1784
Just 13 years after Richard Arkwright developed the first water-powered spinning mill, Peter Nightingale and his associate John Smedley established John Smedley as an enterprise at the original mill in Lea Mills.

1825
In this year, the second John Smedley transformed the company by expanding the mill, and installing new machinery. John Smedley became one of the earliest companies in the knitwear industry to install one of the first ever ‘Cotton’s Patent’ fully fashioned knitting machines.

1893
John Smedley became a limited company and developed a production line capable of manufacturing fine gauge, fully fashioned underwear and outerwear.

1922
John Smedley’s Sea Island Cotton was first used to knit John Smedley underwear, unique for its fineness, luxurious staple length high tensile strength.

1932
Iconic pieces in John Smedley’s Sea Island Cotton were introduced, including Isis, the three button polo shirt, Leander, the long sleeved polo and Pembroke, the roll collar.

1980
John Smedley knitted collections for Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith, Comme des Garcons, Nicole Farhi, Margaret Howell and Katherine Hamnett.

1983
Fine knitwear machinery from Japan was used for the first time, leading to styles featuring a wealth of pattern and texture.

2000
The flagship John Smedley retail store was opened in a prime location on Brook Street, in the heart of London.

2006
This year marks the introduction of pioneering whole-garment technology, creating unique, lightweight seamless knitwear.

2008
Introduction of the latest Shima technology, capable of knitting 26-28 colours, was witnessed this year.

2009
John Smedley celebrated 225 years of fine knitwear with a series of special events and a custom-made website where customers could share their Smedley stories. A special edition range of underwear was launched to celebrate 225 years of John Smedley.

Exclusive John Smedley 13.5 micron garments were also launched using rare yarn that can only be produced by 0.0013% of the world’s sheep population.

2011
John Smedley launched the Twenty Truths Campaign re-releasing four iconic styles with a limited edition garment label, unveiling the brand’s Twenty Truths. The truths read as a tantalizing menu of luxurious qualities unique to the John Smedley mills.

Launch of a Capsule Collection of statement pieces, which challenge traditional design through the use of the John Smedley whole garment machines. Each garment is sculpted to mould to the body, producing an uncompromising fit with seamless perfection.

2012
John Smedley launched collaboration with Comme des Garçons. Limited to over 170 pieces worldwide, each of the three styles are colour-dyed in Japan by Comme des Garçons and spun in super-fine merino wool at John Smedley’s Derbyshire mill.

In the same year, John Smedley also introduced a line of care products to maintain and condition knitwear. Specifically formulated to help preserve the natural lanolin and colour of the yarn, these care products prolong the life of knitwear.