He had planned to spend more time on his country estate Gosfield Hall near Halstead, but continued to play an active role in the company until just before he died in March 1881.

William Julien Courtauld was also a benefactor of the arts: he gave artworks to the Essex County Council chamber at Chelmsford and the town hall at Braintree in the 1930s.

However, in a few years the process became highly successful and was responsible for transforming the silk weaver into the world's leading man-made fibre production company.

"[3] In the interwar era, Courtaulds, along with its domestic rival, British Celanese, both benefitted from tariff protection extended to the rayon industry by the Finance Act of 1925.

[4] In 1927–28 Courtaulds and Vereinigte Glanzstoff-Fabriken (VGF) gained control of the Italian rayon manufacturer SNIA Viscosa from Riccardo Gualino.

A German director of VGF, Karl Scherer, replaced Gualino as head of the firm and cut output drastically.

Courtaulds' activities in continental Europe consisted in a wholly owned, one-factory viscose fibre business employing some 3,000 people in France, a 50% share in a similar business in Germany (of which the other 50% was owned by VGF, the major competitor), and a minority shareholding which controlled 20% of the voting capital in the Italian firm Snia Viscosa, also primarily a viscose fibre producer.

In the three decades following World War II that department made notable contributions to the understanding of investment appraisal and the formulation of British, and later European, trade policy.

The function also played a significant role in the development of Courtaulds from a rather sedate, man-made fibres producer to the world's largest textile manufacturer, a position the company attained in the mid-1970s.

In 1990, Courtaulds plc demerged itself into two parts: In 1990, the company began pilot production of Tencel,[15] a brand of lyocell rayon.

[citation needed] Seeking to expand its business, specifically in Asia-Pacific, Courtaulds plc delivered part of its development in joint ventures, particularly with Akzo Nobel.

[citation needed] It sought to merge with Akzo-Nobel, which the EU approved subject to the sale of Courtauld's aerospace business.

[13] In September 2000, Courtaulds Fibers Inc. was found guilty of negligence for polluting the environment outside its plant in Axis, Alabama, US with carbon disulfide.

1991 emissions were more than double those of the nine other plants in Alabama combined, and made minimal improvements to abide by the 1990 amendments to the United States' Clean Air Act.

[25] In February 2005, Brenda Barns became the chairman and CEO of Sara Lee, and tried to sell the Courtaulds Textile division.

[26] PD Enterprise Ltd., a privately held company based in Hong Kong, operates nine facilities that produce more than 120 million garments annually.

Its products include lingerie, underwear, nightwear, swim and beachwear, formalwear and casualwear, jackets and coats, babywear and socks.[when?