Our collections relating to textile and clothing manufacture are growing with the addition today of two boxes of knitted fabric samples from the Stibbe company, a Leicester company involved in the manufacture of industrial knitting machines.
The samples were donated to Special Collections by the Leicestershire Industrial History Society, who were given them by the daughter of a former member, Roger Duffey (1920-2010).
Duffey attended the Gateway School before joining the Stibbe company as an apprentice. During his apprenticeship he studied at the School of Textiles in the Leicester College of Technology (one of DMU’s predecessors) and later became a lecturer in knitwear here. Duffey was sales director and technical director at Stibbe before moving to work for HATRA, the Hosiery and Allied Trades Research Association. He retired in 1980.
Similar holdings here at Special Collections include books, journals and papers from HATRA, the Boyd (Mac) McGeoch Collection, and papers and clothing samples from the William Baker factory.
Katharine