British clothing retailer supports local production

In recent months, many British clothing retailers have demonstrated their initiative to transfer production back to the country and encouraged consumers to buy British-made products.

Over the past 30-35 years, textile and apparel production costs have risen, and retailers have begun to outsource their products in low-cost countries such as China, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

NBrown was the first to open the ball. The company has a portfolio of brands such as Jacamo, JD Williams and Simply Be. The company invites potential suppliers to accept the company’s local production and currently accounts for 1% of overall sales.

Retailers foresee that the biggest advantage of localized production is that they will be able to place orders in small quantities. On the other hand, when outsourcing from other countries, they must place orders for thousands of products.

The second big advantage is that the time from placing an order to delivery is shorter. When it is produced in the UK, it takes only 5-6 weeks, while in the Far East it takes 12-14 weeks.

However, the biggest challenge for retailers sourcing in the UK is the lack of adeptness. Failure to address this issue urgently can completely destroy local production plans.

Experts believe that British clothing retailers should only produce high-end British-labeled clothing in the UK, because it is difficult for British-made products to compete with the cost of large-scale garment production and the cost of purchasing from cheaper overseas countries.