textile sample from Ralli Brothers

Textile sample by Ralli Brothers made between 1919 - 1953. The cream fabric, likely cotton, has two blue ink printed Ralli Brothers trademarks stating two of the company’s registered locations, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. There is also Made in England stamped in blue ink. On the reverse of the fabric there is a patch of adhesive where a paper label would have been.

This piece of fabric was probably used as a textile sample to demonstrate the quality of one of the many textiles produced by the Ralli Brothers company. Textile samples are used to give customers the opportunity to see and feel a fabric before placing an order. The ink stamp shows the distinctive trademark of the Ralli Brothers', a circular symbol of a two-headed snakelike animal. Trademarks were used for brand recognition. In the first half of the 20th century, when this fabric was produced, trademarks meant customers could easily differentiate between the fabrics of different companies.

Ralli Brothers was founded by five Greek brothers in 1818. The company mostly traded in silks, textiles, and spices. At their peak they had offices in London, Liverpool, and across Europe, Asia, and Africa. They were active in Manchester from the late 1820s. The Ralli Building, an imposing nine-story joint office and warehouse on the banks of the river Irwell, was opened in 1919. The building consolidated up to three separate warehouses that they had been using across Manchester. By the 1950s, a decline in trading meant that only five of the nine floors were being used by the Ralli Brothers. The building was demolished in the mid-1980s.

This is one of over thirty pieces of fabric collected by an employee of Ralli Brothers in Manchester, while they worked as a clerk-bookkeeper between 1949 - 1953. It shows the variety of textiles being produced for trade during the first half of the 20th century.