Excerpt:
Made in Britain may sound sadly historic, but a grassroots movement among High Street clothing retailers could be about to change all that. Battered by the global markets and rapidly rising production prices in the Far East, several major British firms are looking again at the possibility of bringing production home.
‘The questions I will be asking is, are these companies I can work with? Are there companies in Britain who can manufacture for me in small quantities and are capable of delivering fast, repeat orders. I can’t afford to be let down.’
Stores bosses believe domestic factories could help to meet surprise demand from rapid changes in fashion trends or fast-selling lines. However, they are also faced with rapidly rising production costs in China after the introduction of a new minimum wage last year.
But British retailers have also witnessed the success of Spain’s Inditex, owner of fashion chain Zara, which owns its 11 giant factories in Arteixo, in Northern Spain’s industrial heartland. Amancio Ortega Gaona, 75, founded Zara in 1975 with his then wife Rosalia. He is now the world’s seventh-richest man, worth about £20billion, and Inditex, Zara’s parent company, is the world’s biggest fashion retailer.
A spokeswoman for Inditex said the structure of the business allowed it to design, manufacture and deliver to anywhere in the world within three weeks. That compares with an average of three months for any retailer manufacturing in China.
‘Our production capacity provides a high level of flexibility, allowing us to quickly react to customers demands in the market for high-fashion and trendy items,’ she said.
When the manager of a London branch of Zara saw Kate Middleton buying a £49.99 blue summer dress at one of his branches, he quickly phoned head office to warn that demand was likely to soar.
‘Our production capacity provides a high level of flexibility, allowing us to quickly react to customers demands in the market for high-fashion and trendy items,’ she said.
When the manager of a London branch of Zara saw Kate Middleton buying a £49.99 blue summer dress at one of his branches, he quickly phoned head office to warn that demand was likely to soar.
So when the Duchess appeared in her Zara number on the day after the Royal Wedding, there were plenty in the stores. The total turnround from the manager’s call to the shop’s rails was just two weeks. The retailer makes 50 per cent of its clothes in Spain, Portugal and Morocco and a third in the Far East. Most British retailers make the majority of their clothes in China, Bangladesh and their neighbours.
However, Britain’s clothing industry remains a shell of its former self after the massive shift overseas in the past 20 years and retailers admit that a significant resurgence may need massive investment.
However, Britain’s clothing industry remains a shell of its former self after the massive shift overseas in the past 20 years and retailers admit that a significant resurgence may need massive investment.
British retailers must weigh up the advantages of producing closer to home, price rises overseas and the relative certainty that comes from dealing with domestic suppliers. It would cost only £2 to make a T-shirt in China compared with £6 in the UK, even after Chinese labour cost increases are included.
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More where that came from:
Daily Mail: Back in Britain?
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