EXPERTISE at a Bradford wool textile mill has been used to create special fabrics for new staff uniforms at Yorkshire and Clydesdale Banks.

Set to be unveiled this month in branches across the country, the new workwear collection marks a new chapter in the banks’ history after they were spun off from the National Australian Bank group earlier this year and floated as a stand-alone UK business.

Collaboration on the design of the new uniforms included Bradford cloth specialist Clissold which worked with a Glasgow designer Aimee Kent.

She was commissioned to create two prints – one for Clydesdale Bank and one for Yorkshire Bank with Clissold Mill designing two patterns in tartan and tweed.

For the Yorkshire Bank cloth design Aimee took inspiration from the work of Bradford-born artist David Hockney along with the mills, Yorkshire Dales and moors.

Ruth Crawshaw-Sykes, lead designer at Clissold Mill, said: “The look of tweed, but in a suiting cloth, is quite difficult to achieve. A tweed is made from woollen yarn, with a heavy appearance, rough surface and a lot of colour. Whereas suiting cloths are traditionally worsted-spun, with a soft, smooth handle.”

Helen Page, director of customer proposition and marketing at Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks, added: “As Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks embark on their standalone future, we wanted our staff uniform to represent our brand – not just in the way it looks and feels, but in the story of its making.

“Our branding comes from our roots and that’s why our new uniform will combine a Glasgow designer and a Yorkshire mill.”

Meanwhile, Shetland Wool throws whose fabrics were processed in Bradford will be o am on display at events promoting the best of British at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The Real Shetland Company had the wool grown by 800 crofters processed by Howarth Scouring and Haworth Coming in Bradford. The throws will go on show at the British House, a government-backed centre for competitors and special guests at the Games.

Adam Curtis, managing director of the Real Shetland Company, said, “It is an honour not only for us but for the whole of the Shetland Islands. They deserve full recognition for the quality of the unique wool they produce.”