Lamtex Rugs

There are few things more appealing than the cosiness of relaxing on soft furnishings and woollen rugs, and warmed by a blazing coal fire.

The claim that advertising is all about selling a lifestyle is exemplified in this image of a father and daughter sat on a Lamtex rug in front of an open fire in a plush middle class living room. It’s 1962, and homes are, for the first time for very many, becoming places of comfort and joy, especially with a woollen rug.

Lamtex rugs were manufactured by J.L. Tankard & Co. of Bradford, who started their wool spinning business back in the 1870s, at which time Bradford, with some 38 woollen mills, produced around two thirds of England’s wool. The company – coming under the control of Illingworth, Morris & Co. in 1923 – settled at Upper Croft Mill, Bowling, Bradford. A Percival Prentice aircraft advertised their rugs from 1959 onwards, until the trade name of Lamtex disappeared at some time in the late-1960s. In the same year as this ad they made a promotional film, ‘Heritage of Skill’, viewable on the YFA player. The archive records for James Tankard Ltd. stop in 1978, while Illingworth Morris were ceased operating in 2011.