Born in 1903 and beginning work at a local mill at the age of 12 whilst still at school, Elsie Whiteley's hands-on training as a machinist equipped her with the core skills that would form the foundation of her fashion empire.

A combination of passion for clothes design, an eye for making her own money and sheer determination lead her to start dressmaking from her sitting room at home in 1929, which soon grew into a busy factory and saw the opening of her first shop on Athol Mount (1930) - and ten year's later on Keighley Road, Ovenden.

Tapping into Halifax's position at the forefront of machine engineering and the clothing industry the 'Elsie Whiteley' label - specialising in stylish ladies blouses - was launched and at its peak took over six mills across Calderdale including the Elsie Whiteley Mill in 1973. Selling to 1000 retailers across the UK including major department stores such as John Lewis, Fenwick and Selfridges the Elsie Whiteley label also had its own premises on London's Regent Street.

In 1959 she brought her two sons on board to join her in managing the business and continued to adapt to the changing labour market, industry climate and fashion trends.

Although the mill survived until 1994 (closure was enforced to the number of textile manufacturing bases moving abroad) Elsie Whiteley never retired - always taking garment alterations home until the day she died in 1972.