The English Sewing Cotton Company Scrapbook

 I have been combing the British Newspaper Archive, looking for the earliest mention of Dewhurst's Sylko cotton thread.  Evidently,  Ardern's Star Sylko nametag preceeded Dewhurst's thread as there are mentions of this earlier on. The Manchester Courier, 9th July 1908, directly refers to "Dewhurst's "Sylko" machine twist" in a report on the Franco-British Exhibition (British Textiles Section). On 13th August 1908, The Tailor and Cutter are also reporting on this exhibition at White City, where Messrs Dewhurst's Sylko machine twist is noticed as being something useful to the Tailor. The wording of both of these articles made me believe that 1908 must have seen the launch of Sylko, as they refer to it as something hitherto unknown. However, I have now found a new reference.  Kentish Express and Ashford News, 26 May 1906 - an advert for Stickells of New Street, Ashford refers to over 90 shades of a silk substitute called "Sylko" "whic...

  This clipping from The Staffordshire Sentinal dates from 12 December 1928. Under the illustration at bottom left there is a reference to the colour shade Hunter's Green, declaring it to be a new shade.  The Sylko reel Hunters Green is numbered D324. I have seen advertising state that by 1932 there were 300 Sylko shades, so this numbering places it a little after the year of the clipping above. The British Colour Council, with their purpose of helping textile and dye companies to keep up with new colour trends didn't launch until 1931. Dewhurst's late adoption of Hunters Green perhaps demonstrates why the BCC was needed. https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SewSylko

The British Colour Council continued to operate in the post war period, recommending uniformed colour trends of the coming year in fashion and home furnishings. As I outlined in my blog post about the set up and early years of the council, they particularly came into their own around royal events - or at least the colours introduced to mark these occasions received more prominent press coverage at the time. This trend returned after the WW2 hiatus and into the 1960s, with press reports dropping Sylko enthusiasts a few clues to the years that some of the shades were introduced.  In January 1953, a Leicester newspaper reported on the British Colour Council’s 2 day show in the city. Mention is made of shades introduced to mark Queen Elizabeth's coronation including Elizabethan Red, Princess Grey, Spun Gold and Beau Blue. I haven't seen these colours on a Sylko reel but then the article closes with the following line: "A joyous colour to my mind is Fiesta Pink, as different fr...