Is British Best?

There was an interesting documentary on Channel 4 last night which followed the fortunes of Cooper and Stollbrand, a garment factory in Salford. I thought it was particularly poignant that while many bemoan the loss of our manufacturing industries to the far east and elsewhere, most of the younger members of the factory’s staff had come from outside the UK, and they feel that young British people are no longer interested in working in secondary industry.

At the same time, the factory was producing what looked like some beautiful garments, with the added benefits for retailers of quick sampling and lead times and a lot less in freight charges just to get it up and down the M1. Perhaps with the increasing cost of labour and shipping from the further reaches of the world, Made in Britain will become a familiar label again. Of course if you happen to be sourcing something like tweed or Italian leather for your garments, it might be easy to be based within the UK, but as long technical fabrics are being manufactured in countries like Taiwan and China, there will remain a big argument for keeping the cutting and sewing close by.