The Philips family started their first textile business in Manchester in the early 1700s. By the 1780s several firms carried the Philips name, including J & N Philips which was owned by brothers John and Nathaniel. Among the textile products the Philips' family produced were checked cotton handkerchiefs and other fabrics made in imitation of Indian checked cloth. By the 1790s the Philips had built a fortune as textile industrialists in the city that would come to be known as 'Cottonopolis'.