Who Made Your Pants? Ceases Trading
09-10-2015
Who Made Your Pants? Was founded on two core principles: amazing pants, and amazing women. Consumers of the brand would be assured of quality British made underwear while maintaining employment for marginalised local women.
Jenny Holloway CEO of FashionCapital would often cross paths with Becky John, the founder and managing director of the brand at trade events and conferences and was fully supportive of the ‘Who Made Your Pants?’ concept.
In a statement on the company website Becky comments:
‘We started in 2008 with a mission to create jobs for marginalised women. While we have achieved some remarkable things for individual women over the past seven years, we have been unable to generate enough sales to match our cost base.
Our aim was to become profitable and self-sufficient and to move away from the need to survive using charitable grants and loans from supporters.
We have struggled to achieve sustainable levels of production and this coupled with inconsistent supply of raw materials has meant it was always a struggle to sell the pants at a high enough margin to pay for our overheads and therefore cash flow has been a constant issue for us.
We would not have got this far without the help from our incredible supporters, customers, and suppliers who have either invested in us, given their time for free or bought our pants.
I personally remain committed to the vision of empowering women through work. My passion for this has not diminished but has grown. I have seen the profound impact Who Made Your Pants has had on the women we have worked with and I am immensely proud of that. Women have told me explicitly that their lives are better because of the jobs they have had here. I am more determined now than ever to work with more women, create more jobs and change their lives. At some stage I hope to be able to bring a business based on my passion and values back to the market in a more sustainable format and achieve our long-term aim.
The last Pants made by our team are all available for sale on our webstore. They have 10% off as we start a closing down sale. Your support is still valuable to us. Please give them good homes and remember and, I hope you can treasure, the work that went into them.’
JoJo Iles editor of FashionCapital added: “This is very sad news indeed, but I know this is not the end of the story for Becky, her determination and drive will take her into a new chapter. Becky’s production and cash flow struggles are being felt across many small manufacturing units across the UK and while there is a buzz about ‘British made and ethical’ the industry needs all the sales and support it can get right now.”
Kate Dawson added: “Becky, I was fortunate enough to hear you speak at Meet the Manufacturer in June 2015. I will never forget your speech or your passion. You are an amazing person with a huge inner strength. This will be a very tough time for you and I am so sorry to hear that Who Made Your Pants is no longer a viable option. I know that you will rise again and continue to strive towards what you set out to do.”
Related articles:
Made in Britain – Why Is It So Important?
