When Raymond Dressed the Nation: The Rise and Fall of Eldoret’s Woollen Giant

 By William Kiptoo

For much of the post‑independence period, Raymond Woollen Mills stood as one of Eldoret’s proudest industrial landmarks.

Established in the early 1960s, the factory symbolised Kenya’s ambition to build a self‑reliant manufacturing economy. Long before the town became synonymous with athletics, wheat farming, and universities, Raymond helped define Eldoret as an industrial hub at the heart of the North Rift.

The mill was set up as Raymond Woollen Mills (Kenya) Ltd, a subsidiary of the renowned Indian textile firm Raymond. Its arrival followed Kenya’s independence in 1963, when the government actively promoted local industries to reduce dependence on imports. Eldoret was chosen deliberately: its cool climate suited wool processing, and surrounding highland areas offered ideal conditions for sheep rearing.

From the start, Raymond was designed to do more than make fabric. It created a complete value chain, processing locally produced wool into finished products such as suits, blankets, uniforms, knitwear, and yarns. In linking rural sheep farmers to an urban industrial market, the company brought together agriculture and manufacturing in a way few firms had managed before.

At its peak in the 1970s and 1980s, Raymond Woollen Mills was among Eldoret’s largest employers, providing jobs to thousands of workers. Its products were found across the country—in government offices, schools, prisons, churches, and homes. To many Kenyans, a Raymond suit or blanket was a mark of respectability and upward social mobility. Some of the woollen garments even found their way to international markets, quietly carrying “Made in Kenya” labels onto European shelves.

Raymond’s influence extended far beyond factory gates. The company actively encouraged farmers to rear sheep for wool rather than meat alone. Extension services, organised shearing, and wool‑cleaning facilities helped transform wool from a wasted by‑product into a source of income for households in the Rift Valley highlands. In doing so, Raymond helped reshape parts of Kenya’s rural economy.

Yet by the late 1980s, cracks had begun to appear. Kenya’s economic landscape was changing rapidly. Market liberalisation under Structural Adjustment Programmes reduced protection for local manufacturers and opened the floodgates to cheaper imports.

At the same time, the rise of mitumba (second‑hand clothing imported mainly from Europe and North America) dramatically altered consumer preferences. Woollen suits and blankets made locally suddenly struggled to compete on price and variety.

Internally, Raymond faced mounting challenges. Machinery aged without sufficient reinvestment, production costs rose, and reliable supplies of local wool declined as farmers exited sheep rearing. Governance and management disagreements further weakened the company’s ability to adapt to changing market realities. By the mid‑1990s, operations had slowed dramatically, and job losses mounted.

After roughly 34 years of operation, Raymond Woollen Mills closed its doors. In 2001, the company was officially de‑registered, bringing to an end one of Eldoret’s most influential industrial stories. Its collapse echoed the fate of other major Kenyan manufacturers such as KICOMI in Kisumu and the earlier struggles of Rivatex, reinforcing a troubling national pattern of industrial decline.

But the story did not end in abandonment. In 2003, the former Raymond factory was acquired by Ken‑Knit (Kenya) Ltd, another Eldoret‑based textile firm.

Renamed Rupa Mills Ltd, the facility was partially revived and integrated into Ken‑Knit’s operations. While production never returned to the scale seen during Raymond’s golden years, the takeover preserved industrial activity on the site and kept elements of Kenya’s wool‑textile tradition alive.

Today, Raymond Woollen Mills lives on mainly in memory, an emblem of a time when Kenya believed manufacturing could anchor national development and towns like Eldoret pulsed with factory life. Its rise and fall offer lessons that remain relevant: the need for continuous reinvestment, flexible industrial policy, strong governance, and resilience in the face of global markets.

As Kenya once again talks of reviving manufacturing under “Buy Kenya, Build Kenya” and other initiatives, the story of Raymond is a reminder that industrial success is never permanent, but neither is decline inevitable.

Photo: Raymond Co. profile