10 great reasons to support local manufacturing
A video showing why Ally Capellino uses a Hackney factory to make 40% of her bags inspired us to come up with our top 10 reasons to support local manufacturing
Made in England stamp on an Ally Capellino bag
The below video is one of a series by DISC (the Designer Manufacturer Innovation Support Centre), extolling the virtues of manufacturing in the UK. In it, Ally Lloyd-Platt, of the Ally Capellino bag company, justifies why she chooses to manufacture locally.
Her reasons are:
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You can build good relationships with your manufacturers
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It gives you more control
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You can develop ideas with your factory
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Customers like it
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A sense of pride that the products are made in Britain
To this list we would also add:
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It helps keep people in the UK in jobs
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The carbon footprint of a product is reduced if it is made locally
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You are never more than a few hours away if there is a problem
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You don’t wait months for the finished product to get to you
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Great Britain becomes a nation of makers again
So let’s keep supporting local manufacturing!
You can view more videos by DISC, including a trip to niche garment manufacturing unit Eden Studio, by visiting their page on Vimeo.
If you would like to find a manufacturer to make your products in the UK we may be able to help. Click here to find out more.
I think more designers and companies would manufacture in the Uk if the manufacturers wernt so hard to find or we didn’t have to pay for lists. The costs of setting up business are endless -especially in the textiles industry. If the information was made widely available or advertised freely then the industry could see a quick climb. I myself know lots of designers who manufacture abroad due not only to costs but because nobody wants to share the contacts they have or want to profit from their contacts list – How will the uk economy make a recovery with this type of attitude?
Hi Serina
I can see how frustrating it is when a designer is looking for UK manufacturers but can’t find them, or has to pay to get the information.
I would like to give you the reason why we charge to help people find factories:
I used to spend hours answering emails from designers looking for manufacturers. Responding to everyone’s queries personally took hours and I actually got fed up with how few people even took the time to write back and say thank you!
We now get several hundred enquiries a week from designers looking for UK manufacturers, and if we were to answer every one personally it would take hundreds of man hours – something that a small business cannot afford to do for nothing, I’m sure you’ll agree.
So now we charge a nominal sum to give out personal recommendations of suppliers. This helps weed out those people that aren’t really serious about taking things further, and also helps the manufacturers as it means we don’t send loads of time wasters their way.
I am currently also looking to put all of my years and years worth of contacts into a manufacturers directory on this website – but that is also taking hours to upload all of the information. How do you think we should cover our costs for doing this? Charge the manufacturers? That doesn’t work as most of them are unwilling to pay as they are already very busy and don’t need any new business. Or charge the designers looking for the factories in order that they don’t have to spend hours trawling the web for all of the information?
So far I have not managed to some up with the answer as to how to make it work.
If you have the solution I would LOVE to hear it.