History & Heritage

With 75 years of technical excellence, Arville has been at the forefront of innovation in industrial textiles. From pioneering man-made fibres to engineering fabrics for critical industries, our legacy is built on expertise, craftsmanship, and a commitment to progress. 

1945

Arville was founded by William Wight when he established the business and appointed Eddie Fegan as the company’s first Managing Director and began contract weaving woollen textiles for uniforms in the public transport sector.

1947

They quickly saw the potential for man-made fibres like nylon and built a reputation for innovative applications weaving these new fibres.

1951

Production operations commence in Starbeck, Harrogate.

1960

The business grew and relocated to Wetherby as the first business on the Sandbeck Industrial Estate, securing work primarily manufacturing technical textiles for the filtration industry.

1965

Phase 2 extension added with Weaving shed 2.

1968

Phase 3 extension added with Weaving shed 3.

1972

Phase 4 extension of Yarn store completed, including cutting edge warping machines section and ring twisters installed.

1974

Further premises were built in Wetherby, Factory 2, to meet increasing demand with dedicated capacity for twisting and warping machinery to feed the looms in a larger section. Additional section warper acquired.

1979

Installation of our first MAV Rapier Weaving machinery for the production of flat fabrics.

1981

Looms for leno fabrics acquired from H Siddle & Sons.

1985

A second bay was built at Factory 2 increasing yarn and warp beam storage capacity to supply key companies in the defence, aerospace and automotive industries with high performance woven textiles. First Allma ring doubler installed.

1989

Installed the first Dornier weaving machine at Wetherby, part of developing flexible, state-of-the-art fleet of specialist equipment.

1991

Arville acquires Foster Dyeing & Finishing Co with equipment built into No.2 Factory.

Dedicated finishing equipment installed to bring finishing processes in house for improved efficiency.

1995

No.2 Factory bay 3 completed with the first stenter installed to enhance finishing capability and increase capacity. A section for a Benninger warping machine was installed.

1997

Acquired Arville Fabrication located in Bradford, known then as The Multiple Fabric Company to offer complex, pre-fabricated textile pieces.

1998

Arville acquires adjacent industrial premises to No.1 Factory enabling a significant increase in weaving capacity.

2000

Acquired Arville Coating located in Bury, known then as P&S Textiles to offer complete end-to-end manufacturing.

2003

Commenced our investment into on loom camera systems to allow a digital piece map of woven fabric to be maintained, providing detailed quality assurance through the manufacturing journey of each woven piece of fabric.

2005

Invested into specialist bias cutting equipment to allow specialist cutting of woven tubular products.

2007

Delta drawing- in machine commissioned increasing warp preparation efficiency and effectiveness.

2012

Galan ring doubler installed.

2013

Developed a new weaving shed and office facilities at the Wetherby site to enhance dispatch efficiencies.

2014

Development of existing premises for new offices on first floor.

2015

Acquired a second stenter to provide additional volume capacity and additional technical capabilities.

2017

Expansion of sites running smoothly. Re-development programme completed in our Arville Coating site.

2016

Consolidated all outbound warehousing at the Wetherby site to enhance dispatch efficiencies.

Installed a laser cutting table at Arville Fabrication to provide repeatable and high quality technical cutting capabilities to support our technical fabrication offering.

2017

Re-equipped our coating operations with new curing oven and installed 4 spread coating lines and associated mixing equipment to significantly enhance our technical and volume coating capabilities.

2018

Acquired a specialist narrow knitting capabilities and machinery through the acquisition of a specialist dust filter manufacturer that now operates within Arville Fabrication and Arville Textiles.

Acquired a second sectional warping mill to provide greater warping capacity and enhanced technical capabilities.

2019

Started building a diversified fleet of higher speed rapier looms through the purchase of a fleet of Picanol looms to complement the highly flexible Dornier rapier looms within the fleet.

Invested into state of the art cloud based Sales Processing and ERP systems to provide a platform for the digitisation of data within the group and enhanced processing capabilities.

2021

Installed sophisticated laser scanning safety equipment on all of our coating machines. Providing industry leading and innovative safety protection to our operators.

2022

Introduced a direct profit share scheme for all of our shopfloor staff, to allow direct participation for the profitability of the Arville Group and the companies.

Purchased roll cutting and log cutting machinery to allow in house post processing of woven textiles.

2023

Purchased high speed roll cutting machinery to allow rapid cutting to length of customer orders.

2024

Changed the names of each of the Group companies to reflect the unified nature of the Arville Group, operating under the names of Arville Textiles, Arville Coating, Arville Fabrication, Arville Belting.

2025

Installed sophisticated voltage optimisation equipment to enhance the efficiencies of our operations at our Wetherby site.