Make it British Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Celebrating the 300th episode of this podcast I look back at some of the amazing guests that I've had on this show from the world of UK fashion and textile manufacturing. Manufacturers that have shared their stories, their challenges, and their successes with us.

Episodes / Manufacturers featured in this episode:

Episode 102 - David Collinge | John Spencer Textiles

Episode 005 - Keith Hanshaw | The Leather Satchel Company

Episode 088 - Chris Woodford | Crown Northampton

Episode 193 - Ian Maclean | John Smedley MBE

Episode 55 - Lance Mitchell | Mitchell Interflex

Episode 113 - Ruth Masson | Harris Tweed

Episode 290 - Christopher Nieper | David Nieper OBE

Episode 96 - Richard Ince | Ince Umbrellas

Episode 004 - Jo Ashburner-Farr | Red Dragon Flagmakers

Episode 254 - Chris Childs | Contrado

Episode 21 - Jenny Holloway | Fashion Enter

Episode 31 - Mick Cheema | Basic Premier

Episode 299 - A visit to Vagabond bags with Simon Michelson

Episode 118 - David Williams | Stoll GB

Episode 203 - Saed Saleh | Mars Knitwear

Episode 060 - Diana Kakkar

Join me on a tour round a factory!

In this episode I'm chatting with Simon Michelson, owner of Vagabond Bags, a sewing factory in Swindon that makes cosmetic bags, shower caps and hot water bottle covers.

Meet some of the people working in the factory, hear about the jobs they do and find out how many shower hats one person can make in a day. Spoiler - it's quite a lot!

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Christopher Nieper OBE is the managing director of David Nieper, a womenswear business in Alfreton in Derbyshire. The firm was set up by Christopher's parents sixty years ago and is now one of the most vertical textile operations in the UK. Christopher recently invested in state-of-the-art digital printing equipment so that the factory can print it's own fabric onsite. David Nieper already prints all their own catalogues and produce their own knitwear in house, alongside the garment production.

In this episode you can hear about the research Christopher commissioned from Nottingham university looking at the greenhouse gas emissions produced to make clothing at the David Nieper factory in Derbyshire. The study then compared these findings to the emissions produced by making garments in China, Turkey and Bangladesh and then shipping them to the UK. It makes for very interesting insights into how making in the UK can be quantified as more sustainable. A big advocate for slow fashion, Christopher has also found that his customers keep and wear his clothes 10 times longer than average. Listen to this episode to discover: 

• How the David Nieper factory uses 'just-in-time' manufacturing to achieve a 98% sell-through on their garments
• Christopher's plans to make the David Nieper factory the greenest factory in Europe, recovering the heat generated by the factory to use as renewable energy
• How he's changing the attitudes of young people in his local town by giving them a taste of what it's like inside a real manufacturing environment
• The charity that the business has set up to help rebuild a local secondary school that was in the bottom 2% of schools in the UK and make it over-subscribed for the first time in 30 years
• Christopher's idea for a labelling scheme for clothing that ranks the environmental sustainability of every garment

This episode is the recording of a talk that Christopher did at Make it British Live! Online event in October 2020.

About David Nieper

Watch my Instagram reel showing behind the scenes at the David Nieper factory.

David Nieper website

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Join me on a trip to Leicester to meet Said Saleh and Keith Cummings from Mars Knitwear. Based in Wigston, Leicestershire, the chaps at Mars have been making knitwear for over 30 years.

Having been manufacturing thousands of pieces of acrylic knitwear for the big store groups, Mars has now gone back to creating smaller quantities of premium knitwear from British wool, lambswool and merino. They even now have their own brand.

Discover:

• 04:08 How Said got into the knitwear industry
• 07:37 Keith's own history within the knitwear industry and how he came to work with Said
• 10:20 Why Said decided that his factory would start making higher quality knitwear
• 14:25 How Mars Knitwear has been able to pivot their business to selling their own branded products online
• 18:11 How Mars decides on what their next products are going to be and how they keep an eye on trends
• 19:52 Keith and Said's thoughts on recycled yarns and natural fibres
• 22:25 Keith and Said's plans for the future of Mars Knitwear and their thought on the future of the UK knitwear industry
• 25:22 Why the biggest problem manufacturers face is getting skilled staff and why Keith and Said believe more young people should work in factories

More Mars Knitwear

Mars Knitwear on Instagram

Mars Knitwear Website

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Make it British website

Join Make it British - become a member of our community and promote your business in our directory or UK-made brands and manufacturers

Make it British on Instagram

Make it British on YouTube - subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch many of the podcast episodes as videos.

Monika Young is the founder and creative director of Monika the Label - a sustainable fashion brand inspired by 70s California and made in the UK.

In this episode, Monika tells the story of how she set up and her brand, and what actions she took when she discovered her original designs and prints being copied by fast fashion online retailers. 

Discover:

• 04:12 How Monika's experience as a fashion buyer lead her to question the industry and pushed her to start her own clothing brand
• 11.21 How having supplier issues with her fabrics was actually a blessing in disguise
• 19.24 What slow fashion means to Monika
• 24.17 The reasons why Monika believes there are so many more benefits to UK manufacturing that offsets the additional cost
• 26.14 Why Monika makes sure she invests in the quality of her products
• 29:58 How Monika discovered her prints were being copied by large fashion brands
• 38:16 The amount of support Monika received through sharing her experience on social media
• 41.28 How Monika is dealing with the challenge of getting the copies taken down and how her brand has come out on top
• 45.13 Why Monika's opinion changes about whether consumers are more likely to purchase from brands with a purpose
• 50.00 The future plans for Monika the Label in order to work towards being more sustainable
• 52.11 How sticking to your values and staying true to yourself is Monika's one piece of advice to other brand owners

More Monika the Label

Monika the Label on Instagram

Monika the Label website

Stay in Touch

British Brand Accelerator - Find out how you can work with me to build your British-made brand

Make it British website

Join Make it British - become a member of our community and promote your business in our directory or UK-made brands and manufacturers

Make it British on Instagram

Make it British on YouTube - subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch many of the podcast episodes as videos.

What are some of the things that I see successful British-made brands do consistently?

In the first episode of series 4 of the Make it British podcast I look at what makes for a great British-made brand.

Discover: 

• 04:11 Why having a great story to tell can help customers relate to your business
• 06:17 How doing one thing brilliantly is better for building brand loyalty
• 08:40 Why developing close partnerships with your suppliers is so important
• 10:35 Why you should always put your customers first
• 11:47 Why you should pride quality over quantity when it comes to your products
• 13:09 How being driven by purpose, not profit is the right way go to attract the right customers
• 14:39 Why you will need to invest in your business no matter how amazing your product is

Stay in Touch

British Brand Accelerator - Find out how you can work with me to build your British-made brand

Make it British website

Join Make it British - become a member of our community and promote your business in our directory or UK-made brands and manufacturers

Make it British on Instagram

Make it British on YouTube - subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch many of the podcast episodes as videos.

The new series of the Make it British Podcast is coming very, very soon! Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss it. As well as the usual advice and tips for making in the UK, along with interviews with some of my favourite people that manufacture products in Britain, we are doing something a little bit different this series.

Listen in to this trailer to find out what it is!! About Kate Hills & Make it British

Kate Hills is on a one-woman mission to save UK manufacturing!

With a background in working for several large brands and retailers in design and buying roles, she gave up her corporate career to set up Make it British as a way of supporting UK manufacturers and those companies that wanted to make in the UK. 

Make it British acts as a platform to promote UK-made brands and manufacturers and aims to raise awareness of all of the fantastic manufacturing that still takes place in Britain.

Stay in Touch

British Brand Accelerator - Find out how you can work with me to build your British-made brand

Make it British website

Join Make it British - become a member of our community and promote your business in our directory or UK-made brands and manufacturers

Make it British on Instagram

Make it British on YouTube - subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch many of the podcast episodes as videos.

I've interviewed some fantastic guests over the past 3 series of the Make it British podcast. To celebrate the milestone which is 200 episodes, I'm bringing you a summary from 21 of the Make it British members that I have interviewed over the last few years.

All of them have built great UK-made businesses and have some great advice to impart!

Stay in Touch

British Brand Accelerator - Find out how you can work with me to build your British-made brand

Make it British website

Join Make it British - become a member of our community and promote your business in our directory or UK-made brands and manufacturers

Make it British on Instagram

Make it British on YouTube - subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch many of the podcast episodes as videos.

Starting any business can be tough - especially one that involves making products! Whether you are just about start a brand, or you've already launched and it's not quite going to plan, here are 11 tips that will help ensure success.

Discover:

• Why you should start with why [01:43]
• One of the first things you need to think about if you want to ensure your product sells [02:49]
• The reason you need to understand the numbers [05:56]
• What you need to prepare in order to reach out to manufacturers [07:11]
• Why you might need more than one manufacturer [08:25]
• How to avoid communication issues [09:41]
• The no.1 thing that new brands don't leave enough time for [12:05]

Stay in Touch

British Brand Accelerator - Find out how you can work with me to build your British-made brand

Make it British website

Join Make it British - become a member of our community and promote your business in our directory or UK-made brands and manufacturers

Make it British on Instagram

Make it British on YouTube - subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch many of the podcast episodes as videos.

Probably one of the questions that I get asked more than any other is 'how long will it take me to launch a new product if I make it in the UK?' The short answer is - 'how long is a piece of string!' 

The long answer is more complex, and involves taking into account several different variables. All of which I cover in this episode.

Stay in Touch

British Brand Accelerator - Find out how you can work with me to build your British-made brand

Make it British website

Join Make it British - become a member of our community and promote your business in our directory or UK-made brands and manufacturers

Make it British on Instagram

Make it British on YouTube - subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch many of the podcast episodes as videos.