WEBVTT

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Bradshaw: Old factories,
empty warehouses,

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streets full of graffiti:

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across the world, globalization
has hit some communities hard.

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But sometimes
old firms cling on

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at the edge
of the global economy.

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What is their secret?

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[dramatic music]

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Nottingham: once the heart
of English lace making.

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As the industry declines
across Europe,

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one family firm
is on the edge of survival.

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- It\'s a pleasant city

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with a magnificent
council house.

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From the dome,
Little John rings down

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over one of the finest squares
in England,

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Old Market Square.

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The story of lace
goes a long way back.

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- Well, lace has been made
in this area

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since the early part
of the 19th century.

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- And is Nottingham
still the center now?

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- Most certainly.

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- What\'s the state
of the lace industry?

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- Oh, it\'s
a very healthy industry.

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- See, all the big
old factories

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were full of lace machines
in the \'40s and \'50s.

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There\'s none now.

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- Here in Long Eaton,

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we have the home
of English lace.

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- Can you see the industry
going through a lull again

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after this boom?

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- I think whatever
the world situation,

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women still like
to look pretty.

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And if you find the thing
that makes them look pretty,

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then I think you\'ll sell it.

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- I couldn\'t give you details

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as to how many lace firms
there were in this area,

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but there was an awful lot.

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And one by one,
they all bit the dust.

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- There were the big
lingerie factories.

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There were big
garment-making factories.

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They\'ve all gone.

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- If China
have been able to make

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such a success
of the textile trade,

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what happened
to our textile trade?

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I mean, it just literally died.

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- All these families
brought up in lace,

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and now we\'re the last
in this country.

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And I\'m proud to say that.

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But isn\'t it a shame?

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- We\'ve been making lace
for up to nine generations.

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We can trace our roots back

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to the stocking frame
manufacturing days.

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We\'re the last ones left
in the UK.

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The styles we specialize in,

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we\'ve been the last ones
for maybe 15 years.

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Besides being quite lonely
at times,

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we can\'t be emotional
about it, unfortunately,

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\'cause everything comes down

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to business and money
these days,

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and you can\'t fight
the world trend sometimes.

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Bradshaw: Charles Mason
inherited the family firm,

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Cluny Lace.

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Only a few lace-making companies
survive in Europe.

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Charles has had to confront
technological change,

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globalization,
and recession.

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- Last couple of years
haven\'t been exactly busy.

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- We don\'t make a lot of lace.

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But this was the quality side.

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- The person in the street
doesn\'t really understand fully

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what the quality is.

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And they look at a garment,

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and they\'ll see it\'s lace,

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but I don\'t think
they understand

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the quality of the lace.

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They don\'t understand
the difference

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between a Leavers pattern
and a Raschel pattern.

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Bradshaw:
Cluny are taking a huge gamble

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on the higher quality
of their lace.

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The Leavers machines Cluny use
date back to the 19th century.

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They can produce lace
of an intricacy

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still hard to copy
by modern machinery.

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Raschel machines like this

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now make 99%
of the world\'s lace.

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So can Cluny survive
without using Raschel machinery?

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- Okay.

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Bradshaw:
For decades, Cluny made lace

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on both types of machines.

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[machine clattering]

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- We actually kept parallel
to the Leavers machines

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our Raschel machines.

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We had a large plant
of modern Raschel machinery,

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absolutely fantastic
for high-speed production.

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But we couldn\'t compete
on price.

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We certainly couldn\'t compete
on wages

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from the low-cost countries,

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where the World Bank
was proposing

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to set up this machinery.

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I mean, Mr. Blair, for example,

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just decided that textiles
was a low-tech industry

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which could go abroad.

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I mean, the whole of that trade
was taken over by the Far East.

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Foreign governments quite
definitely helped establish

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the vast factories
that you find now abroad,

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and they buy their machinery
probably in the hundreds.

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Unfortunately,

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we had to buy
our own machinery.

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So we bought it in ones.

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Bradshaw:
With no government subsidy,

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Cluny were eventually priced out
by foreign competitors.

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- A modern Raschel machine
is 1 million-plus pounds.

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We all started off
on a level playing field.

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Unfortunately,
the level playing field

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didn\'t last very long.

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And so we took the decision

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that the Raschel plant
had to be sold.

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It took away 80%
of our business.

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Bradshaw:
Cluny defied conventional wisdom

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and sold off
their modern equipment.

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It was an incredible gamble.

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- Yes, it was a risk,

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a very great risk,

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but we had no option.

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If we had kept
that Raschel plant,

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I don\'t think the Leavers
would have been here today.

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- To think that the most modern
side of the industry

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went before the most archaic
side of the industry

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is unbelievable.

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- Doesn\'t matter how efficient
you are sometimes, though.

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You still can\'t beat
the Chinese.

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Or I shouldn\'t say
the Chinese?

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the Far Eastern
manufacturing strengths.

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One of the reasons
why we\'re still here

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is because no one has
the style of patterns we do?

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the closest you can get
to handmade lace

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that\'s made by a machine.

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Of this style,

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most of the people
who\'ve got the skills to do it

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are actually dead.

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[chuckles]

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In fact, they all are.

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So, again, that\'s sort of
protected our position here,

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that if nobody can actually copy
what we\'re doing,

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then it\'s?
it\'s slight better for us.

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Bradshaw:
Cluny Lace looked to the past

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to secure their future.

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With their antique
Leavers machines,

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they had a niche brand

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in a globalized,
high-tech world.

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Their highly skilled workforce

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rely on process
unchanged in over a century.

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- Well, the only way to really
see how difficult that is

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is actually to see the draft.

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This one\'s in bits,
unfortunately.

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We\'re waiting
to get it reconditioned.

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But even this one\'s
just seven inches wide

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when it\'s on the machine.

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Yes, that,
that\'s this.

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And that\'s not a particularly
complicated one, I guess.

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I mean, once
the draftsman\'s done that,

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then there used to be
another person

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who would transfer
all the looms of these threads

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into numbers.

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And then there\'d be
someone else,

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of which there\'s
still one guy left,

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who\'d then look at this

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and then translate
into punched Jacquard cards.

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Bradshaw: The very last
Jacquard card puncher

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left in the UK
is Ian Emm.

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With demand dwindling,
he now works from home.

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- It\'s just me.

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You know, I\'m the last man
standing, as it was.

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Everybody else has probably
passed away, like, you know?

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It\'s almost like a hobby now.

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And it\'s a pleasurable hobby.

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[machine clattering]

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The beauty
of doing it at home,

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it\'s just a den,

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my den, like, you know?

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[chuckles]

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Virtually all these cards
in here,

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I\'ve done over the years.

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These are
the Singer sewing machines.

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Same principle
as a sewing machine at home.

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And these, yet again,
these are probably getting on

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for 100 years old.

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[machine clacking rhythmically]

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See, even this
has a rhythm to it.

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The majority of the time,
I\'m just pedaling,

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bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

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So I\'ll have iPod on,
and I\'ll listen to dance music

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because it\'s got
a bump-a-bump-a-bump-a beat.

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And I can relate to that
as I\'m working.

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This is only gonna make
an edging,

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you know, not much.

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The wedding dress
is over there.

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You\'ll see how big it is.

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That\'s probably 15?
1,500 cards on that.

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They\'ll just sit in here
until he\'s ready for them

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to go on the machine.

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[jaunty orchestral music]

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- Jacquard, feeding in
like a gigantic pianola roll.

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[machines clacking rhythmically]

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? ?

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- The fabric is actually
twisted, not knitted.

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That\'s why we\'re called
\"twisthands.\"

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A twisthand\'s job
is to keep a machine running

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with a high quality,

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making high-quality lace.

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Each machine\'s different.

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They\'ve all got
their own little quirks.

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So it\'s a lot to remember

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to keep going round
all these machines

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and try and remember, \"Oh, yeah,
this works with that machine,

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but it doesn\'t work
with that machine.\"

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- That\'s the top of the tree,
the twisthand.

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If you haven\'t got
your twisthand,

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you haven\'t got a business.

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- The twisthand will make it.

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Then it goes to a mender,

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who will mend it
if it needs to be mended.

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Bradshaw:
The Nottingham lace industry

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could once sustain
a workforce of thousands.

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Hundreds of women
worked in the mending rooms.

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Today at Cluny,
there is only one mender left.

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- When I first started,

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there was quite a lot
worked here.

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And over the years,
it\'s slowly dwindled down.

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And it\'s sort of strange,

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\"how many people have
come and gone\" sort of thing,

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and yet you\'re still here.

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And you\'re thinking,
\"Phew, thank goodness for that.\"

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[chuckles]

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Used to work
at another lace factory,

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but they shut down.

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Mainly it\'s just me.

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Got my radio on
and go at my own pace,

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and that\'s it.

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[jaunty orchestral music]

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- This bundle of lace

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is drawing near the end
of its journey.

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It\'s been bleached
and starched

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and ironed and dried,

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but it\'s not quite finished.

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Another set of hands
are waiting to receive it.

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And soon
it\'s being unrolled again

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for the last time.

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And nearby, the strips of lace
are being unraveled,

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ready for winding onto cards,

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or as they say in Nottingham,
\"jennying.\"

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- It has changed,
\'cause used to say at one time,

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oh, it\'s like
Butlins\' holiday camp,

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you know, at Mason\'s.

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Well, that\'s
what they used to say.

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And then I don\'t know.

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These past five years,
it\'s just all...

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[chuckles]
Just changed.

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- Yeah, it\'s gone actually
really, really quiet now.

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Bradshaw:
Despite a shrinking market,

00:12:49.968 --> 00:12:52.534
Cluny\'s heritage lace
is still in demand

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among top designers.

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true Nottingham lace,

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even if those who wear it
don\'t always realize it.

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- These are articles
that have been made up

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that we\'ve collected
over the years

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made up of our lace.

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Somebody tried
to make a raincoat

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by covering it with plastic.

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Front of Marie Claire.

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When was that?

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You can see anyway.

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It\'s not that long ago.

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- It\'s always good
seeing our lace

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in the fashion magazines.

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Yeah, that\'s quite
a good feeling, actually,

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and knowing that it\'s been made
Ilkeston, of all places,

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which probably none
of the models wearing it

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and some of the designers
or whatever

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have probably even heard of.

00:13:39.767 --> 00:13:41.567
The main buyers
are the haute couture houses,

00:13:41.601 --> 00:13:43.834
Dolce Gabbana in Italy,
for example,

00:13:43.868 --> 00:13:45.734
Etro in Italy,

00:13:45.767 --> 00:13:47.868
Christian Dior, France.

00:13:47.901 --> 00:13:50.267
In the UK, for example,
Paul Smith

00:13:50.300 --> 00:13:53.300
has been a valued customer
for a long time.

00:13:53.334 --> 00:13:56.067
Vivienne Westwood is another.

00:13:56.100 --> 00:13:58.467
Celebrity endorsements
are important to the brands

00:13:58.501 --> 00:14:00.767
and, by default,
important to us.

00:14:00.801 --> 00:14:03.501
But it\'s...

00:14:03.534 --> 00:14:05.634
we\'re one step away,
unfortunately.

00:14:05.667 --> 00:14:08.234
But I think the designers
themselves know who we are,

00:14:08.267 --> 00:14:10.167
and that\'s the important thing.

00:14:10.200 --> 00:14:12.634
- Top designers
have got the garments

00:14:12.667 --> 00:14:14.601
that we\'ve made the lace for

00:14:14.634 --> 00:14:17.200
that you look at the price
and think, \"God,

00:14:17.234 --> 00:14:20.167
you know, who can afford
to buy those sort of things?\"

00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:23.701
You know, and they\'ll only have
sort of 50 meters of lace,

00:14:23.734 --> 00:14:26.434
put it on ten garments,
and that\'s all they make,

00:14:26.467 --> 00:14:29.934
ten garments
at 2,000 pounds each and whatever.

00:14:31.234 --> 00:14:34.234
[machine clattering]

00:14:43.133 --> 00:14:44.701
- Is it a fact
that in this industry,

00:14:44.734 --> 00:14:46.400
the manufacturer himself

00:14:46.434 --> 00:14:48.834
is always technically
very proficient...

00:14:48.868 --> 00:14:51.601
- He takes jolly good care

00:14:51.634 --> 00:14:54.334
that he knows everything
that\'s going on in his factory

00:14:54.367 --> 00:14:55.901
and, in the main case,

00:14:55.934 --> 00:14:59.234
has himself been brought up
in the factory.

00:14:59.267 --> 00:15:02.434
- I did work on machines
in the school holidays

00:15:02.467 --> 00:15:04.000
and did textiles
at university,

00:15:04.033 --> 00:15:07.200
but I didn\'t really think
I\'d be working here

00:15:07.234 --> 00:15:09.133
20, 30 years later.

00:15:09.167 --> 00:15:11.968
Didn\'t really cross my mind.

00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:13.767
But I would quite like
to be here

00:15:13.801 --> 00:15:15.968
in 20 years\' time,
30 years\' time.

00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:18.601
Whether that\'ll happen or not,
who knows?

00:15:18.634 --> 00:15:20.534
I certainly have enjoyed

00:15:20.567 --> 00:15:23.367
certain parts
of the last 20 years, you know,

00:15:23.400 --> 00:15:25.934
not all of it, but...

00:15:25.968 --> 00:15:29.834
- I don\'t think there\'s anybody
got it harder than he has.

00:15:29.868 --> 00:15:33.934
He\'s the hardest-working boss
I\'ve ever seen.

00:15:33.968 --> 00:15:36.200
He does a multitude of jobs

00:15:36.234 --> 00:15:39.367
that you wouldn\'t think one man
would be able to do.

00:15:39.400 --> 00:15:41.767
But he does them
because he has to do them

00:15:41.801 --> 00:15:44.400
because he\'s saving costs.

00:15:44.434 --> 00:15:46.667
- Without him,
I wouldn\'t be able to do this

00:15:46.701 --> 00:15:47.667
and vice versa,

00:15:47.701 --> 00:15:48.801
\'cause people say,

00:15:48.834 --> 00:15:50.534
\"Oh, you could get
what you wanted off him

00:15:50.567 --> 00:15:51.634
if you\'re the only one.\"

00:15:51.667 --> 00:15:53.534
But it doesn\'t work like that.

00:15:53.567 --> 00:15:55.801
Without him,
I couldn\'t do it.

00:15:57.868 --> 00:15:59.501
I only just discovered
the other day

00:15:59.534 --> 00:16:01.367
that there\'s robins
nesting in here.

00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:09.667
Yeah, as I said,
it\'s a little bit cramped.

00:16:09.701 --> 00:16:13.367
Bradshaw: Nottingham lace
can be a lifetime\'s work.

00:16:13.400 --> 00:16:15.133
But for some,
it\'s a working life

00:16:15.167 --> 00:16:17.601
that may be close to an end.

00:16:17.634 --> 00:16:21.234
- When I came into the trade
in 1962,

00:16:21.267 --> 00:16:22.434
I was at school,

00:16:22.467 --> 00:16:24.868
wasn\'t doing so well
in me marker GCEs,

00:16:24.901 --> 00:16:26.734
so I decided to get a job.

00:16:26.767 --> 00:16:28.400
And I got the local paper,

00:16:28.434 --> 00:16:29.901
and, unlike papers nowadays,

00:16:29.934 --> 00:16:32.634
it was absolutely full
of job vacancies.

00:16:32.667 --> 00:16:35.367
Nearly all of them were
twisthand, twisthand, twisthand.

00:16:35.400 --> 00:16:37.601
And my brother was a twisthand.

00:16:37.634 --> 00:16:40.300
And I said to him,
\"Mate, what\'s this?

00:16:40.334 --> 00:16:42.200
What\'s a card puncher?\"

00:16:42.234 --> 00:16:44.868
And he says, \"Oh, that\'s the guy
that makes the patterns.\"

00:16:44.901 --> 00:16:47.734
And I said, \"Oh,
I want to do that.\"

00:16:47.767 --> 00:16:50.467
It was a really
fascinating industry.

00:16:50.501 --> 00:16:55.567
To let it die and people
not know all about it...

00:16:55.601 --> 00:16:57.734
I mean, the only people
that know, really, about it

00:16:57.767 --> 00:17:01.601
are those have been
involved in it, you know.

00:17:01.634 --> 00:17:05.300
What\'ll happen, unfortunately,
if ever Mason\'s packed up,

00:17:05.334 --> 00:17:07.400
I don\'t know what\'ll happen
to the machine.

00:17:07.434 --> 00:17:11.100
It\'ll be... you know, I just
want it to run and run and run,

00:17:11.133 --> 00:17:12.767
you know.

00:17:14.634 --> 00:17:16.300
- I don\'t enjoy it
like I used to do,

00:17:16.334 --> 00:17:18.000
\'cause things have changed.

00:17:18.033 --> 00:17:22.300
But, yeah,
I used to enjoy it quite a lot.

00:17:23.634 --> 00:17:25.968
We\'re not treated the same
as we used to be.

00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:27.734
There was a lot of reverence
and respect

00:17:27.767 --> 00:17:29.667
give to twisthands
in the old days.

00:17:29.701 --> 00:17:32.033
The twisthand,
he used to go around

00:17:32.067 --> 00:17:33.767
with a bowler hat,
a white apron.

00:17:33.801 --> 00:17:35.133
And he\'d go to the pub.

00:17:35.167 --> 00:17:38.334
There\'d be a room set aside
purely for twisthands.

00:17:38.367 --> 00:17:39.767
They were at the top
of the tree.

00:17:39.801 --> 00:17:41.534
They were the top of the ladder,
they were.

00:17:41.567 --> 00:17:43.734
So you haven\'t got
that kind of power anymore.

00:17:43.767 --> 00:17:47.067
You have to put up
and shut up.

00:17:47.100 --> 00:17:49.567
The money\'s slowly going out
of this business,

00:17:49.601 --> 00:17:51.133
for us, anyway.

00:17:51.167 --> 00:17:54.434
It\'s not as well paid
as it used to be.

00:17:54.467 --> 00:17:56.567
Bradshaw: So did Cluny
do the right thing,

00:17:56.601 --> 00:17:58.734
relying
on a centuries-old process

00:17:58.767 --> 00:18:01.234
and a dwindling skill base?

00:18:01.267 --> 00:18:02.968
Perhaps the answer
lies in the story

00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:06.834
of another local family firm
who did use Raschel machines

00:18:06.868 --> 00:18:09.701
to try and compete
internationally.

00:18:09.734 --> 00:18:11.267
- The fact
that it\'s labor-intensive,

00:18:11.300 --> 00:18:13.267
I would have thought
you\'d have great competition

00:18:13.300 --> 00:18:16.334
from countries like Japan
and Taiwan, et cetera.

00:18:16.367 --> 00:18:18.133
- Yes, but these people

00:18:18.167 --> 00:18:20.701
couldn\'t set up an industry
just like that.

00:18:20.734 --> 00:18:22.667
One, they haven\'t the machines,

00:18:22.701 --> 00:18:25.501
and secondly,
they couldn\'t buy them today.

00:18:25.534 --> 00:18:27.167
They\'re not made anymore,

00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:29.467
and we, in fact, in this country
have a monopoly.

00:18:29.501 --> 00:18:33.701
We have the only machines
of this type in this country.

00:18:33.734 --> 00:18:36.300
Bradshaw:
This optimism proved unfounded.

00:18:36.334 --> 00:18:39.501
Birkin\'s closed in 2005.

00:18:39.534 --> 00:18:42.167
Twisthand Ian
followed the machines

00:18:42.200 --> 00:18:44.000
in search of more work.

00:18:44.033 --> 00:18:46.901
- The reason Ian didn\'t come
till 2006,

00:18:46.934 --> 00:18:50.133
he was in China.

00:18:50.167 --> 00:18:52.534
- I was there for ten months.

00:18:52.567 --> 00:18:54.334
And that was?
I enjoyed that.

00:18:54.367 --> 00:18:57.100
That was good.

00:18:57.133 --> 00:19:00.801
I\'d worked for the Birkins
for about 40 years.

00:19:00.834 --> 00:19:02.934
When Birkin\'s packed up,

00:19:02.968 --> 00:19:05.534
they were dismantling
the machines at Burrowash

00:19:05.567 --> 00:19:08.334
and reassembling them
in China then,

00:19:08.367 --> 00:19:12.200
training up the personnel
to work them.

00:19:12.234 --> 00:19:13.968
Everybody was asked
if they wanted

00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:17.133
to put their name forward,
and certain people did.

00:19:17.167 --> 00:19:19.367
And then the people that didn\'t,

00:19:19.400 --> 00:19:21.968
you know, starting calling
those that did.

00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:23.400
And I could never
understand why,

00:19:23.434 --> 00:19:25.234
because they had
the same opportunity.

00:19:25.267 --> 00:19:26.934
Some of them
were more qualified than I was

00:19:26.968 --> 00:19:29.634
to go out there
to do that job that I did.

00:19:29.667 --> 00:19:31.334
They just employed us

00:19:31.367 --> 00:19:33.300
basically to take
the machines out there

00:19:33.334 --> 00:19:35.601
and train up the personnel,
which we did.

00:19:35.634 --> 00:19:38.367
No matter what you throw
at the Chinese,

00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:40.467
I\'ll guarantee
they\'ll make it work,

00:19:40.501 --> 00:19:42.234
and they can do a good job.

00:19:42.267 --> 00:19:44.033
It might be crude,
what they do,

00:19:44.067 --> 00:19:45.834
but they\'ll get it done.

00:19:45.868 --> 00:19:50.267
I can see it all being shipped
abroad eventually.

00:19:50.300 --> 00:19:52.901
Charles does well to survive.

00:19:52.934 --> 00:19:55.734
Bradshaw:
So what is Cluny\'s secret?

00:19:55.767 --> 00:19:58.000
- The main secret is not?
which isn\'t a secret, is,

00:19:58.033 --> 00:19:59.901
what we make
happens to be pretty good,

00:19:59.934 --> 00:20:03.267
and it\'s a distillation
of a lot

00:20:03.300 --> 00:20:07.133
of what the UK lace trade did
over a large period of time,

00:20:07.167 --> 00:20:09.100
and we have a lot

00:20:09.133 --> 00:20:11.901
of some of the best patterns
they ever made, basically.

00:20:11.934 --> 00:20:14.467
On top of that, we don\'t
borrow anything from the bank.

00:20:14.501 --> 00:20:17.100
- Some other companies have
borrowed money, for example,

00:20:17.133 --> 00:20:20.267
to keep something equivalent
to the Raschel plant going,

00:20:20.300 --> 00:20:21.868
but it doesn\'t last.

00:20:21.901 --> 00:20:24.400
I mean, the bankers aren\'t out
to make money for you.

00:20:24.434 --> 00:20:26.334
They\'re out to make money
for themselves.

00:20:26.367 --> 00:20:28.501
So you don\'t borrow money
from the bank

00:20:28.534 --> 00:20:29.701
unless you have to.

00:20:31.901 --> 00:20:34.167
- I think our priority has been,
over the last year or two,

00:20:34.200 --> 00:20:39.734
just to get past
this recession.

00:20:39.767 --> 00:20:42.601
Certainly the last two years
have been pretty horrendous.

00:20:42.634 --> 00:20:45.667
And though the last few months
have been better,

00:20:45.701 --> 00:20:47.133
the priority\'s been
to survive

00:20:47.167 --> 00:20:51.868
rather than worry
about five years down the line.

00:20:53.601 --> 00:20:56.601
- Last year was on short time,

00:20:56.634 --> 00:20:58.234
near enough all year.

00:20:58.267 --> 00:21:00.300
And you\'re thinking,
\"Oh, you know,

00:21:00.334 --> 00:21:03.767
there\'s not many jobs about,\"
so you?

00:21:03.801 --> 00:21:07.567
and there\'s nothing, like,
for me, anyway, round here.

00:21:07.601 --> 00:21:09.334
And you\'re thinking,
\"Oh, you know,

00:21:09.367 --> 00:21:11.767
what are you gonna do
if it shuts down?\"

00:21:11.801 --> 00:21:15.334
You\'re just keeping
your fingers crossed.

00:21:15.367 --> 00:21:17.267
- I hope there\'s a future.

00:21:17.300 --> 00:21:19.400
But I don\'t think
they\'re gonna expect us

00:21:19.434 --> 00:21:21.000
to stay here till we drop,

00:21:21.033 --> 00:21:22.534
which we probably will do.

00:21:22.567 --> 00:21:23.534
- I\'ll be here till I\'m 90.

00:21:23.567 --> 00:21:25.367
I\'ve already said that.

00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:27.167
- But he\'ll have
to think about it

00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:28.367
if he wants to carry on,

00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:30.434
\'cause the gaffers
are pretty young.

00:21:30.467 --> 00:21:33.367
If he wants to carry on
for his children or whatever,

00:21:33.400 --> 00:21:36.133
he\'s going to have to bring
youngsters into the trade

00:21:36.167 --> 00:21:37.200
and train them up.

00:21:37.234 --> 00:21:39.334
And it\'s not easy.

00:21:39.367 --> 00:21:41.133
Bradshaw:
Cluny\'s dwindling skill base

00:21:41.167 --> 00:21:43.801
may be the biggest threat
to its future.

00:21:43.834 --> 00:21:45.801
Even if they make it
through the recession,

00:21:45.834 --> 00:21:47.667
they may not have
enough skilled workers

00:21:47.701 --> 00:21:52.033
to operate the complex machinery
in the years to come.

00:21:52.067 --> 00:21:53.767
- Unfortunately,
I would say

00:21:53.801 --> 00:21:57.267
3/4 of the people who are here
will be retiring in five years.

00:21:57.300 --> 00:22:00.901
So most people
are approaching 60

00:22:00.934 --> 00:22:03.934
or are around?
over 60 now, so...

00:22:03.968 --> 00:22:05.501
Traditionally,
I was always told

00:22:05.534 --> 00:22:07.934
it used to be seven years
of apprenticeship

00:22:07.968 --> 00:22:11.167
to be able to work
the different styles of patterns

00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:13.200
and the different gauges.

00:22:13.234 --> 00:22:15.200
It\'s a huge problem, yes.
[laughs]

00:22:15.234 --> 00:22:17.834
Potential problem
on the skyline, yeah.

00:22:17.868 --> 00:22:21.300
- But what do young people want
to come into this trade for,

00:22:21.334 --> 00:22:23.934
especially
at the manufacturing end,

00:22:23.968 --> 00:22:26.734
\'cause it\'s so dirty,
you know?

00:22:26.767 --> 00:22:29.367
- Unfortunately,
most of them seem to think

00:22:29.400 --> 00:22:31.667
that there\'s probably
more future

00:22:31.701 --> 00:22:34.267
in sweeping the floor
at a supermarket

00:22:34.300 --> 00:22:37.033
than there probably is
in the textile trade.

00:22:37.067 --> 00:22:40.200
- Really, younger people
coming into a trade

00:22:40.234 --> 00:22:44.901
want a guarantee of a career
out of it,

00:22:44.934 --> 00:22:47.767
and this is so uncertain.

00:22:47.801 --> 00:22:50.734
You know, you don\'t know
how long it\'s gonna last.

00:22:53.434 --> 00:22:55.834
- There\'s only one
lace mechanics

00:22:55.868 --> 00:22:57.267
left in the country as well

00:22:57.300 --> 00:22:59.734
that services these machines
as well.

00:22:59.767 --> 00:23:02.133
So if they
went out of business,

00:23:02.167 --> 00:23:04.868
you\'d be sort of struggling
to find anybody

00:23:04.901 --> 00:23:06.901
to repair these machines.

00:23:06.934 --> 00:23:09.534
- Well, there aren\'t any other
machines left in the UK now.

00:23:09.567 --> 00:23:11.968
There are certain parts
that wear out.

00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:14.334
Mexico had a plant
of machines like ourselves

00:23:14.367 --> 00:23:20.100
which possibly had
some bobbins, carriages

00:23:20.133 --> 00:23:22.033
that would have fitted
our machines.

00:23:22.067 --> 00:23:24.367
And so I just went
to have a quick look

00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:26.901
to see if they were any good
or not,

00:23:26.934 --> 00:23:29.501
which they weren\'t, sadly.

00:23:29.534 --> 00:23:30.934
They had some the same,

00:23:30.968 --> 00:23:33.968
but they were worn out,
I\'m afraid.

00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:36.334
- The other thing we have
no longer is the dye works.

00:23:36.367 --> 00:23:38.801
We have no dye works
in this country for lace.

00:23:38.834 --> 00:23:41.334
We have every -- every bit of lace
that leaves this factory

00:23:41.367 --> 00:23:43.234
is dyed in France.

00:23:43.267 --> 00:23:46.200
And if that Calais dye works
goes, for example,

00:23:46.234 --> 00:23:49.467
the whole of lace
in western Europe

00:23:49.501 --> 00:23:51.334
is almost finished.

00:23:51.367 --> 00:23:54.434
It\'s a very fragile balance
the whole time.

00:23:54.467 --> 00:23:56.367
- I\'d like to think
that they\'re gonna keep going,

00:23:56.400 --> 00:23:57.801
because it\'s a working museum.

00:23:57.834 --> 00:23:59.367
It\'s the only one
in the country now,

00:23:59.400 --> 00:24:01.367
and it is a working museum.

00:24:01.400 --> 00:24:03.200
I don\'t think
this country realizes

00:24:03.234 --> 00:24:05.367
that it\'s like
a cottage industry.

00:24:05.400 --> 00:24:07.067
When it\'s gone, it\'s gone.

00:24:07.100 --> 00:24:08.234
It\'ll never come back,

00:24:08.267 --> 00:24:10.167
because you won\'t have
the expertise.

00:24:10.200 --> 00:24:12.701
They\'ll have gone.

00:24:12.734 --> 00:24:14.000
- The changes
that have happened

00:24:14.033 --> 00:24:15.801
since I\'ve been
in the lace trade

00:24:15.834 --> 00:24:19.567
have been huge,
so in another 20 years,

00:24:19.601 --> 00:24:21.734
I hate to think
where we\'ll be.

00:24:21.767 --> 00:24:23.701
- Now, how many
lace manufacturers

00:24:23.734 --> 00:24:25.000
are there in the country,

00:24:25.033 --> 00:24:27.400
and how many of them are here
in the Nottingham area?

00:24:27.434 --> 00:24:31.100
- Well, out of a number
of some 200,

00:24:31.133 --> 00:24:33.801
I would say
that at least 120 of them

00:24:33.834 --> 00:24:37.701
are still situated in Nottingham
and its immediate vicinity.

00:24:37.734 --> 00:24:39.968
Bradshaw:
History is unpredictable,

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:41.801
but Charles Mason
firmly believes

00:24:41.834 --> 00:24:43.901
his unorthodox answer
to globalization

00:24:43.934 --> 00:24:46.801
can pay off.

00:24:46.834 --> 00:24:50.000
Maybe he\'s found the secret
after all.

00:24:50.033 --> 00:24:51.601
- [chuckling]
I hope there is a future.

00:24:51.634 --> 00:24:52.701
I\'m sure there is.

00:24:52.734 --> 00:24:55.634
There\'s still that place
in the market

00:24:55.667 --> 00:25:00.601
for high-quality lace items
of the style we do?

00:25:00.634 --> 00:25:04.634
and as long as we\'ve got
the supply chain somewhere,

00:25:04.667 --> 00:25:09.067
which we should have
to keep us going.

00:25:09.100 --> 00:25:13.167
- Mason\'s is the only company
left in the UK

00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:15.067
that makes Leavers lace,

00:25:15.100 --> 00:25:17.601
you know, the stronger lace,
the best lace.

00:25:17.634 --> 00:25:21.300
Quality should rise above.

00:25:21.334 --> 00:25:24.567
And I\'d hope,
will always hope,

00:25:24.601 --> 00:25:27.033
that the stuff they make here,
which is quality,

00:25:27.067 --> 00:25:30.901
will, you know,
keep its head above water.

00:25:30.934 --> 00:25:33.901
I hope so,
but who knows, you know?

00:25:33.934 --> 00:25:36.400
Who knows, you know?

00:25:39.701 --> 00:25:41.734
Bradshaw: To find out more
about this program

00:25:41.767 --> 00:25:43.434
and the story
of Nottingham lace,

00:25:43.467 --> 00:25:49.033
visit our website:
tve.org.uk/lifeonline.