The textile industry continued to dominate the City’s economy throughout the 18th century. It was characterised by high-quality cloths of complex structure, produced by small and medium-scale enterprises who could adapt to the demands of the fashion market. ‘Stuffs ‘ were very popular with fashionable rural gentry and wealthier towns people.

The middle years of the century are seen as the ‘golden age’ of Norwich textiles with domestic and foreign markets prospering equally. The earliest surviving pattern books and samples date from this period. They give an idea of the extraordinary range of texture, weave and pattern. The most elaborate were the brocaded satins, which used ‘floating ‘ warp or weft threads to produce large floral patterns. Tapizados, taboretts and floretttas were particularly attractive ranges. The vivid, rainbow-striped callimancos were in great demand. Fabric names and designs were carefully selected to appeal to the changing tastes of their fashionable, middle income clientele. The trade in bombazines and crapes remained buoyant.

Some manufacturers prospered and as time went on, firms tended to become larger and fewer. More work was put out to ‘journeyman weavers’ working in their own homes or workshops. The manufacturers still supervised production but some also came to be involved in the export trade. Now usually known as ‘merchants’ they cultivated the huge demand for Norwich stuffs across Northern Europe, in Italy and Spain. The East India Company took a steady volume of camlets for India. And China

Manufacturers agents used pattern books and cards to interest buyers, gather orders and show new lines. From 1760, foreign wars combined with competition from first Indian cottons and then cheaper worsteds from the industrial north, took a toll on the industry. There were periods of acute slump, during which textile workers suffered greatly and many manufacturers went out of business.