Brief history aboutLaura Ashley
It was Audrey Hepburn who inadvertently sparked the growth of one of the world's best-loved and most successful fashion and home furnishing companies. Audrey appeared alongside Gregory Peck in the 1953 film "Roman Holiday", sporting a headscarf and so creating a style that became an instant hit around the globe. It was at exactly that time that a young couple, Laura and Bernard Ashley, were starting to produce headscarves as well as tablemats and napkins on their kitchen table in a flat in Pimlico. The Ashley’s had invested in wood for the screen frame, dyes and a few yards of linen. The scarves were an instant success with stores such as John Lewis and Heal's and put them on the road to becoming an international company with a brand that is recognized around the globe.
The inspiration to start producing printed fabric had come from a Women's Institute display of traditional handicrafts at the Victoria & Albert Museum. When Laura looked for small patches carrying Victorian designs to help her make patchworks, she found no such things existed. Here was an opportunity.
Laura designed the prints and Bernard built the printing equipment, so forging a complementary partnership that was to give the company its unique strength throughout the years. Laura remained in charge of design shortly before her death, while Bernard handled the operational side. In its early days, the company was known as Ashley Mountney but Bernard changed the name to Laura Ashley because he felt a woman's name was more appropriate for the type of products they were making. The couple moved from inner London to Kent in 1955. Their business was nearly wiped out in 1958, when the river Darent overflowed, leaving equipment, dyes and fabrics floating in three feet of water.
Times were hard for the Ashley family (by now Laura had given birth to three of their four children), because every penny of profit was being poured back into the business. Meanwhile, more products were beginning to appear under the Laura Ashley name, including aprons, oven gloves and gardening smocks. In 1961, the family moved to Wales, the country where Laura was born and had spent much of her childhood. Originally, the company was located in a vacant social club in the small village of Carno, Montgomery shire. In 1967, however, the factory moved across to the village's railway station, which had closed two years earlier. Within those early years, the foundations of the company were set. Bernard had developed his flat-bed printing process to produce 5,000 meters of fabric per week and - most crucially - in 1966, Laura produced her first dress for social rather than work attire.
The long length silhouette was to become the Laura Ashley trademark. It also was to work successfully in the company's favors as fashion switched from the mini to the maxi skirt at the end of the 1960's. By 1970, sales had taken off, with further shops opening in Shrewsbury and Bath. In one week alone, London's Fulham Road site sold [next page]