Sketchley Dye Works were founded in 1885 by Alfred E. Hawley and H. G. Clarke and styled A. E. Hawley & Co. Ltd., hosiery bleachers, dyers and finishers. (Hawley resided at Elm Lea, Ashby Road.)
Before the 1914-18 war the works were extensively enlarged and new offices were built, according to designs by W. T. Grewcock, architect, of Hinckley. Sketchley Ltd (named after the hamlet which once existed nearby) became one of the country's leading firms of cleaners and dyers. By the 1950s Sketchley was the largest commissioned hosiery dyers and finishers in Europe and between the three Sketchley hosiery factories at Hinckley, Nottingham and Market Drayton, around one million pairs of stockings were processed each week.
