A CENTURY ago cloth designer Harry Harrison left his job to start his own business. At the time he worked at William Fison, manufacturers of worsted cloth, in Burley-in-Wharfedale, and felt he needed to strike out alone. He set up his business in Swaine Street, Bradford. This was not unusual - in those days it was a common feature of the textile industry for designers to start businesses in cloth manufacturer. They did this with the aid of overlookers, who started small weaving companies known as ‘commission weavers’ to weave for the designers. “The businesses set up by the designers became known as ‘manufacturers without looms’, which seems to be a strange description,” says Richard Harrison, Harry’s great-grandson, now director of the firm. “But it actually described their business perfectly as the designers bought the yarn, designed the cloth and sold it, doing everything a normal manufacturer would do except weave it.