The Future of UK Manufacturing

Labour are you going to listen to the garment manufacturing sector? The garment manufacturing sector has been battered! Since 2019 there has been a steady decline of the number of manufacturers within the UK with Leicester being particularly adversely affected. 

When we started working in Leicester there were 1500 garment factories employing the best part of 15,000 skilled workers. Today there are 96 factories left. How on earth could we have let this happen. Leicester is a major manufacturing cluster, it currently has high unemployment, 2% higher than the national average and retailers are crying out for newness and speed of response fashion. 

It’s the same situation in other manufacturing clusters such as Manchester and London and where we are based we have seen a decrease in garment manufacturers due to depressed demand for “new” clothes, the rise of thrift shopping and vintage, extortionate increases in rental prices, a reluctance retail brands to engage with smaller manufacturers following negative press on workers rights and exploitation.

All in all, it’s been the toughest manufacturing environment ever, and yes Fashion-Enter has suffered. We once proudly proclaimed that we could make 30,000 garments a week from our sites in Haringey and Wales. Today Wales is closed as a manufacturing unit of excellence and it’s being transformed into a Fashion Academy with Newtown College. At least there is some successful outcomes there – but that hurts! It hurts to close down a fantastic unit with fantastic stitchers that had all worked together at Laura Ashley for over 30 years. How on earth could we have let that skilled workforce just disappear! It’s just awful! But there is hope! 

Repairs and reprocessing is now a major sector for garment manufacturers and this requires the machinists to upskill and diversify their stitching skills. We are all for this new segment as we have our own Fashion Technology Academy. The new Labour government needs to ensure that their new Skills England is on it! Lets ringfence a  budget for adults to relearn “real” skills for “real” jobs! This is where academies can come to the fore!

For the first time we are being approached by overseas manufactures that want to use the Fashion-Enter Ltd/FashionCapital for test and repeat models. Trying to compete with Bangladesh where labour prices are just 150BTD per hour as at Feb 24 (that’s just 99p per hour!) compared to the UK £11.44 NMW is near on impossible so let’s look at the options that Labour could provide! 

• R&D research grants. 
• Engagement with funding bodies for ALL sizes of SMEs within garment manufacturing and not just the big boys!
• Training grants to upskill workforce.
• Acknowledgement for factories that are ethical and audited. Perhaps some form of accreditation system.
• The urgent need of an independent adjudicator that will prevent abuse of power from retailers to factories – stop chasing the cost of a garment to the bottom of the glass. We have this in the food industry why not in the fashion sector. 
• Preferential loans for expansion/purchase of capital equipment/new software. 
• A review of apprenticeships – make the apprenticeship scheme easy again for employers to engage in. Did the Frameworks succeed over the current standards?
• For designated areas, such as Leicester, there is a need for special intervention. If the Conservative Government found the funds to support Tata Steel to the tune of £500m to save 5,000 jobs why can’t they invest in Leicester to create the heritage sector again! Why not create a centre of excellence there for all sectors to engage. 
• Use of export fairs to promote Made in the UK and create prestige around that brand. The event at Number 10 Downing Street was fantastic but then there was no follow up. I get they were busy at the time however!     
• Hold more direct CEO roundtables – the one we  held with MP Catherine West (now Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development) and six voices of the industry was so inspiring! Conversations that were direct and essential for the wellbeing of our sector. We need more of these please! Honest conversations are long overdue. 

Well let’s see what happens next. I just hope Labour is prepared to listen to industry and then act accordingly. 

JH