John Rylands Library archives show that the roots of the Christy company date from at least 1833, when the
Stockport firm of W. M. Christy & Sons Ltd – established by banker and
hatter William Miller Christy – was manufacturing cotton goods. Christy's son, the noted collector and
ethnologist Henry Christy, discovered the product that would make the company famous. While travelling in
Istanbul, he saw an example of the looped pile fabric that is known today as
terry towelling, but which was initially known as the 'Turkish towel'. The company found a method of weaving the looped pile fabric on an industrial scale using a machine designed by one of their employees
Samuel Holt, who patented the design. The first Christy towels factory opened in Droylsden in 1850. A year later, Christy towels were displayed at
The Great Exhibition at
Crystal Palace,
Queen Victoria became an early client. By 1891, the company's Fairfields Mill in Droylsden had 310 looms and 30,000 spindles, according to ''Worrall's Cotton Spinners Directory''. When Courtaulds spun off its textile businesses in 2000, Christy was sold to a
management buyout team. ==The company today==