The John Smedley story began over 225 years ago in 1784 founded by Peter Nightingale and John Smedley. Inspired by Richard Arkwright who had pioneered the factory system 13 years earlier, the pair set about building a spinning mill. Lea Mills was an ideal setting - the brook that runs through the village provided motive power and a constant source of running water.

Initially specializing in the production of muslin and spinning cotton, supplying outworkers in nearby cottages with yarn for their hand frame looms, by the end of the eighteenth century the company had extended its activities to include knitting and hosiery manufacture within the factory system.

Upon his death in 1875 the second John Smedley had no heir, thus the business was passed onto a third John, a cousin J T Marsden Smedley, who after his death in 1877 entrusted the company to his son, the fourth John B Marsden Smedley. He remained chairman for 70 years, installing up-to-the-minute knitting machines and forming a limited company in 1893. Production expanded to include underwear and knitted outerwear.