Episodes
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Welcome to episode 300!
Celebrating the 300th episode of this podcast I look back at some of the amazing guests that I've had on this show from the world of UK fashion and textile manufacturing. Manufacturers that have shared their stories, their challenges, and their successes with us.
Episodes / Manufacturers featured in this episode:
Episode 102 - David Collinge | John Spencer Textiles
Episode 005 - Keith Hanshaw | The Leather Satchel Company
Episode 088 - Chris Woodford | Crown Northampton
Episode 193 - Ian Maclean | John Smedley MBE
Episode 55 - Lance Mitchell | Mitchell Interflex
Episode 113 - Ruth Masson | Harris Tweed
Episode 290 - Christopher Nieper | David Nieper OBE
Episode 96 - Richard Ince | Ince Umbrellas
Episode 004 - Jo Ashburner-Farr | Red Dragon Flagmakers
Episode 254 - Chris Childs | Contrado
Episode 21 - Jenny Holloway | Fashion Enter
Episode 31 - Mick Cheema | Basic Premier
Episode 299 - A visit to Vagabond bags with Simon Michelson
Episode 118 - David Williams | Stoll GB
Episode 203 - Saed Saleh | Mars Knitwear
Episode 060 - Diana Kakkar
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Join me on a tour round a factory!
In this episode I'm chatting with Simon Michelson, owner of Vagabond Bags, a sewing factory in Swindon that makes cosmetic bags, shower caps and hot water bottle covers.
Meet some of the people working in the factory, hear about the jobs they do and find out how many shower hats one person can make in a day. Spoiler - it's quite a lot!
HANDY LINKS
British Brand Accelerator - Work closely with me to start or grow your UK-made brand.
Newsletter - Subscribe for a weekly dose of inspiration and advice on making in the UK
Make it British Website
YouTube
Instagram
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Episodes manquant?
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I'm joined today by 3 amazing people that work tirelessly in the UK fashion and textile industry.
You may have seen in the press recently that several high profile brands have been affected by the close of Matches, but did you know about the knock on affect that has had on the UK manufacturers?
I also heard yesterday the sad news that the Mackintosh factory in Lancashire is closing. What the heck is going on?
So I went live on Instagram with 3 special guests to discuss the topic, and this episode is your opportunity to hear the full discussion if you missed the live.
My guests are:
Tamara Cincik from think tank Fashion Roundtable
Mustafa Fuat from Gosha London
Diana Kakkar from Maes London
Some of the keys points we discussed:
How the Matches collapse has impacted local manufacturers.The financial instability of fashion brands.Why the industry needs to be regulated.How other countries support their local production.How public procurement buying British could help the entire industry.The grants and tax credits needed to make local production more affordable.Why lobbying for changes in government policies is essential.The need for STEAM education, putting creativity back on the curriculum.Watch the original Instagram live here
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The title says it all. Listen to find out what it is!
HANDY LINKS
British Brand Accelerator - Work closely with me to start or grow your UK-made brand.
Newsletter - Subscribe for a weekly dose of inspiration and advice on making in the UK
Make it British Website
YouTube
Instagram
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Join me on a visit to KC Manufacturing (previously Kalopsia Collective) in Dumferline, Scotland to meet with husband and wife team Adam Robertson and Nina Falk.
KC Manufacturing is a social enterprise specialising in small batch manufacturing.
Discover:
How Adam & Nina met and ended up setting up their business.What it's like to run a factory together as husband and wife.Why 'made in Scotland' is so important.How KC Manufacturing are supporting other UK textile firms.The challenges of working with deadstock materials.Where Adam & Nina got the funding to set up their factory.How they get young people to work in the industry.About KC Manufacturing
KC Manufacturing website
Episode 51 - Small Batch Manufacturing with Adam Robertson, Kalopsia Collective.
HANDY LINKS
British Brand Accelerator - Work closely with me to start or grow your UK-made brand.
Newsletter - Subscribe for a weekly dose of inspiration and advice on. making in the UK
Make it British Website
YouTube
Instagram
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Regular listeners to this podcast will know that I am all about encouraging brands to manufacture locally. But in some cases, it might not make good sense to do so.
In this episode I explain the 4 reasons why you might NOT want to make in the UK.
Want my advice on whether your product should or could be made here? Reach out to my with a direct message on Instagram @makeitbritish here
HANDY LINKS
British Brand Accelerator - Work closely with me to start or grow your UK-made brand.
Newsletter - Subscribe for a weekly dose of inspiration and advice on. making in the UK
Make it British Website
YouTube
Instagram
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One of the questions that came up on one of our recent British Brand Accelerator group coaching calls was so good, I thought I'd bring it to you on the podcast this week.
The question was about whether a small business that makes in the UK should be offering a discount when someone opts in to their newsletter, and whether this strategy works.
It opened a whole discussion amongst the group about the pros and cons of discounting and other ideas for getting potential customers to sign up to your newsletter.
So if you are wondering the same thing about discounting, this episode is for you!
Sign up the the British Brand Accelerator waitlist here - www.makeitbritish.co.uk/waitlist
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This week I’m bringing some very sad news - that the UK’s only cotton spinning mill, English Fine Cottons, which brought cotton spinning back to Greater Manchester in 2018, has very sadly gone into administration.
In case you don’t know about the history of English Fine Cottons, it was set up by the technical textile spinners Culimeta-Saveguard, who invested £4.8m of its own money, £2m of which was a loan from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, to regenerate a former Victorian cotton mill and install new technology to create luxury yarn. A further £1m was awarded as a grant by the N Brown Textile Growth Programme.
English Fine Cottons was the start of something very exciting in UK manufacturing, and for this to have happened is tragic. The collapse into administration is caused by the parent group Culimeta-Saveguard going down, and unfortunately that has taken the cotton spinning down with it. Something needs to be done to save our only cotton spinning mill, otherwise this is history repeating itself.
So today's episode is a remastered version of a visit that I did to English Fine Cottons in 2019, along with an interview with Andy Ogden, who was the general manager at the time.
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Today's guests are Andrea and David Courtney from Courtney & Co buttonmakers
Back in 2012 I was contacted by someone who was trying to save the UK’s last remaining horn button maker - Grove & Sons. He was looking for investors to buy up the machinery and pattern books from the business so that the art of natural button making in the UK was not lost.
Well it turns out that the investor that this guy eventually found was someone called David Courtney, who saw an ad to buy the machinery and patterns, and decided that he wanted to help.
But things are never as easy as the seem, and this initial investment took David Courtney down a very long and winding path to bring button making back to the UK.
Over a decade later and David Courtney now has an amazing button-making factory in the Cotswolds, with state of the art machinery, producing buttons from 3 different types of materials. He’s also enlisted his lovely wife Andrea to head the factory up, and they now supply the most beautiful buttons to brands and designers wanting an authentic UK-made button, still made using the original patterns that David saved from Grove & Sons.
This interview was recorded onsite in their factory in Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, and Andrea and David recount the full tale of how Courtney & Co buttons got to where they are today.
About Courtney & Co
Courtney & Co Website
Courtney & Co on Instagram
FURTHER RESOURCES
Quiz: Are you ready to work with a UK factory?
HANDY LINKS
British Brand Accelerator
Make it British Website
YouTube
Instagram
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This episode celebrates 15 years since I registered the domain makeitbritish.co.uk and busts some of the myths about UK manufacturing.
You'll find out:
Why I started Make it British and why I'm such a firm believer in UK manufacturing.The current UK manufacturing landscape.How the UK fashion and textile industry is made up of 1,000s of micro factories.How many garment factories there really are in the UK.The benefits of making in the UK.And why supply on demand is best done locally.To see the video recording of this talk, go to makeitbritish.co.uk/microfactories
Want to work together? Fill in this form so I can find out more about your business goals, and I'll get back to you with ways I can help.
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Christopher Nieper OBE is the managing director of David Nieper, a womenswear business in Alfreton in Derbyshire. The firm was set up by Christopher's parents sixty years ago and is now one of the most vertical textile operations in the UK. Christopher recently invested in state-of-the-art digital printing equipment so that the factory can print it's own fabric onsite. David Nieper already prints all their own catalogues and produce their own knitwear in house, alongside the garment production.
In this episode you can hear about the research Christopher commissioned from Nottingham university looking at the greenhouse gas emissions produced to make clothing at the David Nieper factory in Derbyshire. The study then compared these findings to the emissions produced by making garments in China, Turkey and Bangladesh and then shipping them to the UK. It makes for very interesting insights into how making in the UK can be quantified as more sustainable. A big advocate for slow fashion, Christopher has also found that his customers keep and wear his clothes 10 times longer than average. Listen to this episode to discover:
How the David Nieper factory uses 'just-in-time' manufacturing to achieve a 98% sell-through on their garmentsChristopher's plans to make the David Nieper factory the greenest factory in Europe, recovering the heat generated by the factory to use as renewable energyHow he's changing the attitudes of young people in his local town by giving them a taste of what it's like inside a real manufacturing environmentThe charity that the business has set up to help rebuild a local secondary school that was in the bottom 2% of schools in the UK and make it over-subscribed for the first time in 30 yearsChristopher's idea for a labelling scheme for clothing that ranks the environmental sustainability of every garmentThis episode is the recording of a talk that Christopher did at Make it British Live! Online event in October 2020.
About David Nieper
Watch my Instagram reel showing behind the scenes at the David Nieper factory.
David Nieper website
Stay in Touch
British Brand Accelerator - Find out how you can work with me to build your British-made brand
Make it British website
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In this episode of the Make it British podcast, Karen McCluckie, the director of Bealies Adaptive Wear, shares her inspiring journey of creating adaptive clothing for wheelchair users and disabled individuals.
Motivated by her son's disability and the lack of suitable clothing options in the market, Karen embarked on a mission to design stylish and functional joggers tailored to the needs of wheelchair users. From the initial idea to overcoming challenges and securing funding, Karen discusses the process of bringing her innovative designs to the market while juggling her role as a social worker.
With a commitment to UK manufacturing and a vision for expanding her product range, Karen's story highlights the power of innovation and determination in creating inclusive fashion solutions.
About Caron McCluckie
Caron on Linkedin
Bealies Adaptivewear Website
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This week I’ve been in the Midlands visiting factories, which is always one of my favourite things to do.
I’d planned to take my podcast mic with me and get an episode to you today with an interview with one of the manufacturers, but sadly I was in such a rush when I set off early Sunday morning that I left my mic behind!
So on today’s episode instead I'm discussing one of the amazing factories I went to see, and also sharing a recording from the archives - which is to encourage you to get out there and visit factories yourself!
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Today's episode is all about selling and sales, and how it's closely linked to product development.
A lot of creative business owners say that they aren't any good at selling, so the natural tendency is to drop their prices or default back to making more products.
I'm going to give you a different way of looking at sales, so that selling doesn't make you feel like a used car salesman.
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Hear from 21 business founders as they give their tips on starting and growing a British-made brand.
These snippets were taken from 21 different guest interviews on this podcast.
If you want to listen to the full episodes you can find them as follows:
Ep.142 Julie Deane, Cambridge Satchel Company
Ep.076 Jack Millington, Billy Tannery
Ep.143 Kath Whitworth, Celtic & Co
Ep. 41 Paul Smithers, Halycon Blue
Ep 179 Rebecca J Mills
Ep 171 Rich Keegan & Linda Souto Maior, Usual Objections
Ep 23 Sian Reekie, Hettie Co
Ep 78 Katie Walker Furniture
Ep 27 Matt Booth, Both Barrells
Ep 139 Rachael Attwood, Britannical
Ep 108 Steff McGrath, Something Wicked
Ep 82 Joel, Chudleigh, Made to Last
Ep 96 Richard Ince, James Ince & Sons Umbrellas
Ep 120 Emma Willis
Ep 39 Genevieve Sweeney
Ep 129 Samanth Brooke, Waring Brooke
Ep 88 Chris Woodford, Crown Northampton
Ep 141 Emma Mathews, Socko
Ep 153 Gillian Tusting, Tusting
Ep 86
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On today’s episode I’m chatting with Catherine Bedford, founder of Dashel Cycle Helmets
Catherine had the idea for an innovative and stylish cycle helmet whilst watching the London 2012 Olympics. She set about creating her vision, and it took 5 years to develop and launch the Dashel helmet. All Dashel helmets are made in the UK, and in this episode Catherine talks about:
How she set about developing a new and innovative product.How she found factories to then make the helmetsSome of the safety testing that bike helmets have to go through. How she got PR and found stockists when she first launched.How she got her first stockists.And how the bike industry has been affected by Brexit.Mentioned in this episode:
British Brand Accelerator
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Welcome to Episode no.284!
Circularity is the buzzword on everyone's lips right now. It's no wonder, when you hear that 350,000 tonnes of clothing goes to landfill in the UK every year. Something needs to be done to stop the mass-consumption that the UK in particularly seems to be pretty bad at!
The United Repair Centre, a collaboration between outdoor brand Patagonia, social enterprise Makers Unite, and the Amsterdam Economic Board, is a much needed resource for the clothing industry. And they've opened one up in London!
On this episode I chat with one of the United Repair Centre co-founders, Thami Schweichler.
We chat about how the URC repair process has combined technology with sewing skills to make repair and circularity available to all, and how any brand can get involved in offering a repair service to their customers.
ABOUT UNITED REPAIR CENTRE
United Repair Centre Website
United Repair Centre Instagram
Thami Schweichler Linkedin
HANDY LINKS
British Brand Accelerator - My mentoring programme
Kate's Sunday Journal - My newsletter
Make it British Website
YouTube
Instagram
Mentioned in this episode:
British Brand Accelerator
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Today's guest is Lydia Bolton, a slow fashion designer tackling textile waste by upcycling unwanted fabrics and garments and turning them into one-off pieces.
As well as having her own label, Lydia also teaches others how to upcycle with workshops that she runs and in her partnerships with big brands such as Lidl, Nike, Adidas and Lime bikes.
We chat about:
How Lydia started out in fashion and textiles and where she learnt to sew.The challenges of upcycling and making one-off pieces.Where she sources her raw materials from and how deadstock can be a misleading term.Her decision to only rent and not sell her garments going forward.How she collaborates with big brands to spread the word about upcycling.How she is teaching people to sew with her upcycling workshops.ABOUT LYDIA BOLTON
Lydia's Website
Lydia on Instagram
HANDY LINKS
British Brand Accelerator
Make it British Website
YouTube
Instagram
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How to find fabrics, leathers and other raw materials for your brand, and avoid the most common mistake that many people make when sourcing fabric.
FURTHER RESOURCES
UK Fabric Mills on the Make it British website
HANDY LINKS
British Brand Accelerator
Make it British Website
YouTube
Instagram
Rate This Podcast
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Sampling with UK manufacturers can be quite a different ball game to sampling with manufacturers overseas. Here's why you might not want to sample with lots of different factories.
FURTHER RESOURCES
Quiz: Are you ready to work with a UK factory?
HANDY LINKS
British Brand Accelerator
Make it British Website
YouTube
Instagram
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