History

From Synthetic Fibres to Solar (PV) in 3 Generations!

Albert Waxman founded A Waxman (Fibres) Ltd in 1958, setting himself up as a synthetic fibre merchant and in 1966 acquired Grove Mills in Elland from his father-in-law Mr A Sobol, a wool trader and processor. 

Richard Waxman joined the firm in 1976 and after a few years set up Waxman International which took over the sales of Kanecaron – a modacrylic synthetic fibre produced by Kaneka Corporation of Japan.   

The relationship with Kaneka grew and, as new fibres were developed for FR (flame retardant) end uses, so Waxman Fibres was set up to spearhead its growth into new overseas markets.

Waxman Fibres now has a team of specialist sales/technicians who work with partners, not only throughout Europe but as far afield as India and China, to develop fabrics and garments for the expanding workwear market.

Not wishing to rely purely on the fibre business, Richard subsequently founded Waxman Ceramics in 1981 and, based on a Japanese contact, started importing mosaics as this was fundamentally the key product manufactured in Japan – a country with which Richard was accustomed to trading.

As the mosaic business grew so did the countries Waxman sourced from and, before too long, Waxman became the largest importer and distributor of mosaic in the UK – a place they still hold today.

It was after starting to import an electrical under-floor heating system that the idea developed of researching solar photovoltaic (PV).  A project was started to research this market opportunity, resulting in Richard and Joe Pape (Deputy Managing Director of Waxman Ceramics and Waxman Energy) visiting a solar trade fair in Germany.  From this the first contacts were made and subsequently formed the basis of a new company – Waxman Energy – incorporated in 2005.  Sam, having initially joined Waxman International then transferred to Waxman Energy where he was promoted to the position of Director in June 2010.

Waxman Energy is now one of the UK’s largest suppliers of Solar PV and we feel we offer huge value to our customer base with over 50 years’ experience in the distribution industry.