at the mill avoca handweavers type private industry textile and clothing manufacturing retail food and cafes gardens founded county wicklow ireland 1723 headquarters kilmacanogue county wicklow ireland products clothes other woollen goods soft furnishings food ceramics books soaps & perfumes number of employees 600 website avoca avoca handweavers now mostly known simply as avoca is a clothing manufacturing retail and food business in ireland . started in avoca county wicklow it is the oldest working woollen mill in ireland and one of the world s oldest manufacturing companies . it is also ireland s oldest surviving business . the mill on the banks of the fast flowing river avoca survives from at least 1723 . travel to and from the remote village was difficult and a barter system was used . the mill was used for grinding corn for bread and spinning and weaving wool . a mechanised weaving machine in use at the mill in 1760 a fly shuttle loom capable of weaving up to 20 metres of cloth a day arrived . workers concerned about possible unemployment resorted to burning some looms . three sisters the wynnes inherited the mill in the 1920s and introduced colour . avoca handweavers tweeds was produced and exported including for use by italian designer elsa schiaparelli . the material was also used for a waistcoat for king george vi and baby blankets for the children of queen elizabeth ii . 1 in 1974 donald pratt a solicitor engaged to handle the sale of the mill which now faced closure decided to buy it himself . along with his wife hilary a teacher he set about getting avoca handweavers back on its feet . the pratts began exporting handwoven rugs and throws to the uk and other countries . avoca throws are still sold across the globe . managed now by two generations of the pratt family avoca continues to develop with several large retail outlets around ireland including powerscourt and malahide castle and in belfast . many of these also have popular foodhalls & cafes attached as their food operations expand . the avoca caf cookbooks have proven to be popular bestsellers . the grounds around the mill the company has a number of women s clothing ranges which it sells through its own stores designed by amanda pratt as well as wholesaling in ireland and internationally . the best known of these is avoca anthology . avoca is also strongly associated with gardens and has several very rare trees in its kilmacanogue grounds and one of ireland s most famous gardens at mount usher gardens in ashford county wicklow . the company employs over 600 people . references edit http www.avoca.com retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title avoca handweavers & oldid 741759705 categories retail companies of irelandcounty wicklowcompanies of the republic of irelandvisitor attractions in county wicklow navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 29 september 2016 at 13 57 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view