MYB Textiles has built its reputation on the specialist skills and traditions prevalent in its products, and thus attracts discerning clients from across the globe.
The company Morton Young and Borland Ltd was founded in 1900 in Ayrshire, Scotland, exclusively manufacturing Scottish Leno Gauze weave, later known as Scottish Madras. Soon after, in 1913, the company invested in Nottingham Lace Looms to offer a larger variety of products to its clients and to bring Lace making to Scotland. The Irvine Valley offered the perfect damp climate for the Nottingham Lace machinery and its product. Morton Young and Borland has developed the name MYB Textiles over the past 20 years to add a contemporary edge to their proud heritage.
Over the years MYB has invested heavily in developing and modernising the production techniques involved in creating Scottish Lace and Madras, and were lucky enough to receive technical advice from local inventor Michael Litton, who produced the first seamless airbag on an MYB Madras loom in return for developing an improved version of the Madras Loom which maintained the high quality product MYB are known for but with a much larger production capability. This innovation and development of technology combined with an archive of over 50,000 original drawings give MYB its unique position.
Today many of the original Nottingham Lace looms have been modified and networked to the CAD computers in the design office. This is yet another amazing development for MYB and has allowed for increased production and design capability whilst simultaneously decreasing the turnaround time for clients. Morton Young and Borland and more recently MYB Textiles has built its reputation on the specialist skills and traditions prevalent in its products, and thus attracts discerning clients from across the globe.
Scottish Lace
MYB Textiles is now the only producer in the world manufacturing with original Nottingham Lace Looms, some of them over 90 years old and up to 1220cms wide. This manufacturing process is extremely labour intensive using traditional skills and processes which are passed on from generation to generation through MYB’s apprenticeships. The looms run at a very slow, controlled pace so as to give a high level of quality control: this attention to detail gives the product its niche.
Lace is available in a number of qualities: 8, 10, 12 and 14 point lace. This figure gives the number of vertical threads per inch. The higher this figure, the more delicate the lace and the more detail it is capable of creating. The product lends itself well to the use of pure cotton yarns and MYB prides itself on the minimal use of polyester: only 5% in any given piece of Scottish Lace.
Scottish Madras
Scottish Madras weaving began in the 18th Century as the skills were brought to Scotland by Flemish refugees when it existed as a handloom or cottage industry. The handloom was superceded by the power loom a century later and the technology of these original looms is still relevant today. Scottish Madras was originally called Leno Gauze Weave, and the name Madras became a generic term as a result of the large amounts of the product that was distributed through the city of Madras in India.
Scottish Madras has undergone a revolution of its own at MYB Textiles, due to the influence of local inventor Michael Litton and the introduction of computers. Twenty years ago MYB introduced the first Vamatex loom, which Litton modified solely for Morton Young and Borland, making theirs the only mill in the world with access to this bespoke technology. This enabled MYB Textiles to become competitive in the textiles market and now a world leader, being the only remaining producer of genuine Scottish Madras.
