FOREWORD.
In all honesty, this probably isn't the kind of article you'd expect to find on a designers website. Simply having "Made in the UK" on a label is enough for most brands, so why am I here writing a long form article on the subject. The truth is that I work with my manufacturers closely on a daily basis. I visit them often. They are not "business" relationships in the usual sense. They are far more personal than that. I see the passion they have for their craft. I know how hard they work to keep that craft alive. I know the lengths they go to, to produce clothing for me at the highest levels. They deserve to be more than a footnote on a website or a slogan on a label. UK manufacturers deserve to be recognised for what they do and what they bring to the UK.
Getting my clothes made in the UK is important to me for many reasons. In this article I hope to explain those reasons and also touch on why British consumers might have a vested interest in buying British made goods. The majority of the ideas presented here apply globally to any brand getting their products made within their respective countries. It could just as easily have been titled "Made Domestically". Have a read and see what you think. This isn't a lecture. This isn't even an article about clothes. It is an article about choices and their consequences.
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"Made in the UK" and "Buy British" are phrases that we hear a lot. To be honest, they probably get used so much that for many people, the gravity of their meaning has been somewhat lost.
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Aside from our manufacturers being some of the best in the world, we get things made in the UK for three key reasons. Environmental, Ethical and Economical. The first two are simple enough to understand so we won't get too bogged down in them. Important though they are, a quick google search of either will give you enough facts and figures to make your head spin. The third is where we'll start going into more detail as this is where you as a consumer, might start to see the benefits coming back around to you.
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ENVIRONMENTAL
This is simple enough. Keeping the production chain as local as possible reduces the transportation carbon footprint which can be massive. Most people can easily imagine huge cargo ships crossing the oceans with electronics and clothes whilst burning tonnes of fuel. The fewer of these we need, the better.
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For Douglas-Brown in particular, a key environmental consideration is the sustainability of our clothing. You can read the “Design Process” article for a grounding in how meticulous we are with the production of each design. This level of involvement is only achievable when you produce within a close proximity. It is what results in the lifespan of our clothes being measured in decades rather than months. It also means that when accidents happen, we can get your garments repaired by the people who made them originally. Thus level of longevity and avoidance of waste is great importance to us.
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ETHICAL
Working conditions around the world are a well documented topic. The standards and ethics of manufacturing don't just vary from country to country, but from factory to factory within those countries. It is impossible to generalise, so I will just say this. When you see people in a shop holding up a T-shirt costing £4.00 and saying things like "I don't know how they make them for this price", what they're actually saying is "I don't want to think about how they make them for this price".
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It is easy to hide from the uncomfortable truth of how some products are produced and I would say that almost all of us are guilty of it to some degree. We all have rechargeable devices. Have you ever looked into how the cobalt is mined for those batteries?.
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British working standards and wages are strictly regulated. When you buy something made in Britain you can sleep soundly at night knowing that it has been made ethically. When we get something made in the UK we are able to visit the manufacturers peronally.
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ECONOMIC
This is where “Made in the UK” goes beyond what it is important to me, and becomes what is important to you.
Without a doubt, the biggest hurdle to anyone wanting to buy things made in the UK is the price. Higher (fairer) working wages mean higher production costs which ultimately results in a higher final price to you.
When all is said and done, people naturally want to buy a product at the lowest possible price. This short term gratification, however, is short sighted.
When you zoom out, you start to see the whole picture. When you zoom out you start to see the tax. A lot of tax. A lot of tax that funds many of the most important things in your life. The extra money that you spend on something made in Britain soon comes back around to you.
This is going to be explained easier with a potentially very boring example. Bear with me, i’ll keep it as simple as possible. The British tax system is ridiculously complicated and quite stultifying.
As I want you all to be awake for the grand finale, for arguments sake I'm just going to cover VAT (rated at 20% of the sale price of an item) and Corporation Tax (rated at 25%, this is a yearly tax on a company’s profits after all expenses such as rent, wages, bills etc have been paid). Let’s have a look at two scenarios. Before I get lambasted for over-simplifying this, the point is to get an idea across, not give everyone a lecture.
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NOT MADE IN THE UK
Let's say you go into a shop and buy a jumper made abroad. Assuming the shop you bought it from pays UK taxes (another discussion for another day) the money you hand over at the till will filter something like this. The shop will take your money and give the government 20% of it. This is the VAT. At the end of the year they then pay 25% Corporation Tax on all company profits and that’s largely where it ends. The product itself was paid for overseas and that's where your money went, never to be seen again.
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Now let's say you've walked into Douglas-Brown and purchased a jumper. My apologies for shamelessly using my own label as an example here, but I know my manufacturing processes better than I know anyone else’s.
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MADE IN THE UK
So just like the other shop, I will pay 20% VAT and then 25% Corporation tax at the end of the year. This, however, is just the beginning.
I had that Jumper made in the UK and these two taxes also apply to every UK company involved in producing it and getting it to you. Exhaustive list incoming.
My spinners, dyers, knitters, coat makers, shirt makers, lining makers, label makers, fabric weavers, pattern cutters, business card printers, our packaging makers etc are all based in the UK. The list goes on and on. All of these companies pay 20% VAT and 25% corporation taxes.
On top of that, these companies employ hundreds of people in the UK. Each of these people will be paying Income Tax and both the employer and employee will be paying national insurance. All of those employees then spend large amounts of their money in the UK and the process starts all over again.
As simplified as this is, I hope it's clear from this that the amount of additional tax raised by purchasing things made in the UK is absolutely vast compared to buying things made abroad. This tax is what pays for your NHS, your schools, your police, your firefighters and every other service you receive from the government. "Made in Britain" might be more expensive at the till, but you get so much more for your money in the long run.
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FAR REACHING EFFECTS
Now to expand upon this, let’s take this idea and roll it out nationwide. Let us assume that everyone in the UK started making a small conscious effort to buy a few things that were produced domestically. What would change??
For a start, a massive amount of jobs would be created. Governments come and go and all of them talk about "creating jobs". These are often half baked ideas and temporary solutions. High flung words that end up meaning nothing. Realistically, the only way to create long term sustainable jobs is to create a long term sustainable need for jobs. If that "need" was something as all encompassing as "British made" it would create jobs in every single sector in Britain. That is to say that if the public decided that they wanted to buy British products, British companies would need to make more products. To make more products they would need to employ more people.
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The cost of the British made goods would go down. Manufacturing costs would go down as is invariably the case with an increase in production volume. A greater demand for British made goods would also see new companies emerging and sparking competition between British makers, which would naturally result in lower prices to you, the consumer.
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As discussed, all public services would improve greatly due to the amount of extra tax raised. We all want our public services to improve. In the same breath, we all hate paying tax. We especially hate paying more tax when our incomes haven’t changed. I think I can confidently assume that we'd all prefer the government to obtain more tax through a thriving indigenous economy, rather than reaching deeper into your individual pockets??
It’s easy to feel like there’s a mountain to climb here. Like buying a locally grown potato to save the NHS is about as useful as posting a selfie, adding a hashtag, and waiting for global problems to politely disappear. Whilst it’s true that a small individual change might have little effect, on a national level, those same mall individual changes would make a vast difference.
Maybe just go to your local greengrocer and spend a few extra pounds on fruit and veg that has been grown locally. Believe me, it will be much fresher and the farmers will thank you. Maybe buy just one well made British jumper this year instead of 10 cheap imports. Believe me, it will last a lot longer and the manufacturers will forever appreciate it...
... as will the environment.
... and the economy.
... and the NHS.
... and the Police.
... and the Firefighters.
... and the factory workers.
... and their families.
... and the communities who have new jobs.
... and the schools your children go to.
… and don’t forget the pothole fillers.
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It's getting harder to get things produced in the UK as manufacturing moves abroad and factories close. I can personally attest to this in the clothing industry. As a consumer, you currently have the luxury of being able to choose between "Buy British" and "Don't buy British". If domestic manufacturing isnt supported, buying something "Made in the UK" won't even be an option. When that option disappears, so do all of the benefits that go with it.
One last thing
Don't be fooled by Union Jacks plastered all over branding. Don't be fooled by "Designed in the UK”. This is not the same thing. All of my clothes are designed in the Ludlow store. That does not mean I have an army of knitters locked away in the cellar.
Manufacturing in the UK is expensive compared to abroad. Many brands do not want to pay that extra expense but still want to be thought of as "British made". You'd be surprised at how many of the biggest British brands do not actually get things made in the UK. Do your research, find the brands that are actually putting money into UK manufacturing. If it doesn't explicitly say "Made in the UK" in the online description or on a physical tag, it probably isn’t.