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Associated Weavers International Group is a Belgian textile manufacturing company. The company head office in located in Ronse. History The company was founded in Bradford, West Yorkshire and run by the Abrahams family. By the early 1970s the site employed 2,500 people and was the world's largest producer of Axminster woven carpets and Europe's largest producer of tufted printed carpets. At that time the company was principally led by managing director David Croft and the design director Mike Kelly. In 1973 Associated Weavers was taken over by the American group, Champion International and by the mid 1970s Associated Weavers started the production of tufted printed carpets in Ronse, Belgium. Despite the fact that, at one time, the company produced one in seven of all carpets bought in the UK it was not a widely known brand-name. Due a rapid contraction of the UK carpet sector the Bradford site was sold in the early 1980s and in 1984 Champion International decided to withdraw from the carpet industry altogether. The company was bought by its management and the Associated Weavers International Group was created. In 1990 the company acquired Prado, which was founded in 1909 as Tissage Van de Wiele. In 1997 the company registered on the Brussels Stock Exchange. In 1998 the company expanded into the Czech Republic and in 2001 it took over the French company, Balsan. A major relaunch and re-branding is expected in early 2011. Source External links
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