The Philips family wealth was built on both Indian and Caribbean labour. Indian weavers created the templates, terminology, and markets for the Philips' imitation handkerchief and check goods, and enslaved African Caribbean people provided the cotton they used to make their textiles. Imitation-Indian textiles made in the Philips' factories were sold off the west coast of Africa in exchange for more enslaved people. The Philips re-invested some of the profits they made into other commodities including a Jamaican sugar plantation called 'Success'. This is a list of the 105 people enslaved on that plantation by George 'King Cotton' Philips and his business partners in the year 1817. In 1820, a friend described George's family home in Prestwich, England:

‘Everything here is prosperous beyond example. Philips doubles his capital every week."