The Neglected Legacy of Lancashire Cotton: Industrial Clusters and the U.K. Outdoor Trade, 1960–1990
MIKE PARSONS is co-owner of OMM Ltd and Honorary Entrepreneurial Fellow, Institute for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development, Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University, U.K. Contact information: Decollage, Patterdale, Penrith, Cumbria CA11 0NL, U.K. E-mail: mike.theomm{at}btconnect.com.
MARY B. ROSE is professor of entrepreneurship, Institute for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development, Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University, U.K. Contact information: Institute for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA 1 4YX, UK. E-mail: m.rose{at}lancaster.ac.uk.
This article considers the neglected legacies of the Lancashire cotton industry and their impact on the U.K. outdoor trade. Studies of the decline of the Lancashire cotton industry after the Second World War have concentrated on the collapse of coarse cotton spinning and weaving, largely ignoring the impact of the knowledge and skills related to the finishing trades. The examination of the evolution of rainwear, coatings, and high-performance fabrics in the nineteenth century provides a backdrop to a study of the innovation process that emerged in the U.K. outdoor trade after 1960. It shows that there was a path dependency between the skills that resided in Lancashire’s finishing trades and coating and fabric innovation for outdoor products. This article explores both the legacy and the ways in which the networks of innovation functioned as the U.K. outdoor trade expanded.