Luxury menswear label swoops for staff of failed rival

CONTEMPORARY luxury menswear label Private White VC has taken on half the workforce of failed Burberry supplier Sweeney Outerwear.  

Salford-based Sweeney went out of business last month (July) when Burberry, its main customer, ended its contract.
 
Private White VC managing director James Eden stepped in to purchase its equipment and take on 14 skilled machinists out of Sweeney’s 25-strong workforce. The new employees bring the staff headcount at Private White VC to nearly 100.

Named after Eden’s grandfather Private Jack White, who worked in the same factory in 1918 after returning from World War I, Private White VC is expanding.

Eden bought it in 2010 as a private label manufacturer which made menswear for other fashion labels and recreated it as an iconic must-have brand for high-end lovers of luxury menswear. 

The label is stocked in Selfridges and Harrods and its own store in Mayfair serves customers including actors Tom Hardy, Eddie Redmayne and Kevin Spacey.

Rising interest from Manchester’s menswear market recently led the company to extend to six-day opening at its factory store, located at Cottenham House, Cottenham Lane, Salford, near Manchester Arena. The process is being helped by Sterling’s slide after the Brexit vote, making the brand’s clothing cheaper for foreign buyers online.
 
Exported to 45 countries, the clothes in the shop are designed, made and tailored on site and the vast majority of the fabrics are sourced in Northern Britain.
 
Eden said: “The fall in the pound has made our clothes significantly cheaper. In the past month  we’ve seen a huge uplift in traffic, enquiries and ultimately revenue from overseas. Some of our key markets are the US, Germany, Japan and the Scandinavian nations.

“The lion’s share of our menswear is sourced from the North of England and so we are well insulated and look forwards to continue to benefit from the effects of Brexit.”

The company believes it is the last and only British luxury fashion brand 100% manufactured in this country – from the same city centre factory on the River Irwell where it has been making clothes for over 100 years.