About Thomas Dare

Thomas Parry and John Dare were pioneers, entrepreneurs endowed with creativity, commercial acumen and a spirit of adventure. Their collaboration, in the early 19th Century, led to the establishment of Thomas Dare almost 200 years ago.

Thomas Parry had landed in Madras in the late 18th Century and spent his early days at Fort St George; the fortress had been built a century earlier, not to defend Madras but rather as a centre for the trading of textiles.

Madras had earned a reputation for textiles of unsurpassed quality and variety, ranging from coarsely woven calico to the finest muslins of exquisite softness. In addition, the painting and printing of cloth was a flourishing trade, particularly in indigo-dyed fabrics, and it was from this cloth that Thomas Parry began to build his fortune.

In 1810 John Dare landed in Madras, having bought his passage to India in exchange for his labours as a seaman aboard the clipper on which he arrived. Thomas Parry had been on the lookout for the right man to help him in his growing business, and their partnership proved so successful that within the first year of trading their turnover doubled. Indeed, within five years, their trading activities in textiles were second only to those of the East India Company.

John Dare took specific responsibility for sourcing exciting new products in the remote villages and townships of South India: lustrous silks, fine embroideries, sumptuous cottons, sturdy weaves and fabrics of the most sheer, translucent quality.

Thomas Parry died in 1824, but Dare continued the business until his own death in 1838, the result of cholera contracted during one of his frequent research trips to the interior.

The pioneering spirit of Thomas Parry and John Dare still flourishes in the 21st Century and their legacy continues to be upheld. Thomas Dare is now a part of Macnaughton Holdings, based in Scotland. Its founders’ vision and flair still unites designers, printers and weavers throughout the world to produce fabrics in an innovative, vibrant and predominantly colonial style.