Ashford Handicrafts (1983: Doomsday)



   

Ashford handicrafts is a company based in the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand. They are the world’s premier producer of hand powered Textile equipment. They also own several mills that produce woolen textiles

Pre-Doomsday
Found in 1934 as a small furniture factory, Ashford started making spinning wheels in 1940. By 1945 Ashford’s spinning wheel business took a blow because of the rise of nylon. In the 60’s wool became fashionable with hobbyists and Ashford’s spinning wheel business started to recover.

Post-doomsday
After doomsday, New Zealand    suffered from a shortage of clothing imports. To fill the gap people started learning how to spin. Thus, Ashford spinning wheels started flying off the shelves. In 1989 Ashford decided to buy two old wool mills, so they could start producing yarn for their spinning wheels. In 1991 Ashford bought out Norman Ellison carpets. In 1994 Ashford started buying new power looms that have been recently been developed by reverse engineering by a firm in Brisbane. Today Ashford is one of the Anzc’s biggest Textile firms. Ashford products are exported all over the southern hemisphere and even a few parts of the northern hemisphere. Their spinning wheels and looms are quite popular in developing countries like Mozambique, the UIP, and the Municipal States of the Pacific.





