Our History - Gregory Pollard

Founding and Early Years – 1932 Founded by Gregory Pollard started in Countesthorpe, Central Street. Next door to the then dyeworks as Leicestershire became the home of hundreds of small sock producers starting up before and around this time. Gregory Pollard started producing socks on manually operated Griswold sock knitting machines mounted on countertop tables and turned by hand.

1945 Gregory Pollard bought a few mechanically driven machines which produced socks far more quickly than was possible on the old hand turned machines and with the efficiencies gained meant that production boomed. New customers were established with GPO selling their wares to companies such as Fenwicks, BIBA, British Shoe Corporation, Etam and Debenhams.1953 Gregory Pollard acquired a plot of land and built its new larger factory at Regent Road in Countesthorpe, Production increased with the acquisition of more mechanical sock knitting machines and GPs business established and grew in the years to come.

1960s GP continues to produce socks in ranges of patterns and designs using yarns made from Wool, Cotton and the new synthetic yarns like Nylon and Acrylic. All the yarns were produced in the UK and the yarn spinners who were mainly from the North of England found the hundreds of independent sock knitting companies based in and around Leicestershire as their primary customers.

1972 GP himself passed away.

1980s The Legwarmer Boom! Retailer and wholesalers from all over the country descended on the many sock companies around the county, desperate to source the new fashion of Legwarmers. They could not be produced fast enough, and GP had retailers literally filling their boots in the factory Car Park as soon as the legwarmers were knitted straight off the machines. GP began production around the clock, and this was a prosperous era for GP and all the sock manufacturers alike. Leicestershire established itself as the epicentre of sock production in the UK buying all their yarn from UK companies and a centre of expertise and supporting industry contributed to the boom but all was about to change.

Late 1980s and into the 1990s The retailers in the UK followed the trend of sourcing cheaper products from the far east and it was becoming uneconomical to produce socks against the competition with lower wages and standards. M and S was the last of the retailers to cease and abandoned their long-established quality mantra of Buying British.

This decade saw the demise of the established sock industry in Leicestershire and nearly all the hundreds of sock producers in Leicestershire closed their doors along with all the yarn spinners in the North of England closing down, never to return. the sock manufacturing industry established in Leicestershire over the last 125 years, and all the supporting industries simply disappeared along with all the jobs and empty sock factories all over the county.

1999 Saw Gregory Pollard Ltd hanging onto a small amount of business but this was disappearing fast in the retailers rush to cheaper imports, and the future looked very bleak for all the staff and workers as GP struggled to survive and put the factory and machines up for sale.

When Dave took over (1999 – 2000s) – come on Dave…
This is when we venture into knitwear!

Expanded into Blaby Industrial Estate 2015 – all socks now produced in Blaby!

Embroidery Services in Countesthorpe –
Now have 4 machines happy/Tajima with 8 heads making a total of 32 heads

SockMonkeyz split Schoolwear away from fashion/bespoke lines 2022 – Now