M&S COULD SOON BE STOCKING BACK UP ON UK-MADE TIGHTS

TIGHTS made in the UK could be sold by Marks & Spencer again under plans to revive a pioneering fashion brand.

The high street chain is in early talks with a group trying to re-establish Adria, a hosiery business formerly based in Northern Ireland that was one of its main suppliers.

Adria was founded in 1961 by the late Rolf Noskwith, a former Bletchley Park codebreaker who later took over his family’s textile business.

From its site in Strabane, County Tyrone, Adria made own-brand hosiery for chain stores and led the way with seamless stockings in the 1960s.

It also created run-resistant stockings and tights, an achievement still seen as significant in hosiery.

The business was sold in 2004 to global clothing firm Quantum and its new owner closed its Northern Ireland base two years later.

But now Noskwith’s son, Adrian, has revealed plans to resurrect its Strabane operations and has reportedly brought in former employees of both Adria and Marks & Spencer to help.

The 57-year-old hopes to set up a high-tech manufacturing plant to produce tights and is understood to have held talks with Marks & Spencer about becoming one of its suppliers.