This article is part of a series where we unpack what the ‘Made in the UK’ label stands for in 2025, and what it tells us about the future of onshoring. Read our series on ‘Made in Italy’ here, and Made in India here.
While glossy campaigns romanticise heritage mills and factory-floor craftsmanship, the reality for those keeping the ‘Made in the UK’ label alive is far more complex. At a time when policy uncertainty, Brexit fallout, rising costs and shifting consumer habits are rewriting the rulebook, manufacturers from London to Lancashire are adapting, investing and, in many cases, defining a new narrative of value-led, small-batch, proudly local production.
From heritage knitwear specialists rebuilding third-party manufacturing to luxury ateliers offering full-service design-to-delivery models, what unites these makers is a focus on long-term partnerships, product integrity and collective pride in place-based production. But they are also candid about the obstacles: fragmented retail channels, talent shortages, race-to-the-bottom pricing and the dominance of overseas sourcing models that still sideline the UK supply chain.
In conversations with eight founders and leaders, Vogue Business explores how the next chapter of British manufacturing is being written.
Jess Mcguire Dudley, managing director of John Smedley
Knitwear brand and manufacturer in Matlock, Derbyshire
British manufacturing has an amazing heritage, but we’re not resting on our laurels. Earlier this year, we launched a diffusion line called JS by John Smedley, which is all about doing things differently, perhaps using fewer design details or processes, so we can offer the same quality at a different price point. We turned that around in eight weeks. We can move quickly because we make everything here.
We might have an ageing workforce, but they’re not ageing out of enthusiasm, skill or creativity. We make around 4,000 units per week and each one has 35 people involved, all of whom take great collective pride in what they do. It’s all about balancing the old and the new. After the pandemic, we invested £4 million in new machinery, which has allowed us to flex our creativity and open up third-party manufacturing again. In the first month, we had over 65 brands enquiring, but a lot just wanted an anniversary collection or a single product. I don’t want to be a nice marketing story for someone. I want tangible, long-term relationships with brands that are passionate about supporting British manufacturing. Around 70 per cent of the third-party manufacturing we do is a collaboration. When our founder started making products in 1784, he was one of the first factory owners to stamp his products, so people knew it was the highest quality. Today, we’re the oldest manufacturer in the world that is still manufacturing, and we believe we make the highest quality product in the UK. Why wouldn’t brands want a joint label?
Chris Gaffney, CEO, Johnstons of Elgin
Cashmere and fine wool manufacturer and brand in Elgin and Hawick, Scotland
After Covid, we grew by about 25 per cent a year for three years — I think that bounce back benefited a lot of UK manufacturers. In the last year, the growth we were all expecting hasn’t come to fruition because of the luxury slowdown. But we remain very confident in the future of luxury globally. There’s still economic growth in places like China and India.
The industry needs to focus on maintaining a critical mass in the UK and making sure that we don’t lose so much capacity that it starts to spiral. I started at Johnstons 14 years ago [as financial director], and there’s been a number of companies over that time that haven’t made it. Others have gone from strength to strength. There’s not a one-size-fits-all issue here. Our model is 75 per cent private label, which drives the business forward, giving us the volume, and then 25 per cent own brand, which helps us communicate the heritage of Johnstons of Elgin [which was founded in 1797]. We are able to make everything in our own mills in Scotland as we have some scale, but for new young brands, it’s more difficult — they sometimes have little choice but to source from outside of the UK for cost and capability reasons.
The French and Italians have a confidence and creativity in their storytelling. I visited a menswear store in the States a couple of years ago, and the owner proudly said ‘everything in this store is Italian’. That is what he perceived as the ultimate in luxury. We have to help the consumer to understand why ‘Made in the UK’ is different — but of equal quality — to ‘Made in Italy’. Britain was so brilliant at textiles for so long, and still has that heritage and history. The quality and skills we have as a result today are unparalleled. When I talk about luxury, I talk about craftsmanship first and foremost, which we’ve got in spades.
Patrick Grant, director of Cookson Clegg
Textile and clothing manufacturer in Blackburn, Lancashire
Cookson Clegg has been in continuous operation for 165 years. Over the years, we have produced for lots of brands, but annoyingly most of them have now gone overseas. They tend to come here when they can’t meet the minimum order quantities for Chinese factories. It’s easier to deal with someone who’s a few hours down the road and speaks your language. But then they grow and take on investment, and the investors want high margins and quick returns, so they move elsewhere. We were stuck in this cycle, which is why I set up Community Clothing. Now, instead of being empty for three months then busy for three months, we have a seasonless brand providing regular, large orders, which means we can optimise our production lines. We do that for 54 factories in total and often we are their biggest customer.
There’s an important role for fashion in the UK economy and its global identity, but we make a distinction between ‘fashion’ and ‘clothing’ — and we deliberately do the latter. We make high-quality, long-lasting stuff that fulfils an important role in people’s wardrobes. And in doing so, we provide long-term, viable and rewarding careers in an area where there is massive unemployment.
Diana Kakkar, founder and CEO of Maes London
Luxury womenswear manufacturer in London
The UK fashion industry is experiencing an identity crisis — spending more time navigating regulatory changes than defining its purpose. The loss of 20 per cent duty-free shopping post-Brexit, combined with rising tariffs, taxes and national insurance contributions, is hindering spending within the UK. Consumers can purchase the same luxury items 20 per cent cheaper in France, negatively impacting domestic retail and, consequently, UK manufacturing.
Seven or eight years ago, before Brexit and the pandemic, the presence of major UK wholesalers like Selfridges, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Net-a-Porter and Matches made UK-based production a logical choice for brands, aligning production with the end retailer. However, budget cuts and the establishment of EU-based warehouses by some of these key players post-Brexit have led to a move towards EU production for logistical convenience.
Some UK factories operate outside of regulations, which enables very low production costs and creates a race to the bottom that pushes the entire industry towards cheaper fashion. Even when designers understand the true cost of their products, reduced disposable income results in strong price resistance from buyers. We remain committed to prioritising product quality and service value. We offer a comprehensive solution for our clients, many of whom are emerging designers or established brands lacking in-house production infrastructure. We take their creative concepts from inception to final production.
Allan Godfrey, founder of Teviot Knitwear
Knitwear manufacturer in Hawick, Scotland
I started working for Pringle of Scotland when I was 17, and worked my way up to head of sourcing before leaving five years ago. During my time there, we’d often have to turn brands away because their minimums were too low — but I could see an opportunity. Then Covid happened and it was a shitshow, but I knew that demand would come back. My business partner and I launched Teviot Knitwear in 2020, and the proof was in the pudding. Demand came back with a vengeance.
The problem we have, which is the best problem in the world, is that we are full. We want to grow, but we’ve got to make sure that we can continue to service our existing customers and deliver. A big area we’re looking at to help us scale up gradually, is investing in machinery. We’ve brought in a mini whole-garment knitting machine for accessories like gloves and hats, and are looking at potentially buying another two machines this year. South of Scotland Enterprise has helped us with some funding, we’ve got some government-backed loans, and we’re reinvesting our profits back into the business. Of course, we could not have done any of this without a fantastic team of people, who are extremely hard working and committed to our ongoing success.
A major opportunity for us within the next two years is to grow our own brand, which currently makes up around 25 per cent of sales. When I step down, I want to be able to say I’ve helped to leave behind a legacy — the Teviot Knitwear brand.
Laura Tonojan, co-founder of Seamster Shepherd
Sewing and upcycling manufacturer in Warrington, Cheshire
When I was at university, everybody wanted to be a designer and nobody wanted to be a manufacturer. People talk about sewing as a skill, but it’s more than that. You have to know geometry and mathematics, you have to understand the machinery. It can be so complex. We need to show people how amazing the work that seamstresses do really is. Since Brexit, though, it’s been harder to find skilled seamstresses. There aren’t as many highly trained people in the UK.
Before we started Seamster Shepherd, a lot of manufacturers wouldn’t even respond to our emails because we wanted such small quantities of fabric. But we realised other people must have the same issue, so now we focus on offering small minimum order quantities to emerging and established brands. We have two seamstresses working eight hours a day, so we can make up to 200 items per week. There is always the possibility that people will not pay, or delay payment. As a small business, that can be very challenging.
James Eden, CEO of Private White VC
End-to-end garment manufacturer and brand in Salford, Greater Manchester
I get offended when brands leverage what it means to be British without even a token commitment to sourcing stuff domestically. I don’t want to say that we’re purists, but everything we sell is manufactured here in the UK. That’s a red line that we won’t cross. We’re still working with the best spinners, weavers and finishers today that we were working with 10, 20, 30 or even 60 years ago. The only shortcoming we have in the UK is hardware, which we get from Switzerland. It’s always been bloody hard to run a business like this — there’s a reason why no-one else is doing it. We have a factory to fill and people to pay. Our brand provides something more durable; classics with longevity.
As our star continues to rise from a brand perspective, there’s a magnetism there that is attracting people to come and work here. If we were just a nameless, faceless private label factory on the banks of the River Irwell like we were 50 years ago, it would be much more difficult to inspire new entrants into the business. It’s quite binary here — if you pass your three-week probation, you typically stay for three decades. But it is difficult. There used to be hundreds of mills and factories here and now it’s just us. You really do miss out on the dynamism and vibrancy that comes from being part of a cluster, an ecosystem.
Judith Neilly, managing director of Thomas Fergusons Irish Linen
Linen mill specialising in double damask linen in Banbridge, County Down
It’s not enough to be Made in the UK, you need the quality behind it and your word has to be your bond. I don’t just mean that you have to get audited and have lots of certifications. People have to trust you as a person. You have to be flexible, to turn challenges into opportunities. If you have a lot of waste, you can see it as a problem and burn it off, or you can make something out of it and sell it. If you make a mistake, know when to stop. Don’t just keep going because something’s cost you £20,000; stop before it costs you another £50,000 — reinvent. I’ve designed plenty of things I don’t like when they come off the loom, but we’re always two years ahead and eventually, someone will buy it.
When we moved factories, we went from over 300 looms to just eight. But those eight looms are quicker and more productive than the 300. We just bought a new loom, which cost about £500,000 to give you an idea. But we offer a really good price to brands, so they can be confident in what they’re selling and we don’t get squeezed. New brands pay up front, however most established customers pay on receipt. There is one brand that tries their luck every year, but they have a ridiculous amount of legal paperwork and you’re often dealing with a 21-year-old who is being worked way beyond their means. We do not want to be involved in that at all. But then you get something collaborative from one of the film production companies we work with — we always invite them to come and see us because the projects that come through are so interesting. When we do film work, that’s a very hands-on process. If you go home with purple dye up to your armpits, you know it’s been a fun day.
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