textile sample from Ralli Brothers

Textile sample by Ralli Brothers, Manchester. It is a fine white shirting fabric with red and blue stripes along one edge. ‘Fine White Shirting’, ‘40 Yards’ and a Ralli Brothers trademark are printed in blue ink on the fabric. There are two small paper stickers. The letter ‘J’ is embroidered on the fabric. Various pencil notes are written on the fabric.

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.

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 fabric adds to the story of Manchester’s global connections and the North-West region’s global networks. It shows the type and quality of textiles being produced for trade during the first half of the 20th century and adds to the understanding of textile production and manufacturing processes of this time. 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.