Key Note Report: What’s in a Label?

By Fashion Revolution

8 years ago

According to a new report by market analyst Key Note, calls for a Fashion Revolution have seen a flurry of brands rushing to prove that they can trace their supply chains all the way back to the very cotton field or cashmere mill that the fabric is sourced from, while others are reshoring their production sites back to UK factories, where manufacturing is traced one stitch at a time.

Two years on from the worst ever human disaster in the global textiles industry, Key Note’s brand new Clothing Manufacturing Market Update questions: how much has truly changed in the clothing manufacturing industry?

The collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in April 2013 may not have been the first tragedy to strike the international factories where Western clothing is made, but a number of campaign groups and retailers are now demanding that it is the last. Clothing companies have, for many years, hidden cheap labour behind a thin veil of ignorance, but the seams have unravelled to reveal the truth of how this season’s latest skirt, knitwear or scarves actually came into being.

Workers at the David Nieper garment factory in Alfreton

Workers at the David Nieper garment factory in Alfreton

Key Note also finds that British manufacturers are springing up as a welcome alternative to the questionable ethics in overseas regions, and the heritage brands which refused to follow the crowds to the likes of Bangladesh and the Far East a few decades ago are now smugly counting their sales figures from their in-house factories. The Leicester textile industry is slowly being restored to its former glory, as the ‘Made in the UK’ clothing label is enough to send garments flying off the shelves.

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Workers at the Owen Barry accessories and handbag factory in Alfreton

So now, rather than ‘fashionistas’ asking what designer are you wearing, the question on everyone’s lips has become: Who Made My Clothes? #whomademyclothes

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For further information on the report, contact Key Note