Lord Alliance seeks return of mills and boom

A REPORT published by the Manchester-based Alliance Project is predicting investment in the textile sector could create up to 20,000 jobs by 2020.

The Alliance Report: Repatriation of UK Textiles Manufacture highlights the industry is worth £9bn to the UK economy and is experiencing year-on-year export and domestic growth.

Government figures show last year alone 5,000 new jobs were created in textile manufacturing in the UK.

The report – the biggest study on supply and demand in the textile industry in 20 years – says the rationale for sourcing from low cost countries has weakened due to customer behaviour demanding shorter lead times plus a demand for UK made homeware.

In addition, increasing costs from competing countries are making UK sourcing more attractive.

It also underlines the fact that traditional areas of manufacturing are focused around high unemployment pockets and that post-recession growth is coming from ‘micro-companies’ rather than OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) or prime manufactures.
 
The report also says significant capabilities still exist in traditional sectors such as yarn-spinning, knitting and weaving alongside growth in technical textiles, materials and composites.

The Alliance Project, based at New Economy, was established to examine the potential for repatriating textiles manufacturing to the UK.
 
The work was commissioned by Lord David Alliance and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) with the support of Government through the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

This is in tandem with the success of the national N Brown Textiles Growth Programme, the first ever textile grant growth programme in British history, led by N Brown Group, the online, catalogue and stores retailer and supported by BIS, Manchester Growth Company, M&S, ASOS, Roland Mouret and other manufacturers.

The programme received £12.8m in 2013 by the Regional Growth Fund and, in its first year of operation, created 1,600 jobs and 115 apprenticeship positions in the UK.

Chief executive of N Brown Group Angela Spindler said: “We are very supportive of the initiative and, as a retailer headquartered in Manchester, we are delighted by the job creation in the region.

“The first tranche of the funding has been allocated and while the results so far have been phenomenal, more needs to be done to drive textile manufacturing in the UK. As a business, we only source a small percentage from the UK, but there is a recognition of the growth potential in textile manufacturing.

“Retailers are desperate to increase capacity in the UK and this investment fund will allow us as an industry to grow that capacity quicker than we would otherwise have been able to.

“The industry needs all the support it can get to help meet this demand. This will also need parallel investment in skills from the Government, as evidenced in the Alliance Report, which reveals a huge crisis in skills.”

Mike Blackburn, chair of GM LEP said: “Further to the growth deal announcement, the launch of the  Alliance Report is fantastic news for Greater Manchester. This report takes a timely and strategic overview of the sector on behalf of the UK, positioning Greater Manchester and the wider north firmly at the forefront of driving investment into this important growth industry.”

John Dixon, executive director general merchandise, Marks & Spencers added: “The report shows what a positive effect a resurgent UK textile industry has on job creation, skills and innovation on our own doorstep.

“That’s why we’re backing the Alliance report and the Textile Growth Fund and why we continue to invest in the industry through products like our Best of British range and our textile apprenticeship scheme.”