This is the UK’s dedicated feed of news from clothing and footwear brands that manufacture here. We gather collection launches, factory and mill stories, and industry coverage from brand blogs, RSS feeds and a handful of trusted sources, then publish it in one place.
5 March 2019Herring Shoes
In an increasingly environmentally-conscious world that is trying to move away from the throwaway society’s habits of recent times, having the ability to repair or restore is important. As consumers, we have got into…
14 February 2019Herring Shoes
Renowned for their pedigree in British quality men’s footwear, Herring Shoes has added a range of stylish workwear to its online store. Designed by Italian Filippo Matera, the Naked Clothing range applies an artisan…
24 January 2019Benson & Clegg
Commissioning a bespoke suit is an exciting and momentous occasion, especially if it is your first. But for some, the whole process can seem overwhelming. Benson & Clegg’s Head Cutter and sartorial expert guides you through the key elements to consider when embarking on the most exciting of style journeys. Be Inspi
4 January 2019Pajotten
When we started Pajotten it was going to be a menswear company - producing mainly chore jackets, Ben had been wearing them for years, old secondhand ones worn patched and weatherworn, perfect for working in, we thought other people might see the value of such a versatile and utilitarian garment - we were about 5 years
1 January 2019ROVE Knitwear
Happy new year 2016 Pure london crafty fox market the london artisan MADE London with Tutton and Young
17 December 2018Mackenzie and George
Have you seen the term Oak Bark Leather on our website and had no idea what it means? Don’t worry, you’re not alone, and by the end of this blog you’ll know a lot more about it! This type of leather is used for the Chester English Oak Bark.
4 December 2018Mackenzie and George
Did you know that there are a whole set of rules to belt wearing? Yep – honest! We aren’t too tied up with the rules over here – we love seeing how people style and wear their belts – however they do it. It’s kind of interesting that there are a whole set of rules connected to belt wearing though, don’t you think? We wanted to share them with you, just in case they’re useful.
25 November 2018Billy Tannery
Jeremy Lee, Chef proprietor at Soho restaurant and club Quo Vadis, is an expert on goat meat. His cooking induces a sense of style very few people possess.
12 November 2018Awling
A new monthly interview feature in which we discover the influences, personal tastes and private passions of people who inspire us. This month, designer Adam Atkinson (Cherchbi, Utility Archive) on having the Lake District as his childhood stomping ground; adventure travel, vintage climbing paraphernalia, Ray Mears’ style and the many delights of Margate.
5 October 2018Broadland Slippers
The concept of slippers fills our head with images of modern footwear, like the Uggs that ooze warmth and comfort.
26 September 2018Kate Sheridan
How lucky am I? I got to go to New York with one of my best friends. Bronwyn is the founder of Lowie, a sustainable womenswear brand - we met many years ago at a tradeshow. We attended two and a half days of workshops organised by the brilliant Ember lab team. There were speakers from key areas including pr & marketing, sales, websites and advertising. The trip was organised by the Department International Trade run by the lovely Reanna, a trade mission to learn all about the US fashion market. And we were lucky enough to stay at the swanky Ace Hotel in Manhatten. As well as a bit of sightseeing to Times Square, Central Park and a brisk walk along The HighLine (as it was unbelievably my first time in NY) we made sure we visited all the key US stores I have been lusting over on IG for many years. My absolute favourite was M Crow a store created by Tyler Hays, he purchase this 100 year old general store in Oregon in 2012 and has created this amazing creative space full of beautifully crafted items.
26 September 2018Kate Sheridan
How lucky am I? I got to go to New York with one of my best friends. Bronwyn is the founder of Lowie, a sustainable womenswear brand - we met many years ago at a tradeshow. We attended two and a half days of workshops organised by the brilliant Ember lab team. There were speakers from key areas including pr & marketing, sales, websites and advertising. The trip was organised by the Department International Trade run by the lovely Reanna, a trade mission to learn all about the US fashion market. And we were lucky enough to stay at the swanky Ace Hotel in Manhatten. As well as a bit of sightseeing to Times Square, Central Park and a brisk walk along The HighLine (as it was unbelievably my first time in NY) we made sure we visited all the key US stores I have been lusting over on IG for many years. My absolute favourite was M Crow a store created by Tyler Hays, he purchase this 100 year old general store in Oregon in 2012 and has created this amazing creative space full of beautifully crafted items.
20 September 2018KerrieALDO
There are many reasons that people choose to invest in a waxed cotton jacket. The fabric is strong, durable and classic. Find out my top 5 reasons why in this post.
11 September 2018Kate Sheridan
Our AW18 Poster Campaign is now up all around London.
11 September 2018Kate Sheridan
Our AW18 Poster Campaign is now up all around London.
15 July 2018KerrieALDO
A step by step guide showing you how to measure up and make sure you get the correct size for your little one.
17 June 2018Mackenzie and George
We are always fascinated about what makes the people behind our favourite brands tick and we couldn't think of anyone we'd like to chat to more than Wendy Goode - the lady behind our feathers... How & why did you start making feather accessories? I started making feather pins when I first moved to Strathdon, Aberdeenshire some 16 years ago. It was very much pheasant country and unfortunately, for the pheasants, loads of roadkill. Well the colours were quite spectacular so as often as I could I was picking up and popping the carcass into my car, or if I was on the way out, I would hide them in an obvious place along the road and pick them up on my way back. Once I picked my mother up from the airport and we must have stopped 5 times on our way home to collect them. She was rather horrified seeing these birds alongside her luggage. Today, she doesn’t bat an eye, as like most mums she is proud of where I have got too all these years along. At this stage I had newly arrived back from South Africa where our family had emigrated in ’69. In S.A. I used to encase feathers in bevelled glass and I used to make the most wonderful feather mirrors. (Some of my talents I have already forgotten about and it sounds like I am talking about another life here) smile. (I will try and send you a pic of a 20 year old mirror now in the downstairs loo). So I guess I have always had a leaning to feathers and glass. Where do the feathers themselves come from? Today I could no longer maintain my business if I existed on roadkill alone. Before we moved to Shetland I had various Aberdeenshire gamekeepers that I used to visit and bartered for plucking the feathers before the birds went through the plucking machine, which reduces feathers to fluff, and prepares for the table. This too became more difficult the busier I became as it’s a full time job plucking and sorting and cleaning. Today my time is more valuable in the workshop and its rare I get to pluck birds. So when the time came to consider moving to Shetland I had a system in place. Has anybody famous worn your feathers? Who would you most like to see wearing one of your designs? Yes, some years back the Duchess of Rothesay (Camilla) bought a few of my hats with feathers, and Billy Conolly’s wife, Pamela Stevenson has bought from my stand when we still did The Highland Games. Fiona Kennedy, the Scottish singer loved my feathers and one year bought every single Peacock feather I had made for the Scone Game fair, for her daughters 21stfeather and tiara party. That year everyone wanted peacocks at the show, typical. I am sure over the years there have been many famous faces, I know I commissioned loads for tophats for specific equestrian events and we were often besieged by entire bands when we attended Belladrum music festival. Such an unlikely venue but one of our busiest shows. I think I could make a piece fit for a queen? Whether it be this one or the next. How long does it take from design inception to finish? Lets see, I can have an idea floating around for days and I wait until I know which feathers would work before I make time away from everyday commitments before I play. I call this playing as part of me feels rather guilty putting orders aside for creative time. Some work and others don’t, either way its fun and necessary, when it works it I have happy clients. I guess my stock feather takes about 45 minutes, this is excluding the base. My daughter gives me a hand making the copper cones. Here I order the base copper from Germany and we cut mould and solder into a cone shape, before we solder the pin on. We also use cartridges and bullets which we convert for feather vessels. All told, each feather pin leaving my workshop has taken at least an hour. Where do you get your design inspiration from now? Every year I tell myself that I have exhausted all possible designs and there is no way I can possibly come up with a new original feather pin, yet I do. Where the ideas come from I just couldn’t say, but they come! Recently I noticed a feather worn by one of M & G customers, immediately, I spot bits i'm not so keen on and then go back to the think tank to improve on an original idea. Melanie and Chris and their wonderful team are very much hands on at all the events, whereas I tend to be workshop bound and live on a small island so I do depend an awful lot on their feedback. Perhaps the obvious answer would be my environment, but living on an island with not a tree nor pheasant in sight means I need to draw on my imagination. We do have miles and miles of heather covering most of the peat land with very few fences and many many sheep. I love the stark beauty of the landscape and love knowing that I am certainly the most Northerly feather pin maker in the U.K. What are your favourite feathers to work with? Pheasant feathers all day long! The cock pheasant has the most wonderful autumn colours, these are what I first loved and today I still marvel at what nature has produced. The Hen pheasant is less of a looker but I do make lovely pins with her. Then you have the Melanistic or some call it the Polish pheasant. These colours are just perfect iridescent blues and greens, if these feathers are seen in full sun they are perfection! Sadly they can also look dull and dark in the wrong light, this is why I always try and intersperse the melanistic with the light hen, that way the two complement each other. The other pheasant I work with all the time is the Golden pheasant. How one bird can have vibrant, reds, oranges, yellows greens and blues is just beyond me. Not only are the feathers so striking but each colour has a totally different shape/structure to the next, all on one bird! Yep, I still get excited after 16 years. What does a typical Wendy Goode day look like? Generally, I like to be in the workshop/office by nine, in order to do my emails and make calls. I seem to be far more creative late at night, so sometimes it is easier said than done. Chris always does the early morning dog walk and I will do the easier one later in the day, probably a stroll down to the beach or a quick detour to the loch on the way to the post office. We have 2 adorable and very well behaved active springers. They have both grown up to be amongst the feathers and take it in their stride to sit closest to the heater in the workshop. I tend to spend all my hours in the workshop and often get my meals delivered to me on the first floor by my wonderful partner Chris. We often joke as Chris bring me my morning tea in bed and then I just have to go thru the inter-leading bathroom to the workshop, there are days when I don’t leave the first floor until the afternoon. I try and set daily targets but this is where creativity and business clash, because although I need to do fixed numbers of pins per day I will never force it, I would rather delay and work later when my energies are better. I do believe that I must enjoy my work otherwise it is kind of pointless and it shows. In a nutshell, I get up, make feathers, go to bed. Haha. If you weren’t making feathers what would you be doing? Whew! I have no idea. I certainly know that I wouldn’t be working in the corporate world again. Nor would I have a boss. I do fancy farming mushrooms and sprouting seeds or get back into hat making. What is your favourite thing to do outside of the workshop? Living on the Isle of Yell, we have no trees, due to the high winds we experience, so my new fetish is collecting sea glass and pottery on my walks. I can visit a new beach every day so I have gotten to know the beaches and which beach has glass or certain shells. I am loving making sea glass bowls and mussel kilt pins. Random I know! What other small businesses do you love & why? Living on an island with under 1000 people we do tend to shop online. As shopping is determined by who is prepared to post to Shetland without adding a surcharge, we are rather limited. I haven’t left the island for over a year now, so as you can imagine my shopping needs are few. We are currently doing up a very old house so most businesses we deal with are for kitchens and bathrooms and paint and carpets!! All of the wonderful pictures in this blog are from the seriously talented Lindsay Robertson Photography
15 June 2018Mackenzie and George
When you start to explore the Shetland Isles it’s really easy to see why Chris and Wendy chose this little piece of paradise. There’s the secluded private beach, bar the odd sheep snacking on seaweed...
8 May 2018Foxology
The sustainability of wool The environmental impact of using wool has been the concern of many and especially for brands like Foxology. The use of pesticides, greenhouse gas emissions, the volume of water needed in washing, the use of chemicals, (however eco-friendly) in dyeing and the treatment of wool, can and does have a huge impact. But as a sustainable fibre it is, as Woolmark points out, natural, renewable and biodegradable. Wool has historically rated badly in sustainable and environmental issues, compared to synthetic fibres such as polyester, due to its high usage of water and treatment processing, which synthetics need less of. However, there seems no accounting for the whole production chain from raw material through processing, manufacture, usage to recycling, and disposal. Non-renewable synthetics are rated higher than natural fibres for sustainability and these ratings are used by brands to assess which materials they will choose. They seem to miss the fact that in the end wool is biodegradable, polyester isn’t; The growing evidence of microplastic pollution from synthetic fibres when we wash them; Wool has an average lifetime 50% longer than cotton garments and is washed less often; We recycle and donate wool items more often and there are more end recycling options for wool. Livia Firth said in a recent article (The Guardian - 6th May 2018) that after a trip visiting farmers in Tanzania, she was convinced that wool wins when compared to synthetic fibres: “If you throw away a wool sweater, it composes in the ground very quickly and it doesn’t waste microfibres when you wash it.” There is much optimistic about however, as fashion consumers learn about and demand more ethical and sustainable supply chains. We can see a future of fashion becoming less disposable and more ethical, less harmful to the environment and more fair and respectful of those who make our clothes. Livia Firth also commented on respect for the women in the garment manufacturing industry…“Once you start to understand that there are women ... in Dakar who produce [the clothes], if I buy something and I don’t care for it, I’m actually not respecting that woman.” Credits The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/07/livia-firth-its-not-realistic-to-think-were-going-to-be-in-a-world-without-leather-or-wool Youtube: Fashion-scapes: Short movies on sustainable fashion. https://youtu.be/HiNfQUwPfUg
1 May 2018Cherchbi
Wonderful news for all those with an interest in Cherchbi, and for the company itself. After ten years at the helm, founder Adam Atkinson has passed ownership and management of the brand to Mowbray Leather Goods, one of the most innovative manufacturers in the UK. Adam will work alongside the new owners into 2019, transferring knowledge and creative direction to ensure the brands unique DNA will continue to thrive. Please keep an eye on the website, Newsletters and social media channels for further news.
21 April 2018Awling
Crafted products are more than just functional – they say something about our humanity. The provenance of a skilfully made product is something we can empathise with and subscribe to – we can chose to surround ourselves with carefully chosen pieces that we feel reflect something of who we are.
16 April 2018Kate Sheridan
Kettle’s Yard is a remarkable place in a quiet corner of Cambridge, overlooking St Peter’s Church. It is a beautiful house filled with beautiful objects, once the home of H.S. (Jim) Ede and his wife, Helen.
16 April 2018Kate Sheridan
Kettle’s Yard is a remarkable place in a quiet corner of Cambridge, overlooking St Peter’s Church. It is a beautiful house filled with beautiful objects, once the home of H.S. (Jim) Ede and his wife, Helen.
11 April 2018Kate Sheridan
We want to focus on showing you which brands we have in our store and online. This is Dor and Tan!
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