Morlands is a retailer of sheepskin products, based in the South West of England. The company originally manufactured

sheepskin Sheepskin is the hide of a sheep, sometimes also called lambskin. Unlike common leather, sheepskin is tanned with the fleece intact, as in a pelt.Delbridge, Arthur, "The Macquarie Dictionary", 2nd ed., Macquarie Library, North Ryde, 1991 Uses ...

jackets, boots and other footwear from its base in

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbur ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History

In 1870, John Morland (1838–1934) bought a

tannery Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

in Glastonbury, particularly attracted by the water (essential to the tanning process), which he described as being "of unusual purity". John Morland was Chairman from the day he founded the company until his death in 1934 at the age of 96. A devout Christian he was a highly regarded speaker at Quaker meetings, both in Great Britain and abroad. He was four times the mayor of Glastonbury and a member of the Liberal party. Both his sons and grandsons went on to become Directors of the company. Morlands produced a range of products from sheepskin including, from the early 20th century, coats, rugs, and foot muffs for

Motor car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

drivers. In 1928 the company made a profit of £13,867. In 1940, Morlands' made flying jackets and boots for the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

pilots who fought in the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

although this caused some ethical discussions within the Quaker family. The company was a family business for over a hundred years before running into difficulties in the recession of the 1980s. The large tannery closed and the manufacturing process was moved to a smaller building. Boots and gloves are still available. It was part of the G.R. Holdings company in the 1990s and 2000s before being taken over by Whitworth CS Holdings in 2019. The site of the old Morlands factory in Glastonbury was scheduled for demolition and redevelopment into a new light industrial park, although there have been some protests that the buildings should be reused rather than being demolished. As part of the redevelopment of the site a project has been established by the Glastonbury Community Development Trust to provide support for local unemployed people applying for employment, starting in self-employment and accessing work-related training.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Morlands factory, Glastonbury
Morland company website

contemporary UK competitor
Companies based in Somerset Clothing companies of the United Kingdom Glastonbury