JUICEBOX 9 britain ’ s top fashion brands have been under much scrutiny over the past decade , whether it ’ s the use of gaunt barely-there models to walk their runways and heading up their advertising campaigns , or the sparse amount of multi-racial models gracing our catwalks . Yet one debate that seems to get talked about and dismissed most often is the question of where does your clothing actually come from ? I delve further into this questionable topic and what the young British public actually thinks of our great or not so great fashion nation .
Take one look at your clothing label and I bet 90 % of people will already know where its made , and will often be correct , yet it wont be ‘ Made in Britain ’. Manufacture in the UK is becoming less and less common with the likes of the Great British Brand that is Burberry looking overseas to manufacture and create their latest offerings due to much less labor costs in third world countries . It was reported by the GMB union in 2012 that if a shirt cost £ 4 in China , but was then retailed at £ 55 each , Burberry would make a £ 24million profit a year on them . Yet how can a brand like Burberry pride itself on being ‘ quintessentially ’ British , when there are now apparently only two British production facilities left producing the label , after the closure of their biggest factory in Treorchy , South Wales in late March 2007 . This sparked outrage throughout much of the UK , due to 300 workers losing their jobs due to the production moving overseas to the infamous manufactures that are China . Protests where held globally to ‘ keep Burberry British ’ and campaigns were fronted by many celebrities such as Sir Tom Jones and ex-Manchester United manager , Sir Alex Ferguson , but nothing could stop the move to provide cheaper costs and an all around focus on the money rather than the heritage Burberry is so famous for .
But it ’ s not just Burberry that uses cheaper costs over the water to boom their profits into the stratosphere . Various other British brands and designers move their production away from the UK to countries such as Italy , for example Paul Smith London , using the not explainable reason of ‘ designed here , not made here ’. Is the reality of things that Britain is just not cost effective to mass produce our clothing , therefore moving across the pond is the only option for brands to survive and thrive ? The ‘ Queen of the high street ’ Mary Portas , thinks differently . She has been wildly successful with her TV shows and cameos promoting British manufacture and all things ‘ bright and beautiful ’. In one of her most recent business ventures , Mary has been attempting to kick-start manufacture in Middleton , near Manchester , creating underwear line ‘ Kinky Knickers ’, all produced on a sewing room floor in the factory owned by British nightwear manufacturers Headen and Quarmby . But with thirty years experience behind her , and many , many TV shows , even she has struggled with this concept , and the factory is already in administration . Is this really the end for British textile heritage ?
High street giant Topshop are helping the cause by creating certain pieces with the ‘ Made in Britain ’ tag ever-present , without adding an eye-watering price tag to match . Launching in 2012 , the British brand headed up by the Arcadia mogul that is Philip Green , created the collection inspired by the UK focus surrounding the Olympics and the Jubilee and the nostalgia and patriotic tendencies that go with it . This is what they had to say when the
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