Ardern's Star Sylko

 Over many years I have purchased and read old magazines from the 1920s through to the 1950s. I love the advice columns, wacky recipes, corny stories and most of all, the old adverts. Home Chat and the like are truly a portal into another world, one that both horrifies me and makes me titter in equal measure. And quite often you can pick them up for less money than a new magazine.

Throughout these forays into the 20th century, I have often been puzzled by the advertisements for Ardern's Star Sylko thread. This was a brand of varying thicknesses of thread that you could use to embroider, crochet or knit with, and which came in balls. As it was always listed as Ardern's, I wondered how they continued to get away with using the Sylko name, which had long been adopted by Dewhurst's for their sewing cotton.

My investigations into the English Sewing Cotton Company  have cleared up the mystery - here was the connection. Although Ardern's, based at Hazel Grove, were not original members of the ESCC, they were incorporated soon afterwards. Here's how it was reported in the Manchester Courier in January 1899:

British Newspaper Archive

My 1947 history book of the ESCC confirms this move and also tells us what happened next. Within a few years of Ardern's being absorbed, their thread product production was distributed around other ESCC mills, and the Hazel Grove site was wholly given over to packaging production. Instead of spinning embroidery cotton, the workers at Ardern's now became cardboard box and label manufacturers. Ardern's thread became a wholly ESCC product, although it retained the original name of Ardern's in the same way that Sylko cotton reels retained the Dewhurst name. As an established and well loved brand, the ESCC decided not to cause confusion and alter it.

What I don't know is who used the name Sylko first - Ardern's or Dewhurst’s - or did the ESCC bestow it on both products at the same time?




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