Marketing and the Turkey red trade war

As printing techniques improved, a larger number of colours could be used on a picture and it became cheaper to produce popular designs in different sizes, presumably linked to the amount of cloth purchased. The larger labels were made of fine, tough paper and covered with a glossy sheen.

Several Turkey red manufacturers produced a collectable sequence of pictures on their labels, for example F Steiner and Co of Manchester, produced a series illustrating the Ramayana, the most popular of the Hindu epics. These labels required a detailed knowledge of the scriptures and accepted iconography.They would most probably have been designed in India and then sent to Britain for the plates to be cut and the labels printed. The printed labels would then be returned to India and attached to the material as it was sold.