The good times have returned to the rag trade for Julia Price. Last month, Tesco’s clothing division F&F placed an order for nearly 50,000 garments with Price’s County Durham-based AMA Group. Hopes are high that it will be the first of many.
The UK apparel business has been in retreat for so long that the change of fortunes since 2010 has caught almost everyone by surprise. Even UK trade statistics are having trouble keeping up (see below). Driven by the creative force of the British fashion industry, and helped by the growing financial and logistics appeal of making things in the UK rather than offshore, the rag trade is on the up.
Newly-established AMA represents the changed mood. The Peterlee-based business is one of the first to return to what was once a thriving County Durham clothing sector. Its collapse in the late 1990s caused thousands of job losses as manufacturing moved overseas.
Now Price and her colleagues are reviving the sector. Inspired by the growing strength of the UK rag trade, they formed AMA early this year.
The contract with Tesco will mean the original 20-strong workforce is likely to grow to 150 by the end of 2015.
Price, joint managing director at AMA, explains: “We currently have 45,000 sq ft at our disposal, albeit we are operating in approximately 10,000 sq ft, but we will progressively occupy more as we introduce more production cells.
“We have a five-year plan to grow the business. This will include centralising certain core functions in our current premises but then having satellite stitching plants around the North East, which would be about 10,000 sq ft each.”
Finding premises was a headache, especially as Price wanted to shake off the down-at-heel image of the garment industry. “It was not too easy as we were trying to find premises that would help us change the image of the industry from that of the ‘rag trade’ to a more high-spec and modern industry, so traditional industrial units were not an option for us and office space generally comes at a premium,” she says.
“Our image will become increasingly important as we exhaust the supply of experienced machinists who are returning because of their love of the job and try to attract the younger generation.”
The region has the right kind of labour force – Price expects to be able to recruit experienced machinists – but she is watchful of fast-moving overseas competition. A UK-based manufacturer should be well placed to respond quickly to the latest fashion trends, she says.
“There is a general feeling from retailers that they need to respond more quickly to fast-selling merchandise and there is a growing reluctance to commit to the long lead times that are required for Asian production,” says Price.
“In addition, consumers are becoming more aware of the ethical challenges behind some offshore facilities. We are all generally more aware of carbon footprint and there is a general appreciation that ‘made in Britain’ is synonymous with quality and design.”
More orders and more contracts are on the horizon.
AMA is not alone: the UK garment business is active in all regions, from the knitwear of north-east Scotland to Yorkshire woollens and the womenswear manufacturers of South Wales.
The rag trade is back in business.
Getting the sizes right
Official UK trade statistics suggest the UK garment business is in retreat, shrinking by 8% since 2011. Insiders say the figures are wrong. Industry observer Kate Hills, who edits the Make it British website, argues that errors in Companies House industry classifications are to blame, with many re-shoring garment businesses wrongly listed as agents, not manufacturers.
Textile towns
The streets around the Manchester’s Northern Quarter were once the rag trade’s northern HQ. Not so today. A few garment traders hang onto their old Victorian premises running wholesale-only operations – and in nearby Ancoats you can still sometimes hear the rattle of industrial sewing machines. But the rag trade has largely moved on.
Today, south Lancashire and north Cheshire have only a modest rag trade. One manufacturer of specialist workwear, who asked to remain anonymous, is currently looking for 50,000 sq ft around Stockport. However, the difficulty of finding good but reasonably priced property may mean it has to reconsider its choice of location.
Andy Backhouse, associate director at Colliers International in Manchester, says this requirement is unusual. “We don’t come across much from the textile or clothing sector any more. We have some big warehouse requirements, but not manufacturing. It is very rare for us to see textile requirements, which is odd when you think of the region’s history.”
