AN INTERVIEW WITH PAUL PINKSTONE OF STEVENAGE KNITTING CO. (PART ONE)

Excerpts from an interview with Paul Pinkstone (MD of Stevenage Knitting Company) conducted over the phone (December 2010) and in person (January 2011):

The Early Days

'The factory started in 1926 and it was just supplying local shops in North Hertfordshire. Mainly childrenswear, hockey jumpers and the like. It was amalgamated during for the war effort so the factory was actually closed down during this period. Then after the war my father took it over. He'd been in the knitting industry in Nottingham before the war. He liked the area and knew the person who owned the factory so took it over from him. My father concentrated on oiled wool sailing sweaters. He sailed himself and supplied country stores with fishermen's knits. He also supplied people like Lillywhites and Harrods with skiwear... and Lilley and Skinner, those old names.

We also used to make for Marks & Spencer in the 1960s, when nearly everything of theirs was made in England. There was quite a lot of export to the States and Japan then too.

My father died in 1973 and I'd just finished at school so I went in to business here with my brother in law and took it over. We carried on doing a similar thing to before.

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