For over 35 years the Parkin family have been weaving a unique blend of history, products and expertise.

 Textile Developer since 1989

 The value of what we make comes from the values we use to make it

The story so far….

 Based in Oldham, Greater Manchester, Parkin is a family business that takes great pride in creating and sourcing top quality fabrics, feathers & accessories for milliners, furnishing companies, cosplay, bridal and fashion designers across the UK and the world over.

On the 3rd of April 2024, Parkin celebrated 35 years in the industry. As a family run business, we’re incredibly proud of our heritage as a leading manufacturer and supplier of fabrics to the millinery and other industries. While we have been trading for over 35 years as Parkin Fabrics, our history dates back some 20 years earlier when David Parkin, the founder of the company, revolutionised the millinery industry with the introduction of a new type of medium-weight buckram.

With his background in textiles, David understood that there was a market for a refined buckram weave for use in millinery manufacturing. To this day, Parkin continues to be the only producer of this refined Optic White Buckram, and in fact all buckrams, that are used extensively in millinery and other niche industries across the globe.

Our cotton heritage also dates back many decades to the days when David Parkin started out his journey into textiles after leaving school, in a cotton dye house in Saddleworth, in Lancashire at that time, the cotton capital of the world! With his wealth of experience passed on to his son Nick, the legacy continues and Lancashire cotton lives on to this day!

The last 35 years have seen us introduce many other fabrics and textiles to manufacturers and customers around the world with the same passion and determination that brought millinery buckram to life. A recent example was the urgent introduction of medical fabrics in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Within a period of just 4 weeks. Parkin Fabrics researched and developed a complete range of technical medical textiles complying with EN13795, ISO0811 and ISO16606, some of the first in the UK.

The wealth of knowledge the Parkin family has earned over the last 35 years in Abaca,  Pina, Pinokpok, Sinamay and related Philippine natural fibres and hand woven fabrics, combined with our weaving and textile heritage is profound.  Our experience speaks for itself. Come and visit us to see our collection.

At Parkin, we are much more than just a supplier - we’re the market leader in millinery fabrics, accessories and many other materials. With over 4000 products available to order online or direct from our warehouse, we’re always happy to provide advice, support and guidance to help our customers in their creative vision.