. During the visit Her Royal Highness was able to follow an artwork from archive inspiration, creative and technical design; through all of our warping, weaving and operational processes and then on to the final inspection of the woven fabric. A keen advocate for UK textiles, Her Royal Highness was particularly interested to learn how we attract the next generation of talent and pass on over 300 years of legacy craft skills while innovating for the future.
Sudbury Silk Mills located in Sudbury, Suffolk, is a family-run weaving mill that has been at the forefront of jacquard silk weaving for over 300 years. An integral part of the British textile industry, Sudbury Silk Mills weaves fabrics for three exclusive companies; Stephen Walters, David Walters and Humphries Weaving. Employing over 100 people, these companies combine traditional artisanal design and weaving with the latest cutting-edge technology to produce fabrics of exceptional quality. There are over 40 state-of-the-art looms in operation at the mill, producing a wide range of fabrics, all of them custom-woven to order for leading luxury fashion houses and the most prestigious residential interiors.
The Princess of Wales was welcomed to Sudbury Silk Mills by Managing Director Julius Walters, who is the 10th generation of the Walters family, alongside Geoffrey Probert HM Deputy Lord-Lieutenant, Cllr. Andy Welsh the Mayor of Sudbury, and members of the national press. Natalie Mumford, Director of Humphries Weaving, acted as host for the visit and was delighted to introduce the specialists within the mill.
Steve Harris
First, Her Royal Highness spent time with the design team to understand the creative process, led by Stephen Walters Account Manager Beth Humes. Beth, who has worked for some of the world’s most exclusive fashion companies, is instrumental in curating the beautiful seasonal collections that are presented around the world. In the hands-on workshop, designers Mae Littleton and Lucy Spendlove demonstrated the interdependency of core creative skills partnered with specialist technology and innovation. Lucy is our newest design team member and has undergone our extensive in-house training programme with the support of the wider team. Mae has been with us for nine years and has a keen eye for the latest trends in design and colour.
They showcased their creative artistry such as painting, drawing and mark-making along with skills in layout, pattern placement and repeats. This was followed by a demonstration of technical design, including weft colour placement and complex weave construction programming.
Our archives are an important part of inspiration and design development, a favourite room of many people in the mill and a highlight of customer visits. Here we hold a unique collection of historic pattern books dating back to the 19th century. We are often sought out as custodians for these treasures by closing or changing businesses and we take great pride in this working archive, used daily to design and innovate new fabrics.
We are well known for our sophisticated approach to colouring and our wide variety of yarns, particularly natural fibres such as silk, wool and linen.
Her Royal Highness was guided through this approach by Account Manager, Sarah Thornley, who originally started at the company working for the design team, so much of her skilled artwork is now part of our celebrated archive. Sarah’s incredible technical design and company knowledge mean customers love to work with her to bring their ideas to life. As all our fabrics are woven to order we offer an exceptional level or customisation, ensuring that customers, and Her Royal Highness, can play an active creative role in this fascinating part of the process.
Next Her Royal Highness was shown around the weaving floor where she was able to view the impressive machines in operation. With more than 40 huge jacquard looms running, the sound and sheer scale of this industrious activity is quite something to behold. Her Royal Highness talked to some of the team of weavers and engineers on the floor.
Steven, who followed his own father into weaving at the mill, introduced Her Royal Highness to weavers Tim Cox and Stacey Teager. Tim is one of our more recent team members and this is his first role in the textile industry, whilst Stacey is a second-generation weaver who has worked at Sudbury Silk Mills for nearly 13 years.
We place great emphasis on our people and the local community and take pride in generating employment for local people into roles with training and long-term development, enabling them to grow their skills and knowledge. Internal development is particularly important and the number of people that have been able to progress and develop their careers within the company is something of which we are very proud. We were delighted that some of our team had the opportunity to share their experience with Her Royal Highness, each with their own unique story.
Her Royal Highness was then shown around the Quality Assurance Room, where every metre of woven fabric is meticulously inspected by hand to eliminate even the tiniest of imperfections. Following this fastidious attention to detail, the fabrics are despatched globally to leading luxury fashion houses and the most prestigious residential interiors. Her Royal Highness met with Jane Potter, inspection team leader, who has just marked 40 years of service, and inspector Brooke French, who joined us 18 months ago after studying fashion design at college.
The final stop marked the occasion with a company-wide photograph and the presentation of the pure silk botanical fabric created at the mill, along with The Silk Family book, which celebrates our 300th anniversary and our legacy as the oldest silk weaving company in Great Britain.
Stacey Teager
Sudbury Silk Mills has led the way in responsible manufacturing and is OEKO-TEX STeP® accredited, operating to the highest industry standard. In 2025 we were delight be awarded the King’s Award for Sustainable development in recognition of these efforts and our focus on reducing carbon footprint and environmental impact, sourcing responsibly and eliminating waste, including recycling 100% of all textile by-products.
