End of UK Manufacturing?

The UK as a manufacturing source is finished, according to one leading menswear manufacturer.Simon Berwin, managing director of Leeds-based Berwin and Berwin, told Drapers that successive governments had shown no interest in the fate of British clothing manufacturers for the past ten years.

Berwin and Berwin has closed its UK factories and transferred production to Eastern Europe. The factory at Langthwaite Grange closed last year with the loss of 450 jobs. Berwin has switched its suit production to Hungary and Bulgaria, where it employs 1,700 people. Despite the growth of China as a manufacturing base, it is believe that Eastern Europe would still be able to serve the British high street for another ten years.

Berwin, whose company produces Daniel Hechter, Ben Sherman, and many high street chains own-label lines, dismissed the idea of the YJ as a source for fast fashion, blaming retailers for lack of Efficiency. He further criticised British menswear designers for the lack of guts: "They are like our tennis players - nearly but not quite."