David Nieper Casts off 100,000th Garment

Over 30-years Britain lost 85% of its textile jobs to offshore production and when the last of David Nieper’s British suppliers closed, David Nieper was determined to keep jobs and garment production in Britain, so they opened their own facility.

Confident in the customer’s appetite for British made goods they purchased brand new machines, trained staff from scratch and opened one of the few genuinely new knitwear production units in Britain for a generation.

The family business established in 1961 has always been loyal to British skills and today their knitwear division accounts for up to 20% of their fashion garments, made in Cashmere and luxury merino wools.

David Nieper now employs 250 staff designing and making fashion for private customers within the UK and overseas. The current knitwear collection features over 70 different styles in sizes 10-28, all crafted by a team of 12 specialists, with a combined 150 years’ experience in knitwear production.

Luxury Lambswool, Merino and Cashmere sourced from sustainable stocks are the staple yarns of the knitwear collection, which are skillfully spun into a range contemporary designs and classic styles.

Every single David Nieper garment is fastened with a swing-tag signed by the people who make it – from the seamstress, to the person that examines, presses and packs for each customer, worldwide. And it’s this personal, conscientious approach that should be applauded and replicated by the industry at large.

Debbie Gibson, Head knitwear supervisor commented:

“We have a team of skilled knitwear specialists with a very high level of technical ability taking huge pride in their work. Even one of our most simple styles has over 500,000 stitches, which we knit faithfully to replicate the creative designs from our fashion studio.

“Once each garment has been knitted, individual panels must be treated to uncurl and then linked together before dying, seaming and bar tacking. This is followed by a detailed examination before the garment is washed, dried, pressed and the neck trims cut, split and hand linked in the traditional way. Finally, each garment is lock-stitched prior to hand finishing, pressing for the second time and being examined for perfect quality.”

Christopher Nieper, Managing Director David Nieper commented:

“It was a bold move to bring knitwear in house, however in 2010 we seized the opportunity to produce high quality British knitwear at a time when consumers were turning away from mass produced, synthetic products and looking for more authentic knitwear in natural fibres.

“Britain’s heritage as a manufacturer of textiles and yarns cannot be underestimated. ‘Made in Britain’ is a unique, trusted brand proposition Internationally, and, especially now with Brexit and a weak GBP we need to create local jobs and develop local British skills.”

Here at FashionCapital and sister company Fashion Enter, with a manufacturing and training facility in North London, we couldn’t agree more.

CEO Jenny Holloway comments:

“With the advent of Article 50 being triggered in March 2017 every brand should be forging closer links with UK manufacturers now; for quality fast track and transparent production and continual skills training and development – the only way forward is Made in the UK.”

Related articles:

Bring Manufacturing Back to Britain – Yes We Can

British Manufacturing Best for Two Years

Post Brexit Review of British Manufacturing