It seems that more than ever brands are keen to slap Union Jack labels on their products and underline their British heritage. Fashion designers and brands in the UK associate the “Made in Britain” tag with loyalty, quality and sustainability and it seems the public are quite rightly buying into this too.

However within the fashion sector, perception of the volume of British made goods is undoubtedly higher than the reality. Figures from the large retailers might sound impressive, but George at Asda admits that despite an increase of 50%, British-made clothing only represents 1-2% of clothes and accessories sold.  There is however signs of momentum building up and the likes of Private White VC have made a £2 million investment into the Manchester factory where their clothes are made. Manufacturing capacity has been increased and a new generation of skilled workers is being trained. This is exactly the commitment that British manufacturing needs.

Unfortunately there are also countless hollow claims of British heritage, for instance when items are just partly assembled or finished in the UK, yet they are sold under the “Made in Britain” banner. So it’s definitely worth doing a little homework.

PJ Pan brought 100% of its manufacturing to the UK in 2011 and managed to do so without a significant price hike to its customers. The response has been extremely positive and it makes us feel even better about what we’re doing. To know that our manufacturer is just a drive away is a big bonus for the business and being located in the same country allows us to turn production around very quickly, as we can order very small quantities without incurring a large carriage cost. Manufacturing abroad did work well, but there were undoubtedly additional costs and complications including importing, customs, flights, shipping and longer production lead times….not to mention the language barrier! But most importantly we were not contributing to our British manufacturing industry.

We are delighted to be doing our bit to support British manufacturing and we remain totally committed to keeping production of our nightwear range wholly in the UK. PJ Pan can certainly lay claim to selling British made pyjamas!