What did Titus Salt manufacture in Saltaire?
A – Alpaca worsted. Worsted is a mixed cloth composed of cotton or silk warp threads (the ones which are vertical) and wool weft threads (the ones which are horizontal). Titus’ skill was in inventing machines which would spin difficult fibres, such as Donskoi wool from Russia which was long and fine. His discovery of a means to spin alpaca, which is hair from a llama-like animal from Peru, was the basis of his successful business. The resulting material was known as “lustre cloth” because it looked like silk and felt like silk but was only a fraction of the cost.
