Founded in 1903 by William Foxton, the firm became known as W. Foxton Limited after 1923 and produced some of the most interesting artist-designed printed furnishings of the 1920s. Although no longer in the forefront of textile manufacture during the 1930s, Foxton's continued to issue many good quality designs. The firms' records were destroyed during the Second World War, in the London blitz.

William Foxton was an early member of the Design and Industries Association, formed in 1915 with the specific remit to raise the standard of design. The DIA recruited teachers, artists and craftspeople, all of whom had a vested interest in re-energising the British textile industry, including retailers. Emphasis was placed on the need for techological revolution and the ability to mass produce well-designed consumer goods at a price which the vast majority could afford. William Foxton started to commission designs from innovative artists and designers after the formation of the DIA.

Constance Irving was an artist who exhibited work in the second Post-Impressionist and Cubist exhibition which took place in Liverpool between March nd April 1911. This was the first time that works by the artists Gauguin, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Matisse and Picasso were shown outside London, and only the second time that their work had been exhibited in the UK. The exhibition exhibited work by the continental artists alongside work by their British contemporaries, including Augustus John, John Lavery, Philip Wilson Steer and Henry Tonks. Irving supplied a number of designs for Foxton's during the 1920s; her painterly style embraced both colourful florals and bold, abstract patterns.