BFC launches UK high-end manufacturing database

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Mar 29, 2017

The British Fashion Council has unveiled a British High-End Manufacturers Database, a national database of UK-based manufacturers that aims to make it easier for designers to form supply chain relationships and reach production units.

With political developments in recent months putting the focus on local manufacturing and a new survey by research group Statista showing that Made in the UK is the fourth most popular country ‘brand’ globally, the time seems right for a boost to UK manufacturing.

The BFC said the new database is the first milestone of 2017 for its Positive Fashion initiative.

It was unveiled at an event Wednesday by the BFC’s CEO Caroline Rush along with Professor Christopher Moore, Director of the British School of Fashion, Glasgow Caledonian University, which was involved in the database’s research.

The BFC body said idea for the database came as a result of a working group it joined two years ago that also included M&S, UKFT, Creative Skillset, The Alliance Project, Centre for Fashion Enterprise, and independent specialists in the sector.

They created the High-End and Designer Manufacturing Report that highlighted the need for a database of audited UK manufacturers. The research for it was also undertaken by Oxford University.

The Database is free to use and will sit as part of the BFC Designer Fact File, a designer business learning platform providing insights and training across a wide spectrum of topics.