Made In Britain – Does It Matter Where The Garment Is Made?

Made In Britain – Does It Matter Where The Garment Is Made?

Made in Britain Does It Matter

Does it matter where the garment is made? To start of this discussion we had one of our expert tailors David Brooke sent out a  tweet.

Who better to respond than Mintel who are all about data, research, analysis. They are your eyes and ears in the markets that matter. This is what Tamara Sender, Senior Fashion Analyst from Mintel had to say.

“A third of clothes buyers see clothes made in Britain as an important factor that influences clothes shopping. Interest in locally made clothes peaks among women and older consumers aged 55 and over. Despite this, most consumers still place this relatively low in their priorities with other factors such as quality, low price and latest fashion all taking precedence.

In the wake of the horsemeat scandal, the importance of buying British food and special attention to the origins of products has been reinforced. There is, therefore, the scope for the fashion industry to promote clothing Made in Britain and to push for some manufacturing to be bought back to the UK. There has already been growing interest among retailers in producing some of their garments in the UK to deal with issues of short lead times as consumers demand more regularly updated collections. A clothing manufacturer that supplies retailers including George at Asda, Matalan and Primark opened a factory in Leicester in May 2013, which will allow it to make some of their items in the UK.

The heritage revival is also seeing Made in Britain become an important strategy for major UK retailers such as M&S and John Lewis.

Mintel’s consumer research shows that there is most interest in both clothes Made in Britain and frequently updated clothes from high spenders, meaning there is scope for more retailers to sell limited-edition ranges of locally made clothes at a premium to their regular brands. Retailers including M&S, Asos and Jaeger are already experimenting with this and we expect this to become a growing trend. It is likely that even mid-spenders, who show above-average interest in new collections, and are increasingly mixing and matching more expensive clothes with cheaper clothes, may be willing to splash out on something special and with a link to the UK.”

The Twitter Debate Continues

The debate continues.

 

About The Author

Gracie Opulanza

Global menswear and luxury lifestyle journalist. Co-founder and editor in chief of Men Style Fashion. GracieOpulanza.com is my personal blog.

DMCA.com Protection Status

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This