A royal visit to Hiut Denim Co.’s factory in Cardigan, Wales give new meaning to the term “blue blood.”
On Tuesday, Catherine, Princess of Wales, toured the denim company’s facilities as part of an initiative spotlighting Welsh textile manufacturing.
Hiut Denim CEO Johann von Loeper recounted the visit in a blog post on the brand’s website. During the tour, Catherine was invited to take part in the production process alongside Hiut’s staff. The small-batch brand’s design team guided her through its workflow—from sketch to prototype—explaining how fabric selection and finishing techniques shape each decision.
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In the cutting room, Catherine cut a pair of jeans alongside one of Hiut’s longest-serving employees and its newest trainee, while a group of denim artisans shared their paths into the textile industry and emphasized the importance of training and apprenticeships.
The visit concluded with Catherine sewing a back pocket onto a pair of the brand’s men’s Hack jeans as a gift for the Prince of Wales. Hiut also presented her with the first production pair of its new Mari style to wear herself.
“As the owner of Hiut, the day left me immensely proud. Proud of the team, proud of the idea that skills can be passed down, and glad that someone in a position to champion British textiles and fashion brands could see, up close, what we do and why it matters. The visit was a reminder that the way we make things shapes the world we live in,” von Loeper stated.
Hiut Denim was founded in 2011 by David and Clare Hieatt (the couple exited the business last year) as a springboard to revive the region’s textile sector and train a new generation of craftspeople in sustainable denim. In the 1960s, Cardigan’s first jeans factory employed over 400 artisans, crafting 35,000 pairs a week. That skill was lost when production moved offshore in 2002.
In 2018, the company had a viral moment when Catherine’s sister-in-law, the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, wore their jeans at a public event, setting off a frenzy that spiked demand and overwhelmed the tiny operation of around 20 employees at the time.
The Princess of Wales of also visited Melin Tregwynt, a woolen mill on the Pembrokeshire coast that has been in continuous operation since 1841. The family-owned mill recently collaborated with JW Anderson on bespoke blankets.
The royal family has a close interest in the British textile industry. In 2023, Catherine visited the family-owned heritage AW Hainsworth mill in Stanningley, Yorkshire. In 1958, her great-great-grandfather, Noel Middleton, sold his family firm, William Lupton & Co., to AW Hainsworth. The vertically integrated textile mill was granted a “royal warrant” from the late Queen Elizabeth II.
