Two brothers are celebrating a successful first six months in charge of one of Cumbria's most iconic businesses. 

Last July Ross and Duncan Walker took over Linton Tweeds, the legendary Carlisle firm whose fabrics have been worn by Princess Diana, Michelle Obama and the Queen.

From its Shaddongate base in the shadow of Dixon’s Chimney, Linton Tweeds now has a thriving trade with China, which has increased by 65 per cent since 2019, bucking the UK trend which has seen a dramatic rise in imports.

Duncan said: "China is really booming. It is now about 50 per cent of what we do. The fact we are over 100 years old, and the history of the company, is important there.

Ross, 30, and Duncan, 28, had been managers and directors for four years when they took over as joint managing directors from their father Keith who has become chairman.

Their grandfather Leslie bought the firm in 1969 and revolutionised the business by pioneering the use of the exotic yarns for which Linton is now famous. It has 65 staff and makes and sells 140,000 metres of fabric a year.

Ross said: "You realise when you are MD there is no one above you. The advantage is that if we have ideas for how to make the company better it’s just down to us to implement them.

"We had already been doing the job. We just needed to show that everything was the same. We haven’t changed too much but we have done a lot of investment."

He added: "Brexit didn't affect us as much as we thought, instead of being a company that sells just to Europe, we are more worldwide. The customers we have in Europe were always going to find a way to deal with us.

"I would say the pandemic has affected us more, especially in recent months. Our yarn suppliers are struggling to give us deliveries – they need to get components and they can’t get them so it’s a supply chain issue."

Among their more recent customers in Europe are Dolce & Gabbana and the Paris fashion house Balmain who join a list of clients including Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin, Tory Burch, Burberry, Victoria Beckham, Marc Jacobs, Karen Millen, Alexa Chung, Prada and Karl Lagerfeld.