Delegates from the International Indian Film Awards will take home a piece of Yorkshire with them from next month's events - thanks to a historic Bradford textiles company.

JH Clissold & Son has designed a special Yorkshire cloth, which will be presented to the IIFA brand ambassador, Amitabh Bachchan, at the glittering ceremony being held at Sheffield's Hallam FM Arena.

The intricate wool cloth, created from blue fabric, features the word "Yorkshire" interwoven in the pinstripe and was collected from the finishers on Friday.

It was then transformed into a series of stylish suits which will be worn by five young people, representing the main cities of York, Leeds, Sheffield, Hull and Bradford.

Clissold's has a history of producing one-off fabrics for international events.

The firm produced the suits worn by the team which secured the 2012 Olympics for London and kitted out the British Olympic team with their official uniforms displayed in the opening ceremony of the Games in Athens 2004.

The production of the fabric was funded by the Yorkshire Society, who spearheaded the creation of the very first Yorkshire cloth.

The original material was the brainchild of the society's chairman, Keith Madeley, and was launched at Bradford's City Hall in 2003.

This original production run proved vastly popular, and sold out rapidly with lengths of it reaching such far flung places as America and Japan.

And organisers are expecting even higher levels of demand for this new special batch. Yorkshire Tourist Board's chief executive, David Andrews, said: "The cloth is Yorkshire through and through - from the wording through to its design and manufacture.

"The region has a long-standing reputation for high-quality cloth and cutting edge design and I am proud that our talents will be showcased to a global TV audience of over 500 million."

Neil Jenkinson, head of culture and major events at Yorkshire Forward, said: "This cloth is an example of the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit that makes our region great.

"Yorkshire and Humber has a rich heritage in the textiles industry, and like so many of our manufacturing activities, this has been updated and reinvented for the 21st century."

The bid for the IIFA Weekend Yorkshire 2007 was undertaken by Yorkshire Tourist Board (YTB), with the support of Yorkshire Forward.

IIFA is expected to bring 28,000 visitors to Yorkshire next month and generate £10 million of direct tourism spend.

e-mail: mark.casci@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

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