Textile Memories of Pima Cotton by Susy Dyson

A good friend of mine and an enthusiastic MATTHILDUR fan, Susy Dyson, has agreed to contribute to our BLOG POSTS this month.

Bringing her own recollections of her father’s legacy, she reminds us of how Pima cotton is deeply rooted in Peruvian history.  As a brand we acknowledge the value of this fiber for its quality and continue to present it in our collection as an important asset promoting sustainable clothing  and timeless design.  Thank you Susy! 

As I´m presently toying with writing a book about my earlier life and I´ve come to realize that one of the important things that my father implanted in me is his tactile felling for Pima Cotton.

He was a man of textiles who'd snatched up an opportunity to come to Peru shortly after the war and began working with for Duncan Fox, a large British firm that exported cotton brought down by trains direct from the farms to the ports of Puerto Eten and Pimentel in the north  to the port of Liverpool for process in the factories that they had in Lancashire in the North of England.

He decided 'to make himself indispensable' by finding out about all of the farms and assets that the company had, and then suggested that rather than exporting the cotton to England, that the company should ponder on the idea of having their own factories in Peru; to which they agreed. That is how he set up the whole chain of goods required to produce the various types of cloth required for clothing.
The cotton would be picked and demoted at the farms, then carded and then spun into yarn that would be processed to the various types of flat Pima cloth for shirts and t-shirts; creating thousands of jobs for the finished products.
His innate sense of quality and style stayed with me since early age and I am delighted to notice and feel that the softness of that unique quality pima cotton still persists when choosing the cloth that Matthildur's designs flourish in, as I do wearing them!