Why are blankets no longer made in Witney?

The chimney of Walker's Crofts Mill being demolished.

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  Early's advertising sign from the 1920s for all-wool Witney blankets.
  The rise and rise of the duvet, which has never gone out of fashion since it first became popular in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s. Blankets for bedding were simply no longer fashionable and demand began to decline. They did come into vogue at various times as decorative throws for furniture and beds, but the market for these was of a different kind and of less volume than the traditional blanket trade - it only takes one blanket to use as a throw but several would have been needed to make a warm bed.
  
  
• Along with the duvet, central heating was also a factor; there was no longer the need for layers of blankets at night for warmth when it was possible to have constant background heating. The idea of centrally heating our homes has been around for centuries in one form or another but it was not until the 1980s that the majority of people in Britain had gas, oil or electric central heating in their houses.
  
  
• Witney had increasingly to compete with the cheaper labour costs of overseas blanket manufacturers and the opening out of world markets. It also faced competition from the larger suppliers of domestic blankets in the north of England. The 1970s and early 1980s were also a time of national recession in Britain which contributed to the downward spiral of the industry.
  
  
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  Construction of new housing on the site of the 1960s warehouse at Witney Mill.
  The value of land in Witney, on which the different blanket firms' factories stood, began to rise from the 1980s because of its redevelopment potential for housing. The need for new houses was growing but the blanket trade was in a general decline so there was a lot of pressure on the blanket manufacturers to realise their property assets. The making of blankets requires a large physical space so the firms were land-rich in areas of the town close to the centre - ideal for house building. As well as providing land for newly built homes, the idea of living in converted industrial buildings had also become fashionable and some of the surviving mill buildings now contain many homes and flats.