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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The first in a three part series compiled by one of our young English Radicals.

Many UK retailers are now discovering that clothing manufacture in the Far East no longer has the same attraction as it once did, due to rising labour charges and increased freight costs. The need to be reactive to the impatient and fast paced fashion industry is great, and the most suitable answer to the problem is to return to English and UK manufacturing. However this is not a simple solution, since retailers deserted English factories for low cost China, manufacturing went into decline, factories were left no option but to close, and universities and colleges put a greater emphasis on designing rather than learning how to technically construct garments. This has left England with a missing generation of skilled workers and artisans, and with the current employee base ageing considerably something has to be done.

This situation isn’t getting any better, it took another hit, when De Montefort University announced that they were axing their BSc Fashion Technology course, due to lack of government funding. This particular course has a 100% employment rate and is highly regarded, mainly due to the fact that their graduates are highly trained in a wide range of technical skills, which are greatly needed by many English retailers. Despite the fact that Ed Vaizey has been vocal about the importance of these skills and how he would like to see British manufacturing grow again, there doesn’t seem to be any action from the government. Which begs the question how supportive is the British government of the English manufacturing industry. And the answer is they’re not!

The Ministry of Defence had a very good opportunity to support the English manufacturers; instead they turned their back and gave to the multi million pound contract to produce camouflage gear to the Chinese. When questioned, the MoD spokesman stated ‘Our focus is on getting the Armed Forces the equipment they require, when they need it, at a reasonable cost to the taxpayer. In the last two years British companies have won 87% of clothing contracts.’ In the act of saving a few pence per camouflage trousers, surely they are depriving a perfectly good English manufacturer who employs many tens if not hundreds of workers a contract, which could give their current employees stability, and also lead them to create more jobs, which overall is highly beneficial to the economy and in the long run to the taxpayers. Not only this many manufacturers, including Lee Dawson, managing director of military uniform specialist Samuel Brothers have argued that by having uniforms manufactured in China could expose the Armed Forces to potential dangers. Lee Dawson goes on to say ‘If we are sourcing from China and something goes wrong with Anglo-Chinese relationships, we have a problem, China could withdraw supply,’ leaving troops with a lack of basic clothing, not an ideal situation on the frontline!

A UK retailer Mulberry has recently enjoyed great success in the last few years, mainly due to the Roxanne and Alexa style of bags. These bags are highly sought after by celebrities and women alike, with demand so great, Mulberry can’t produce enough of them. As result it needs to open another factory and increase the capacity of their existing factory in Somerset by 30%. However Godfrey Davis, the Mulberry Chief Executive, has spoken with Drapers Magazine (a renowned Fashion Business journal), and said that he has been put off opening a new factory due to the impact of rising National Insurance (NI, up to 13.8% from 12.8%) rates on operating costs. Davis stated that ‘a constructive approach would be to give some sort of tax break to encourage [businesses] to relocate. An employer NI holiday for a number of years [would work] and UK plc would benefit because we would be creating more employment.’ Davis is presenting the British government with a constructive solution, instead of giving tax breaks or NI holidays to those who don’t manufacture here in England, give it to those who do make the effort to contribute to our economy and job market. The Government’s reaction so far has been, at the Start Britain conference, Chancellor George Osbourne stated ‘We are considering tax breaks for capital investment, which we will be looking at ([in more detail], particularly for various manufacturing businesses.’ If the British government doesn’t support Mulberry, then they may be forced to invest in their other production bases in Turkey or Spain, another wasted opportunity for English manufacturing.

This is a real opportunity for the British Government to invest in something positive, by channelling some of the money they are saving elsewhere, into giving more manufacturing contracts to English manufacturers, tax breaks and NI holidays which will allow manufacturers to grow and expand more easily, this will help to kick start English manufacturing. In the long run it will create more jobs, taking the unemployed off the dole and into more skilled jobs, contribute to the economy and overall make England a more lucrative country to manufacture in. We have the reputation of great design and highly quality manufacturing now all is left is to prove it!      

In part two: Retailers have to step up to the mark, and support English manufacturers.   
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When the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition took power in 2010 they had one major priority; to transfer as much wealth as possible from the poorest in society to the wealthiest. Naturally, it is no coincidence that members of the coalition government are also amongst those who are the wealthiest in society! Each day brings more evidence of that transfer of wealth. Starting with cutting benefits for the unemployed and disabled; assisted by the Tory media and their hunt for dole scroungers (in communities where 16 or 17 people are chasing every vacancy). This assault on the people is continued by major job losses in the public sector, with all the knock-on effect that will have within the private sector – particularly shops and other small business. But government cynicism is breathtaking. It deliberately creates mass unemployment whilst at the same time penalises people for being unemployed. War has been declared! And now the realisation is beginning to hit home; that life, which has been tough in the past, is about to get worse.

In actual fact, we are now seeing the latest development in a long process that has led to the brutalisation of our communities; a process which began under the last Tory regime with the destruction of our manufacturing and mining industries and caused the devastation of many local areas. This was followed by the decision to allow the flooding of our housing estates with ‘skunk’ marijuana and cheap alcohol, accompanied by the legal system reducing the punishments for those who carry out acts of violence within poorer communities.  Now, the new Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has signalled that, due to cost, very few people will be sent to prison (probably only benefit cheats or those who steal from banks), thus encouraging more crime at a time of reduced police numbers. We can now look forward to a time when our streets will be overrun by a feral youth that has no social or education facilities, no prospects for work, and reduced benefits if registering as unemployed. There will be no police around to stop them from committing crimes; no fire service nearby to extinguish the arson attacks on those who offer resistance, and the nearest hospital will be privatised and refuse to take patients from certain postcodes. In addition to rising crime, there is an attack on the social welfare system; no care services for the elderly and disabled, no meals on wheels, and no respite care for those who look after the vulnerable. There will also be an unprecedented assault on the disabled, with a eugenics-influenced medical company forcing millions of vulnerable people into abject poverty and, possibly, pushing many to suicide or an early death from poor health. Just like the Nazis, this ConDem government has decided that the poor and disabled, the working class youth and the unemployed, are untermensch – subhuman.  Welcome to Cameron’s Reich!    

However, things could now start to get interesting. For thirty years, and even through the dark years of Thatcher, governments have been able to avoid problems from the masses due to the fact that loss of work, and the prestige that went with having a job, was cushioned by housing benefit and invalidity payments. But now the government is seeking to end the benefits cushion without providing employment opportunities, and it is seeing their benefits reduced unfairly that will make people more politically aware than ever before, and risks provoking the sort of backlash that has not been seen since those days in 1981, when Toxteth and Brixton burned.  More to the point, the brutalisation of our youth has an interesting historical precedent. In ancient times the Spartans brutalised their youth as a deliberate policy, and turned them into the finest warriors in Europe (ask the Persians at Thermopylae!). So, the government should be aware that its policy of targeting working class communities could actually backfire, especially if our youth and unemployed are given suitable education and direction by community activists who step into the void left by the State. In other words, don’t step back in horror from the cuts, step up to the plate and make a difference; radicalise our communities!

Finally, let’s not forget that if the ConDems declare war on the people, history teaches us that the people are justified in responding accordingly. As English Radicals we take pride in a political heritage of fighting against tyranny and injustice, and a key moment in this heritage came on 30th January 1649, when King Charles I was executed in Whitehall after having been found guilty of ‘waging war on his people’. This day was a victory for the ordinary people of England who, through their service in the New Model Army, the ‘instrument of the people’, had brought an end to a tyrannical government. Perhaps somebody should remind Cameron and Clegg about what happened in January 1649!
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