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Feeling British? There’s something in the air…
There's a feeling in air, call it zeitgeist if you must, or Royal Weddings if you are cynical, and it is about bringing fashion manufacturing back to the UK. Josephine Collins takes a look.
Arcadia's Sir Philip Green says that he would back a return to UK manufacturing, River Island chief executive Ben Lewis says the retailer is a strong supporter of UK manufacturing, and even the Government is talking about tax breaks for manufacturers.
At the same time, there are mounting concerns that fashion manufacturing skills - at all levels of the market - are being lost to the nation.
At a recent retail conference held in London, Green went even further as he tapped into what is fast becoming a theme among UK high street fashion retailers.
Confirming that Arcadia sources in 32 countries, he said: "On the cost side everything is going one way - up. The debate is now about speed over price."
He added that the business would have to look at: "What are the commodity products and what other merchandise you can make nearer to home that will mean you can change product quicker?"
He even went as far as to say that he was "very supportive" of moves to re-open UK factories and suggested that Arcadia could be involved in setting up a training facility for fashion manufacturing. This could mirror the London-based Fashion Retail Academy that trains young people to enter retailing, that Green was instrumental in setting up.
The issue about proximity manufacturing is not a new one. The most basic product tends to travel the greatest distances to hit UK stores, fast fashion already tends to be made closer to the high street - but talking about actually making in the UK is new.
What Green and all his peers have in common is pragmatism - if it makes fashion, operational and financial sense to make products in the UK, and if the right facilities are there, then they will do so.
It's interesting to look at the Zara model, which trail-blazed fast fashion in the UK - and indeed, in Europe. While its basics are made in the far-flung corners of the world, it still makes a huge percentage of its best-selling, fashion-forward product in Spain. And it makes it in factories that it owns.
Of course, on the UK supply side, some (former) manufacturers may well blame Green and his retail peers blighting UK contract manufacturing - by moving to low-cost supply countries in the first place.
Nonetheless, there are still many thousands of small fashion manufacturing businesses in the UK, especially premium tailoring and knitwear. The industry may not exactly be burgeoning, but it is still producing.
Meanwhile, Barclays Corporate reckons that the 'Middleton effect' and an ageing population are boosting sales at premium retailers.
Research for the bank suggests that by 2014 the premium segment is expected to be worth an estimated £8.6 billion, an increase of £1.9 billion, 29%, from today's estimated value of £6.7 billion.
It seems to think that while newly-married Princess Catherine has already put pieces from the likes of Reiss and Whistles onto the front pages of newspapers and magazines around the world, she will do for British high street names what Michelle Obama did for J Crew in the US.
Barclays Corporate's research says that the premium sector has outgrown other sectors - growing by 6.2% over the past two years as an additional 3.4 million consumers start to buy fewer, more expensive pieces and mixing and matching with value items.
Barclays Corporate says that the premium sector is also benefiting from an ageing population, as older consumers tend to place more emphasis on quality and service over price.
There is no reason to think that the value sector will disappear or that much more than a small percentage of fashion will ever be made in the UK again. But if the idea that there will be more UK manufacturing combines with the suggested shift to premium fashion shopping, then things will start to look even better all round for the UK fashion industry. And then, there may even be a new princess backing British brands.