The Truth About ‘Made In Britain’ Menswear
After several decades of outsourcing our clothes manufacturing, menswear’s coming home. With luxury labels and cottage industry clothing brands alike looking to keep manufacturing on home soil, ‘Made in Britain’ is menswear’s new major movement.
But what does that mean to you? After all, we get everything from our gadgets to our groceries from abroad. Isn’t that the benefit of globalisation? And like homegrown footballers, it sometimes seems like a British passport for a piece of clothing is just an excuse to add a hefty premium to its price.
‘Made in Britain’ is not just a fad however. As with food, we’re gradually cottoning on to the ethical and environmental implications of locally sourced (supporting the domestic economy, providing jobs for Britons). But it’s not as simple as looking at the label, since ‘Made in Britain’ doesn’t always mean better; it doesn’t even always mean the item was actually made in Britain.
Confused? Us too. So to unpick this buzzphrase, we spoke to three native clothing brands to understand the significance of ‘Made in Britain’ – and help us all grasp the real meaning of this moniker.
E. Tautz
Patrick Grant is the brains behind Savile Row bespoke tailor Norton & Sons and runway brand E. Tautz. He’s also the man that proves traditional craft and modern design are not mutually exclusive.
While he guesstimates that 95 per cent of his products are ‘Made in Britain’, that isn’t a badge of quality in and of itself. “There are some pretty bad British factories, with poor ethical standards,” he says. “But the good ones, which we use, are genuinely excellent.”
Designer Patrick Grant
For Grant, the imperative to buy made in the UK is largely economic. “We caused large-scale unemployment and the destruction of hundreds of communities when we decided that we wanted cheap clothes,” he says. “By choosing to buy high-quality clothes made in the UK, we can help try to reverse that.” Indeed, the clothes that E. Tautz makes – exceptionally well – are not inexpensive. But the alternative is also costly.
