The biggest supporters of English Manufacturers right now have to be our young designers. How they must have laughed, to hear George Osbourne’s Budget Speech cry of “Made in Britain, created in Britain, designed in Britain, invented in Britain,” when for the last 5 years that’s exactly what they have been quietly doing. Christopher Kane, Erdem, Meadham Kirchhoff, even Victoria Beckham are all in demand, by luxury stores all over the world, what do they have in common, their clothes are made in England.

When the Telegraph approached Victoria Beckham asking where are her dresses manufactured, she stated “I’m proud to say, they’re all made here in London”.  These designer clothes don’t come cheap and yet unknowingly, women from all over the world, Beijing, New York, Tokyo are snapping up the best these London based factories have to offer. Why do these designers work with English manufacturers and not the Italian or the French, who in recent years have been considered more prestigious? The answer is simple, without the language barriers and the distance it is much easier to manage those little details and quality control issues. Christopher Kane enjoys a very strong and close relationship with his manufacturer, his sister stated that "I was very aware when the recession hit that he could fold, so we strategically withdrew from other factories and gave him more orders on the condition he used profit to buy in more machinery and invest in better cutters and machinists". Meadham Kirchhoff says that we have the resources in Britain to make clothing “It's important that we find them and help them grow”. So our young designers are more than happy to work with English manufacturers, help them to grow, build strong relationships in these volatile times, rather than run off to China where they could ‘cut costs by doing things less laboriously.’ (Telegraph 2011)  It’s a shame the same thing can’t be said for our high street retailers.

You have to agree with Maurice Bennett, who controls specialist retailer Long Tall Sally, “We are one of the biggest exporters of fashion worldwide. We don’t export product all the time, but we are exporting retail fascias like Topshop”. Our high retailers have an increasingly growing presence abroad; it would be highly beneficial if they were to carry a larger number of ranges of products that were made in England. We should forget about mass marketing in England, however there are certain products that require expertise and specialist knowledge, they are the ones to concentrate on, products such as hosiery.

Thirteen years after M&S controversially moved all manufacturing overseas; it has now decided to increase manufacturing of hosiery in the UK. One factory that the retailer has increased orders with is a factory in Belper, Derbyshire, which was one of the worst hit when M&S moved overseas. One of the main reasons why M&S has increased orders is that they are innovative and it is quicker to get the products to market, with the factory being in England. Krishan Hundal, M&S’s Head of Sourcing told Drapers magazine that ‘innovation is the life blood of M&S, and our relationship with Courtaulds (owner of the Belper factory), particularly at Belper, helps us to continue to deliver first to market hosiery.’ This shows that England does have a skilled base of manufacturers, it’s up to English high street retailers to utilise them.

According to Ben Lewis (Chief executive of River Island), “The high street must take responsibility and keep production lines flowing at UK factories, if the manufacturing industry is to stand any chance of grasping the opportunities in front of it”. Retailers and manufacturers need to collaborate and develop stronger relationships, now so more than ever. With fashion being as volatile as it is and consumer confidence is low, whilst retailers need to be consistent with manufacturers, manufacturers need to understand as Lewis states “The needs of retailers and how those needs change”. Both retailers and suppliers are more likely to succeed if they are open and honest with each other.

By the high street retailers coming back to England for manufacturing, it will help manufacturers to grow and expand, but retailers must sustain that growth by providing the orders consistently. They have to be fair with their cost margins, and work with their manufacturers for the greater good, which is to provide jobs and provide for the economy, one can’t do without the other. Without the language barriers, cultural differences and distance, it should be much easier for retailers to be collaborative partners with their suppliers, both being adaptable to each others needs, making collaboration much more attainable. However these increased orders for English manufacturers will be pointless without employees to produce the goods and consumers to buy them. It is crucial that attitudes towards clothing manufacturing change, we need to encourage our children to research on all the available opportunities out there. These types of skills such as garment construction, pattern cutting, embroidery, are not to be ridiculed, these are skills for life, and could be highly sought after, if the government and English retailers are to capitalise on our manufacturing potential.

Next Part: Opportunities available to our future next generation and the potential of London Olympics 2012.             

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