His family is one of the wealthiest in the North West; he is one of the most generous businessmen in Britain. Arif Patel is also a thorn in the side of Grosvenor Estates and its plans for the much-delayed £750 million Tithebarn development in Preston. Editor Andrew Calvert went to meet the man who wants to deliver an iconic building in time for the Preston Guild.

The Patel family fortune has been amassed on the most humble of fashion items – socks. It bought knitting machinery from a bankrupt sock factory in Bolton in 1987 for just £80,000 and, over the past 20 years, has created one of the most profitable clothing businesses in the UK.

Faisaltex Manufacturing makes socks, underwear and night clothes for some of the biggest high street names including Matalan, New Look, Woolworths and Etam.

The Sunday Times Rich List puts its wealth at £105 million – a figure Patel declined to confirm. “I don’t know where they get their figures from,” he said dismissively. However, on Faisaltex’s own website there is a report on him collecting the business personality prize in the North West Tiger Awards which repeats the £105 million figure.

Arif Patel said his father had come from India to Preston in 1962 where he started a chicken processing business. “When my father heard about the bankrupt sock factory in Bolton he spotted a business opportunity and grabbed it,” he said.

“We moved the 12 knitting machines to a small factory in Swan Street, Preston, and started production, initially for the wholesale market and later supplying retail stores direct.”

Arif Patel had just completed a 12-month foundation course in accountancy at the, then, Preston Polytechnic when he was drafted in to run Faisaltex. “I was offered trainee scholarships by a number of accountancy firms, but I was always destined to join the family business,” he said.

The Patels became known as the “sock kings” of the UK and branched out into other products such as underwear, gloves, hats, scarves and pyjamas. A big breakthrough came when they started to buy the licenses for cartoon characters such as Spiderman, the Teletubbies and Scooby Doo, which they put on their products.

“To be successful in the UK textile industry you need a unique product,” Arif Patel explained. “You can buy product from the Far East and Asia quite cheaply so you just don’t want to be competing on price.”

Faisaltex buys products from a network of international suppliers and its own manufacturing operation in Preston closed three years ago when the plant was moved to Turkey. “It got to the stage where we were not very competitive,” he said.

Clothing is only part of the Faisaltex story. Because of the Patels’ religious beliefs – which preclude receiving interest payments – they have ploughed their profits over the years into building a portfolio of investment properties.

Over the past decade, they have bought, mainly high street, sites in Preston, London, Lancaster and Warrington which are thought to be worth around £40 million.

Last year, they completed the Fairways Office Park at Fulwood where Faisaltex now has its head office.

However, it is the company’s plan for the Guild Legacy Building in Preston city centre that has put Faisaltex on a collision course with Preston City Council and the backers of the Tithebarn scheme.

The Patels have drawn up plans for what they describe as an “iconic building” providing shopping, leisure, commercial and residential accommodation. At an estimated cost of £100 million, it would be their biggest project to date, but it is one that Arif Patel believes can be completed by the Preston Guild in 2112.

The family already owns the 2.2-acre Tradex site off Ringway which, under the Tithebarn scheme, is earmarked for a multi-storey car park for John Lewis.

“The site is one of the key gateways to Preston and deserves more than a car park,” said Arif Patel. “We have the opportunity to develop an iconic building that would stand as a symbol of Preston’s ambitions for the future.

“Manchester and Liverpool both have stunning buildings, why shouldn’t Preston have a landmark building of which we could all be proud?”

Patel believes that the Guild Legacy Building could work alongside the Tithebarn development and has already opened talks with both Preston City Council and Grosvenor Estates.

He points out that other developers worked alongside Grosvenor in Liverpool. “It would be healthy competition which could only kick-start the regeneration process in the city centre, he added.”

Until recently, the Patel family was largely anonymous. The growth of its empire attracted the attention of the Sunday Times Rich list and last year, Arif Patel found himself featured on a second list of Britain’s most generous donors.

He gave a total of £1.9 million to charities in the UK and abroad to leave himself in 27th place in the philanthropy stakes.

“We have always given a certain percentage of our profits to charity,” he explained. “We give money to projects here in Preston and to India. Where there is a need for some humanitarian help, we try to become involved.”

The Patels’ charity could soon be extending to Preston North End where his 18-year-old student son, Hussein, owns six per cent of the shares. There has been speculation that the family will invest £3 million in the club, but Arif Patel insists that no final decision has been reached.

“Preston North End is our local club and we want to help,” he added. “My brother, sons and nephews go regularly to Deepdale and we shall be having a board meeting in the near future to decide what we will do.”

Despite a very western outlook to business, Arif Patel has retained his cultural roots. He is chairman of his local mosque and a firm supporter of the Asian Business Federation.

He believes that anyone can succeed in Britain.

“We have worked hard and have taken the opportunities that have presented themselves,” he added. “That is the beauty of the UK – everyone is given an equal opportunity of success, regardless of colour, creed or religion. This country is the fairest in the world by far.”