There is a persistent idea that British manufacturing has effectively ended, that the factories closed in the 1980s and the skills went with them and what remains is heritage branding attached to goods made elsewhere.
It is not entirely wrong. British manufacturing did contract dramatically from the 1970s onwards as production moved to countries where labour costs were lower and regulation lighter. The textile and garment industry was among the hardest hit. Mills that had operated for generations closed. Skills that had been passed down through families disappeared from entire regions within a single generation.
But it did not end.
London still has a garment manufacturing sector, smaller than it was and less visible than it used to be, concentrated in particular areas and particular specialisms, but genuinely there. Small factories in east and north London produce clothing for brands that have decided UK manufacturing is worth the additional cost. Machinists with decades of experience work alongside younger people learning the trade. The infrastructure is thinner than it was but it is not gone.
What remains tends to produce things at the quality end of the market, because the economics of UK manufacturing make volume impossible to compete with on price. A London factory making thirty pairs of sweatpants in a run cannot match the unit cost of a facility making thirty thousand pairs in a lower wage economy. It can, however, make something considerably better, with more direct oversight, shorter supply chains, and the kind of quality control that comes from a manufacturer who knows their customer personally.
Our joggers and sweatpants are made in London. We work with a small manufacturer who knows what we are trying to achieve and applies the same standards to every pair. The relationship matters as much as the location, though the location is not incidental. Made in London means we can visit, verify, and have a direct conversation about quality without it being mediated by a supply chain that spans several countries.
British manufacturing did not end. It got smaller, more specialised, and more expensive. Whether those are problems or features depends on what you are trying to make and why.
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