A Family Business

Established in 1985 Lawrence M Barry & Co (LMB) has grown from a modest three-person operation into a successful, environmentally conscious business, employing over 170 staff across four sites and with export partners worldwide.

Its founders and partners Lawrence and Joy Barry now work alongside their son Ross and daughter Michelle, who are the third generation to enter the industry.

The seeds of LMB were first sown when Lawrence was working for his father at a company called T.P Moore, which had the unlikely business idea of recycling docking ropes from London's dockyards. As times changed so did the business. It moved from dock ropes to buying clothes and textiles. These would be sorted and cut into wipers and any woollen goods would be sent for flocking. Ironically, it seems back in those days everything was recycled.

Clothes for Reuse

Lawrence soon saw that old rags could potentially have new value and with the advent of the affluent eighties, people were no longer throwing out clothes because they were old and tatty but because they were out of fashion. Most importantly these clothes could be reused.

In 1985, Lawrence and Joy decided to make good use of this hard-earned knowledge and set up a business concentrating on collecting and sorting clothes for reuse - LMB was born.