The number of UK companies manufacturing textiles and apparel rose sharply last year, says a new report, confirming the growing momentum of ‘Made in Britain’ movement. The number of firms producing textiles and apparel rose to 7,880, a 7.6 per cent increase from previous year. The biggest increase came from a rise in the number of apparel manufacturers, up 10.7 per cent to 3,830 companies, while the number of textile firms had increased by 4.9 per cent year on year to touch 4,030.
Adam Mansell, chief executive of the UK Fashion and Textiles Association (UKFT), says there has been a lot of noise about UK manufacturing in the past few years but this is probably one of the first pieces of concrete evidence to support what people in the trade have been hearing.
The UKFT compiled the report from various sources including the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Revenue and Customs import and export data. Now, it plans to produce it annually to give a clear picture of the UK manufacturing landscape.
Experts say a number of factors have been driving this increase such as the rising cost of overseas production and the increasing need for supply control and flexibility on the part of retailers and brands, as well as greater consumer awareness of UK production and the continued export demand for UK-produced textiles and apparel.
The UKFT argues the growth rate could be even higher than the ONS’s statistics suggest, as the data covers only companies and self-employed individuals registered for value-added tax (VAT) and Pay as you earn (PAYE) tax. The ONS estimates that about 50 per cent of businesses in the UK Fall outside this category.
