About Us
Established in 1980 in Newcastle upon Tyne, we manufacture high quality church robes for bishops, clergy, readers, vergers, choirs (with patterns and styles for both men and women) and also church furnishings such as altar linen, frontals and falls.
Joyce and Maureen's first venture was simply to establish a sewing service, making and altering Theatrical Costumes (as they were doing that when they first met) and it was only because a number of early customers happened to be in the Church that Joyce and Maureen began to make items for them.
Little work was turned away - and very soon the two Partners were creating their own patterns and designs, to accommodate requests they received. It was some time before any visits to Colleges were arranged and even then it was only on a small scale, but two extra people were employed within the first year.
Joyce and Maureen were in the forefront of introducing Patterns and Styles specifically for women. Several of the other Suppliers expected women just to wear the same garments as men, with no distinction in Patterns. In fact, at one time J&M were almost the only manufacturers of Ladies Clerical Blouses or Ladies Cassocks.
Expansion continued to the extent that Joyce and Maureen had to take on more staff to maintain production at the levels being demanded. There were two moves within the same building before the Partners decided it was necessary to move to other premises.
In 2004 the Business was incorporated, with Joyce and Maureen retiring, but remaining nominally as Directors, along with Theresa Tiffin and Stephen Wroe - and we were proud to be awarded the Royal Warrant in 2007 - "By Appointment to HM The Queen, Manufacturers of Clerical Robes".
Sadly; Joyce died in November 2010 after a long illness and Maureen passed away in August 2019.
We now have a customer base of over 44,000 customers based in countries all over the world (including Africa; Australia; the Far East & the USA) and we are very proud to serve customers from many denominations of faith as our customer base continues to grow. Thank you very much for considering us to help you with your Clerical wear needs, we look forward to hearing from you.
We are committed to conducting our Business in accordance with Ethical, Social and Environmental best practices, so that our work remains sustainable. A copy of our Policies in these respects can be provided on enquiry, together with copies of written statements from the main Suppliers we use for our raw materials.
