Michael Conway, Founder and Chairman of Clothes2order.com and leader of The Clothing Consortium states…"The UK used to make its own T shirts. Today the vast majority of T shirts sold in this country are made overseas. The Clothing Consortium exists to change that for one product. We are working towards one T shirt, one specification, knitted, dyed, cut, sewn and finished in the UK, with the combined volume of buyers behind it. No single buyer can give a UK manufacturer the certainty it needs to invest. Together we can."
BackgroundThe Clothing Consortium began with an open offer Michael Conway made on LinkedIn, in the comments of a post about Andy Burnham and a T shirt. It now has a name, a website and a register of UK manufacturers, bulk buyers, distributors and people offering their help.
The aim is deliberately narrow. Rather than trying to rebuild an entire industry at once, the consortium is focused on a single T shirt to a single specification. Yarn will be imported at first, because UK spinning capacity has largely gone, but every stage after that, from knitting and dyeing through to cutting, sewing and finishing, would take place in the UK.
Michael leads the consortium but does not own it. The goal is to give UK manufacturers enough committed volume to plan and invest around.
The consortium has committed to report back publicly on its progress in February 2027, if not before. Manufacturers, buyers, distributors and anyone who can help can register at...
https://theclothingconsortium.co.uk