Made in China, made in Portugal, made in Morocco. If we even bother looking at the labels in the clothes we buy today, these are the types of places we are set to see. I've got to say, I'm a culprit of this myself, it doesn't even cross my mind but it's a fact that the majority of the high street brands today don't have things made here. How important is it though to people that things are made here?
Mary Portas tried to tackle this issues with her not-so-kinky-knickers, however a report from November 2012 says that business was booming, and they had orders of up to 45,00 due to the demand for them. The TV programme that followed this I must say was interesting and made some good points about the origins or our clothes but its easy enough to say 'oh yeah I support British blah blah' but you wouldn't got hunting for it on the high street like 'I need to find this piece but it has to be made here.' It's definitely not a case of substance over style.
The fact that all that has to be done in this country for a garment to say 'made in Britain' is as little as sewing on a button is quite worrying. The fabric was not made here, the craftsmanship was not here. Heritage brands such as Jack Wills that use tag lines like 'Fabulously British' in fact aren't so British being made in Asia... I must say if I saw a piece I liked and it was clearly labelled that it was FULLY made in Britain I would happily buy it.
The closest we've got is Chanel building a tweed factory here in the UK. Some brands that have thrived with the 'Britishishness' in their favour are things like The Cambridge Satchel Company launched in 2008 and the menswear brand Wadsworth and Browne Ldt launched in 2012 - so still quite recent brands.
What's your take on the provenance of your garments? Does it matter to you? See makeitbritish for more brands.
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