Botany Weaving celebrates its 90th anniversary

If you’ve travelled on a plane recently, chances are high you’ve sat on an aircraft seat or walked a carpeted Airbus aisle with fabric made by Botany Weaving.

The humble Irish company has come a long way since it was established in Dublin in 1934. It has grown to become an internationally renowned identity in the textile industry, supplying more than 140 airlines with high-quality, durable textiles. Millions of passengers have touched them throughout the years.

In honour of the company’s 90th anniversary, Botany Weaving has released a 2024 Aviation collection designed with sustainability at its core, paying homage to the brand’s long-lasting roots in history and looking forward into the future.

Rewinding the clock back to chapter one of Botany Weaving’s story takes us to an area of Dublin known for its rich textile history, The Liberties.

Historical context of The Liberties

The Republic of Ireland’s capital city may be synonymous with Guinness, olde-worlde pubs and friendly folk, but there’s a fascinating textile history of great antiquity woven into its past, deserving of recognition.

The Liberties is an area in central Dublin, located south-west of the inner city, with a textile hub dating back centuries. The 1600s saw thousands of textile-merchant French Huguenots arrive in the area and bring with them an array of skills, from weaving and tanning to tailoring, to establish a thriving industrial textile suburb.

During medieval times Dublin had a wall around it for protection (of which some remnants can be seen at Cornmarket and in St Audoen’s Park). Beyond this wall were areas “outside of the Corporation’s control”, hence established and known as “liberties”.

Although archeological discoveries indicate the area was home to a significant concentration of weavers from the Viking period onwards, The Liberties was only intentionally developed as a textile hub in the 18th century with locations including Weavers Square and Crosstick Alley.

Unfortunately its thriving textile existence drew unwanted attention and sparked resistance from English manufacturers, who eventually lobbied for tariffs and trade restrictions on imported goods. The Liberties’ textile industry slowly declined and by 1911, the census identified only 441 individuals as weavers.

Today only one commercial weaving company remains, Botany Weaving, a lone survivor of a once-thriving textile hub. It has grown to become the world’s largest airline upholstery manufacturer, annually producing 2.5 million metres of carpet, seat, curtain and nomex fabrics.

Journey of Botany Weaving

When James Hackett established Botany Weaving in 1934, the company specialised in manufacturing high-end womenswear apparel fabrics, selling to Irish retail companies including Switzers and Arnotts, until the 1960s. Its signature became high-quality tweeds and it was often featured in magazine editorials.

In the Sixties, Botany Weaving pivoted to producing uniforms for renowned brands including British Airways and the Irish armed forces. This direction was taken even further in the decades that followed, with the company honing in on manufacturing furnishing fabrics for some of the most renowned brands in the interior design sector, such as Knoll, Herman Miller and Kvadrat.

For over 60 years Botany Weaving was championing textile excellence and refining its craft, before venturing into the aviation industry in 1991, transforming the company exponentially.

The national airline of Tunisia, Tunisair, became its first loyal aviation client and remains so 30 years later. Botany Weaving doubled-down on its aviation-led direction in 2005 when it began manufacturing carpets specifically tailored to aviation requirements and aesthetics.

Today Botany Weaving is regarded as the largest supplier of fabrics and carpet for line fit to Airbus, and is the supplier of choice for the world’s top 10 airlines. The company employs more than 150 people across three facilities in Ireland, and supplies carpet for one out of every two Airbus aircraft.

“Despite the challenges faced by the textile industry over the last 90 years, the mill has remained a steadfast icon of Dublin’s industrial heritage, now fully dedicated to aviation and transportation textiles. We continue to evolve to meet modern demands while preserving our rich legacy of Irish textiles,” Botany’s website reads.

The company is based at three locations in Ireland: the headquarters in Dublin and two plants in Donegal, in the country’s north-west.

Dublin is home to the weaving factory, design studio and head office, located five minutes from Ireland’s central railway station, Heuston.

The rural finishing plant and carpet-weaving factories in Donegal are located four hours north-west of Dublin by car. Much like Dublin, the county of Donegal has a rich history and tradition of weaving dating back centuries.

Sightseeing in The Liberties

Local organisation The Liberties Weavers recently partnered with historian Cathy Scuffil to research and produce a map guiding visitors through the textile history of the area. Here are just a few of their many suggested locations to explore:

• Timberyard (Cork St) Modern social housing development occupying the original location of Stahan’s Timberyard which supplied looms, shuttles, frames and spindles for the local weaving community. The Liberties Weavers run classes and workshops here.
• Atkinson’s House (New St, Portobello) The last intact Georgian house located on one of Dublin’s oldest streets, once owned by silk merchant, industrialist, philanthropist and two-time Lord Mayor of Dublin Richard Atkinson. Atkinson pioneered the trade of Irish poplin and was the leading manufacturer during the Victorian period.
• Blackpitts (Dublin 8) Blackpitts is a neighbourhood in Dublin 8 which was once a wealthy area brimming with skilled artisans and craftsmen and home to tanneries, woollen mills and weavers. The Liberties Weavers say the area was called Cottonfields in the early 1800s due to experimental cotton-growing taking place in support of the weaving industry.
• Weaver’s Square (Harold’s Cross) An area home to weaving families and businesses from the 17th-19th centuries. The Curled Hair Company, which specialised in upholstery for carriages and motorcars, was located on one side of the square and the outer wall remains to be seen today.
• Botany Weavers (Emerald Square) The last surviving weaving factory in The Liberties. It was originally a producer of traditional tweed apparel before transitioning to the airline and transportation textile industry for aircraft seats and carpets.
• Crosstick Alley (The Liberties) One of three alleyways located off Meath Street with direct connection to their place name. Cross sticks are tools used in the process of weaving.
• Site of the now-demolished Weavers Hall (The Coombe) The Weavers Hall was built in 1745 and featured two odes to King George II. The first, a statue located above the main door, and the second a woven tapestry which now has a home at the Metropolitan Museum of New York. Unfortunately the building was demolished in 1965.