Make it British campaign supports UK manufacturing

"After 20 years of working as a designer and buyer, flying around the world for brands such as Burberry, M&S and other high street names, I became disillusioned when they stopped using factories in the UK to produce their goods. So, I left in 2011 to set up Make it British, a campaign to support UK manufacturing businesses and British craftsmanship, including Meet the Manufacturer, an annual trade show held in London," Hills told Fibre2Fashion in an interview.

Make it British has now become global, with increasing numbers of international visitors contacting it to buy quality British-made products.

Besides promoting British companies to work with their fellow counterparts in Britain and to manufacture their products in the country, Make it British also encourages textile companies from the other countries to consider manufacturing in Britain.

"We encourage textile companies from other countries to consider manufacturing in Britain. Manufacturing in the UK is becoming more and more cost-effective and we are getting an increasing number of enquiries from businesses overseas looking to manufacture in the UK, particularly from the US, Japan and Germany," she added.

Talking about the limitation of the British manufacturing industry, Hills said, "British manufacturing is limited at the moment because there is not enough capacity. Travelling around the UK, visiting different businesses, it has become apparent that the big issue is attracting young people into the manufacturing industry. We need to reach out to the future generation of leaders in manufacturing and train up more young people to work in UK factories."

In the future, Hills would like to take this a step further and take Make it British overseas on a trade mission to inspire even more people to buy British-made brands.

She feels that Brexit will have a positive impact on textiles and apparel companies of Britain. "We are already seeing a huge amount of interest in British-made goods. We are seeing businesses like cotton spinning coming back to the UK, which is great news," concluded Hills. (KD)

Click here to read the complete interview.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India