Rachel Dagdagan // November 2011 1

British made: from trend to lifestyleLeading names in British fashion speak to Rachel Dagdagan about the local manufacturing boom

In between machinery, racks of patterns, and bolts of fabric from a neighboring mill - the ladies of Man-chester factory Cooper & Stollbrand discuss their surprise at the sud-den increase of orders from British fashion brands. “Three years ago, it looked as though there wasn’t going to be anything left for British manu-facturing,” said the factory co-direc-tor Michael Stoll. “Suddenly, a whole new breed of customer, youngsters, saying they don’t understand - it must be more logical to get things made in England.” This interest and logic will be the saving grace of the British manufacturing industry.

Ever-present on catwalks - and down to high street retailers - heri-tage fashion has become ubiquitous; and heritage style has been cast in fast fashion collections without ex-haustion the past few seasons. Craft and heritage on the high street come with faux provenance, ready to be discarded, as soon as the style is de-cided ‘out’.It looks like a British gar-ment manufacturing renaissance is

blooming with a fresh confidence in homegrown craftsmanship. The no-tion that ‘British is best’ is often met with rolled eyes; or the worse, “Eng-land makes stuff?”.

Nevertheless, high street stan-dards and some choice newcomers are determined to showcase the best of British through deliberate and thoughtful fashion. With renewed hope and a growing interest, local

manufacturing stands a good chance at once again becoming a key player in Britain’s retail landscape.

Topshop - one of the most rec-ognizable names in fast fashion, and its menswear cohort, Topman - have done a standout job easing into the Made In England market, and forg-ing long-term relationships with lo-cal suppliers. Autumn 2011 is Top-man’s first attempt at a locally-made

Looks from Topman ‘made in engLand’; avaiLabLe aT Topman.

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line. But why a locally-based line, when Topshop is known for fast fashion turnaround? “As a British based brand, we felt it was important to produce a capsule collection made out of the UK, where possible,” ex-plains Gordon Richardson, Top-man’s creative director. “We’ve used Harris Tweed before and wanted to take it a step further.”

The collection itself is small, offer-ing a three-piece skinny suit cut with narrow lapels; an overcoat; and a cou-ple slim blazer options. All are wool classics in varying shades of brown, green, and gray; with the occasional windowpane plaid or suede accent - making the line feel decidedly Brit-ish. Proudly, each garment bears a label reading “Mallalieu’s of Delph; Woven in England.”

Topman Senior Buyer, Jumana Sodawala, has said that the experi-ence producing a local line has been “generally good”, and customer re-actions have been “overall positive, with the result of people coming into the stores and asking for the Made In England products.” With the most expensive item at £200, Topman’s Made In England range is affordable menswear that champions British design and textiles.

As for the future? Richardson is proud to announce a year-round lo-cally-made option: “Adding a 100% lambswool knitwear range alongside

means we now have a more credible British offer to promote and sell.”

Throwing themselves into the lo-cal game is another fashion favorite, ASOS. Like Topshop, ASOS is in the business of selling trend, but has caught on to the local movement.

The mega e-tailer currently stocks brands that are manufactured in the UK, alongside a namesake Made in England men’s footwear line - locally made by NPS Shoes, who have been the shoe-making business since 1881. The line is such a success that it’s now in its third season; and with sev-eral styles currently sold out.

And even deeper in the accessory world, Cambridge Satchel Company is a runaway success. Founder Julie Deane’s neon satchels were standard for models, stalkers and bloggers dur-ing the most recent slew of fashion shows. “Our bags are handmade in British factories because there is

nothing more British than a satchel,” says Deane.

Cambridge Satchel is now collabo-rating at both ends of the style spec-trum; from cult brand Commes des Garçons to ASOS - again, all while insisting that manufacturing stay lo-cal.

As with most fashion hits, there are copies abound at every big retail-er - but, Cambridge Satchel manu-facturing practices have influence on buyers. Speaking to a student from Paris about her recent fluorescent pink purchase, “My decision to pur-chase the bag was a definitely influ-enced by the fact that it was Made in England. I figured that no one in France would have it or really know about it.”

Surveyed consumers, in general, prefer to buy local to wherever they live, for many reasons - including the rarity of an item, how a brand does

business, or simply to contribute to the local economy’s well-being. “Lo-cal made is always better,” said one shopper at Dover Street Market, “It keeps work and money in the local economy.”

Given the choice between an Eng-lish crafted item and a cheaper mass produced one, most chose crafted. Price, surprisingly, was only a mini-mal concern when given a choice be-tween local and not.

Of course, there were responses from consumers who will purchase a product without regard to where its from, for their interest is in cheap-ness; but those same consumers ad-mit not knowing much about local manufacturing and its benefits.

John Lewis has recently an-nounced its ‘Made in UK’ labelling set to debut next year; and retailer River Island has always carried ‘Made In Britain’ products - but will now be labelling clearly on hang tags, because “There is an appetite for products made in Britain. River Island wants to let customers know that it has sourced and manufactured domesti-cally for a number of years,” explains the company’s PR. With more big brands putting effort into marketing locally made goods, consumer aware-

ness is likely to increase over the next few seasons.

However, brands like Topshop and ASOS have a clear advantage when venturing into the land of local: mon-ey. If a venture doesn’t pan out for these fashion leaders, there is little chance of the company folding. The choice to manufacture locally is un-doubtedly harder for younger brands often with little history and funding.

Cambridge Satchel is struggling to keep up with production demands, and fans are growing increasingly an-noyed - the Cambridge Satchel Face-book page has been entirely taken over by customer complaints.

So, while Cambridge Satchel struggles, a new knitwear line ‘Com-mon Sons’ surprised everyone - in-cluding founder Sam Clapp - when ASOS and Selfridges placed orders for this winter season. “We always wanted to make an authentic Brit-ish brand, there are loads of brands out there that play on Britain as a marketing tool, but at the end of the day their clothes are mass produced overseas. We were also interested in the history of British manufacturing and thought it would be interesting to discover that along the way.”

Fallow Denim, a new selvedge fLouro cambridge saTcheLs

denim line , also made its debut less than a year ago.

These two fledgling companies have refused to produce anywhere else, which presents a unique set of challenges. Why stay local? Bronagh Keegan of Fallow Denim simply states, “We live here and couldn’t see a reason not to.”

Local manufacturing makes sense, and localization of the process is a great exercise in strengthening the local supply chain. “There are also a lot of practical advantages to manu-facturing over here, especially for a small company like us. We have been able to go to the factory every week to check progress and quality, if there is a problem we can be up there in just over an hour.”, explains Com-mon Sons’ Sam Clapp.

Bronagh Keegan of Fallow Denim elaborates, “Being able to have a re-lationship with the people we work with. Seeing photos of their grand children. Knowing that we are help-ing our economy (in our small way). And proving to the doubters that it can be done.”

Fashion newcomers alongside ma-jor brands have proven that it’s pos-sible to make quality, relevant fashion close London. This only strengthens London’s position as a tastemaker and innovator, pushing forward style and textiles that Britain is tradition-ally excellent at.

With London’s reputation for churning out talented designers - es-pecially over the past few years - it only makes sense that a push for a change in manufacturing practices will follow. Trend expert Isham Sar-douk hailed craft and ethics as ele-ments that will be “non-negotiable in the business... true craft... Being local is being just.” -R.D.

asos ‘made in engLand’ men’s shoes