Dents to increase UK manufacturing

Key retailers have been speaking out in recent weeks for British brands to bring manufacturing back to the UK. One company, the luxury glove brand Dents, is putting its money where its mouth is, and have opened a new UK factory after rocketing

demand from overseas clients.

Dents saw its sales more than double on a like-for-like sales, and has invested in a 45,000 sq ft site in Warminster, Wiltshire, for its operations. The new factory will be home to its 70 strong workforce and will also house the back-office functions for hosiery brand Corgi and jewellery brand Gaby’s, Dents’ sister companies under parent Dewhurst Dent.

According to Drapers, sales are 160% ahead of this time last year thanks to two cold winters in a row in the UK and an increase in orders from Asia, the US and Italy.

Dents director Deborah Moore stated: “Korea has rocketed and even Japan, with all the terrible things that have happened there, has been very strong.” Dewhurst Dent turned over £13.2m in the year to January 31, 2010, according to its last results lodged with Companies House. Moore added that Dents made 10% of its product in the UK and aimed to increase that figure, but has been unable to do so because of a shortage of skilled workers.

“The Warminster factory is at capacity until the end of the year. We have had huge orders from the US but we’ve had to tell them we can’t deliver until December [because] we can’t get the staff. People don’t want to sit behind a machine. They want to sit behind a computer instead.”

Image: Dents gloves