Manchester Made & Regions sets agenda on the business case for UK manufacturing
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Source Fashion, Fashion-Enter and the Association of Textiles Manufacturers and Fashion (ATMF) have unveiled the programme for Manchester Made & Regions, a one-day event on UK fashion and textile manufacturing. It takes place at Manchester Hall on November 4.
The event, first announced in September, centres on one question: what it would take for UK production to work commercially for more brands and retailers. Sessions will cover reindustrialisation, public procurement, pricing, capacity, skills and consumer demand.
Patrick Grant and regional manufacturing
The day opens with a panel on the reindustrialisation of the UK, moderated by Fashion-Enter CEO Jenny Holloway, with 23 Foxes CEO Snahal Patel, Cheryl Chung of The Garment Workers Trust and Professor Jess Power, chair of The Textile Institute.
Community Clothing CEO Patrick Grant will then discuss the commercial realities of building a brand around British manufacturing. A panel on regional manufacturing ecosystems follows, moderated by FashionUnited editor Rachel Douglass, with Hyper-Hyper founder Scott Wheeler, Zerotec CEO Nicholas Betts and Gemma Gratten, founder of Manchester Fashion Week and co-founder of Northern Fashion Collective.
A further panel, moderated by Just Style senior reporter Isatou Ndure, will address pressures on domestic production such as rising costs, minimum order quantities and lead times. It features Clothes2order CEO Michael Conway, 5th Avenue Clothing director Sajid Esa and Simon Platts, founder of Simon Platts Consulting and former sourcing and ESG director at Asos.
Demand, durability and the CFO's view
In the afternoon, Marguerite Le Rolland, global insight manager for fashion at Euromonitor International, will present data on fashion demand in Europe in 2026. Jack Stratten, head of trends at Insider Trends, will speak on durability and longevity.
The closing panel, moderated by Source Fashion event director Suzanne Ellingham, looks at how to build a business case for UK manufacturing that finance directors will support, framing domestic sourcing around risk, margin protection and growth rather than unit price alone.
"There is a lot of conversation about reshoring and buying British, but if we genuinely want to see more production taking place here, we have to move beyond ambition and build the commercial case for it," said Ellingham.
UK manufacturers will also showcase their capabilities to visiting brands and buyers throughout the day. The event follows Leicester Made & Regions and is the first in a wider programme of regional events, ahead of Source Fashion at Excel London from January 19 to 21, 2027.