London fashion week is just days away, but one industry group is focusing on something less glamorous: the uniforms worn by British defence forces and NHS staff.
On Wednesday afternoon, the thinktank Fashion Roundtable will hand deliver a letter to Downing Street urging Andy Burnham to commit to manufacturing these uniforms in the UK.
Signed by more than 1,200 people, including the adventurer Ben Fogle and The Great British Sewing Bee presenter Patrick Grant, the letter says public procurement such as this could be vital to preserving the UK's manufacturing industry.
"The biggest lever we have to support skills retention, inclusive growth and regional resilience is awarding public procurement contracts for textile goods to suppliers who manufacture onshore in the UK," the thinktank said.
The benefit of domestic manufacturing to an economy has already been demonstrated. The Covid inquiry concluded that nearly £10bn of public money was wasted on the flawed way it went about buying personal protective equipment (PPE), much of it manufactured in China. By contrast, Scotland, which invested £102.7m in PPE and produced 88% of it domestically in 2021, generated £66.7m of additional economic value and 1,400 jobs.
Kate Hills, the founder of the manufacturing organisation Make It British, said making these items in the UK could allow companies breathing space. "These sort of contracts would give manufacturers confidence to employ more people, to look at the long term rather than feel like they're surviving day to day," she added.
The US is an example where contracts for military uniforms are manufactured by companies within the country by law,
