UK manufacturing in the news this week: Patrick Grant’s Blackburn factory, Sudbury Silk gets EU protection, Nigel Cabourn launches range with Karrimor
TV star set to revive Blackburn’s textile industry after saving historic clothing company
Lancashire Telegraph
Patrick Grant, owner of menswear brand E.Tautz, bought a clothing factory in Blackburn a few months ago and in this report the Lancashire Telegraph gives locals an update on how he is getting on.
The dashing designer has already created 30 jobs and plans to double the number of machinists at the factory. He is also offering apprenticeships to young people from the area, with the first two candidates set to start.
He said: “This corner of Lancashire is going to become great again. I’m very impressed by what I’ve seen of Blackburn and its people. There’s a ‘can do’ feeling about the place that I really like.”
Sudbury silk joins Wensleydale cheese and Newmarket sausages on protected EU list
Anglian Daily Times
Great news that Sudbury silk weavers will get EU protection from copycat products
Sudbury silk will now be given special European protection from imitation thanks to laws championed this week by local Suffolk Euro MP Richard Howitt.
Up until now, protected geographical status could only be assigned to consumable ‘farmed’ products such as the Newmarket sausage, Wensleydale cheese or Whitstable oysters. But that could all change after new laws were passed giving the high-quality fabric, which has been produced in the town since the 18th century, special European protection.
The new protection will also ensure that products made in Sudbury’s three remaining silk weaving factories cannot be copied or ripped off by imitation products.
Curated from Sudbury silk joins Wensleydale cheese and Newmarket sausages on protected EU list – Anglian Daily Times
Celebrate British clothing, says TV’s Helen Skelton
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard featured an article about Nigel Cabourn’s new range for Karrimor
Skelton, 32, is a brand ambassador for outdoor clothing manufacturer Karrimor, who have linked with Cabourn — all of whose clothing is made in the UK — for the range.
“Nearly every collaboration I do is all made in England. This is what it’s all about. There’s not much point in somebody like me existing unless I keep to my roots.”
Speaking at the launch of a new range from British heritage designer Nigel Cabourn, the former Blue Peter presenter said: “We’ve got skills, we’ve got designers and we’ve got good quality. The fact we are making and designing something here in Britain — why shouldn’t we be proud of it?”