Some 3,000 retailers, manufacturers and designers descended on London for this year’s Meet the Manufacturer – a two-day conference and trade show, organised by Make it British the campaign for the return of UK manufacturing.

“It has been great to see so many leading industry figures coming together to support UK manufacturing and to discuss how we can grow textile and garment production in the UK,” said Kate Hills, founder and CEO of Make it British.

“There is an air of confidence in the industry that I haven’t seen for years and a real positivity about the future. Many of the big retailers turned out to hear the discussions and we now need them to put their money where their mouth is and start placing substantial orders with the factories here.”

Future of UK manufacturing

Over 100 companies from across the fashion and textile sectors came together to exhibit at this year’s trade show.  For the first time, the event included a fashion show, in collaboration with the Leicestershire Textiles Hub and styled by celebrity TV fashion and celebrity stylist Zoe Lem.

“The future of UK manufacturing has to be investment in skills, investment in machinery and investment in the fabric of our factories,” said Patrick Grant, as he opened this year’s Meet the Manufacturer conference and trade show in London on 3 June. 

The creative director of Savile Row’s Norton & Son and E. Tautz and star of BBC2’s Great British Sewing Bee explained: “Genuine partnerships between the large retailers and manufacturers – not just in the small, niche product lines, but as a genuine, fundamental part of everything that they do – can create an awful lot of jobs and an awful lot of value.” 

Conference

Running alongside the trade show was the conference, headlined by Patrick Grant, which included more than 20 industry experts passing on their advice and real-life experiences of building Great British brands, how to successfully manufacture in the UK and how to work with British factories.  Day one focused on Can mass manufacturing return to the UK?, while day two was aimed at smaller brands and start-up businesses.

Tom Kay, founder of Finisterre gave an inspirational made in the UK story of slow, ethical, home-grown supply chains. When asked what would be the best piece of advice you wish you’d had when you first started, he replied: “To get the pricing right.”

David Suddens, chairman of Dr Martens was also speaking on day two of the conference.  He gave a heartfelt and honest account of the difficulties in UK manufacturing in the ‘90s in his speech Have we come full circle? He said that the future direction of UK manufacturing was mass customization and personalization.

Breadth of opportunity

Anita Nagarajan, ethical trading manager at Oasis & Warehouse remarked: “I gained an enormous amount of insight, knowledge, awareness of issues important to the audience and renewed passion.  It’s probably the best conference I’ve ever attended:  inspirational, exciting and not afraid to devote time to difficult/controversial issues too.”

“Having an event like this is important for bringing together manufacturers and showing the breadth of opportunity that there is in this country,” added Caroline Rush, Chief Executive of the British Fashion Council.

www.meetthemanufacturer.co.uk