More than two decades after it was acquired by the US-based Milliken, UK's specialist fabric manufacturer Woollen Speciality Products has been renamed WSP Textiles by its new owner.
Vespa, a UK venture capital business, which has acquired the company for about US$ 40 million, said the acronym WSP recognizes the founding mill owners Winterbotham, Strachan and Playne.
The company, based in Stroud, Gloucestershire, was set up in 1575 and all of its manufacturing is based in the UK. It exports 90 percent of its production, mostly to factories in Asian countries.
Today, the company is the world's largest manufacturer of specialist fabric for coating tennis balls. The fabric is made from a mix of wool, cotton and other materials. WSP supplies the fabric to many top tennis balls manufacturers globally, including the US's Wilson, the UK's Dunlop Slazenger, France's Babolat and Austria's Head.
WSP Textiles is also a world leader in making high-quality textile for snooker tables and today, the Strachan brand dominates the global snooker market.
The new owners of WSP have announced that they will not shift the manufacturing bases out of the UK. They are, however, eyeing market expansion in China, where both tennis and snooker are fast becoming popular.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
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