IN Saudi Arabia, you're nowhere in the fashion stakes without the latest in headgear from the historic market town of Clitheroe.

In the textile equivalent of sending coal to Newcastle, more than a million head shawls are despatched from the Ribble Valley to the Middle East every year.

The red and white shawls -- of the type made famous by Yasser Arafat -- are made by the Lappet Manufacturing Co Limited.

The Clitheroe operation employs 48 people who finish, pack and despatch the shawls to Saudi Arabia.

Cloth for the shawls comes from Lappet Manufacturing's mill at Calder Vale near Garstang that dates back to 1835.

Managing director Mr Bill Dick said production of the shawls, which are all exported to Saudi Arabia, was a specialist weaving operation.

Clitheroe factory manager Pat Parkinson said the shawls were a prestige fashion item in Saudi Arabia because of the English reputation for quality.

In one of Lancashire's best-kept industrial secrets, the shawls are produced behind closed doors. Visitors are discouraged. Photography is strictly forbidden.

New designs are being produced in time for Ramadan in November and at peak times as many as 40,000 shawls will be produced per day.

"We are very busy at this time of year, working on new designs which will go on sale for Ramadan," said Pat.

"It is incredibly sensitive and we cannot give anything away until they are launched."

The Lappet Manufacturing Company, which has its headquarters in Garstang, has been producing shawls for the Middle East since the 1920s.

The company has given its name to the type of cloth used for the shawls which are known as shamaks

The company was taken over by Courtaulds in 1968. The Clitheroe operation, formerly lingerie manufacturers Granby Garments, joined the Lappet group around 10 years ago.

The business is now owned by the Al-Ajlan family who have been Lappet's main customer for many years. It might be a secretive world at Lappet's, but it is also a safe one.

The Clitheroe operation was awarded a gold medal by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents for its safety record.

A spokesman for the Saudi Arabian Embassy in London said the shamak was the traditional head gear worn by Saudi men for centuries.

Originally developed to keep out the Saharan sun, he said the shamak was now regarded as a fashion item in the Middle East.

"Products made in England have always been highly valued in Saudi Arabia," he said. "It is good to see trade relations between our two countries are flourishing."