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British manufacturing statistics

Think that there is no manufacturing left in the fashion & textiles industry in Britain? Here are a few facts and figures that prove otherwise

British manufacturingOK, so we don’t make anywhere near as much in the UK as we used to. However, spurred on by many people getting the impression after watching  Mary’s Bottom Line that there are next to no clothing manufacturers left in this country, I have started to compile a list containing  British manufacturing statistics, to show how much is still made in Britain.

Here are a few that I have collected over the last week, if you know of anymore please Tweet me @MakeitBritish, or add them to the comments below.

First the downside:

  • A century ago there were over 2000 textile mills in the North of England, now only a handful survive
  • In the 1950s there were 80 footwear factories in Northamptonshire producing 20million pairs a year, now there are less than a dozen
  • In 1977 clothing manufacture employed 900,000 but by 1999 it was 130,000
  • In the 1800’s Fox Brothers employed 5000 people in their worsted mill in Somerset, today it is only 20

And now the upside:

  • £1.5 billion worth of clothing and accessories were manufactured in the UK in 2010 according to the ONS
  • Abraham Moon, the Yorkshire woollen mill, produced 1.25mil metres of cloth in Britain in 2011
  • Hotter shoes will make nearly 1.5 million pairs of shoes in their Skelmersdale factory in 2012.
  • Barbour make 3000 garments a week in their South Shields factory
  • Mulberry employ 260 production workers at their handbag factory in Chilcompton, five years ago the number was just 100