Non-EU textile imports surged dramatically in 2020
As the collective voice of UK fashion and textiles, The UK Fashion & Textile Association (UKFT) helps designers, manufacturers, agents and retailers to promote their businesses and the industry throughout the UK and international locations. CEO Adam Mansell converses about the impact of Brexit, top challenges and opportunities faced by the industry, and UKFT’s long-term plans in an interview with Fibre2Fashion.
Please give us a brief introduction of UKFT, including your current members, your key mission, and main functions.
UKFT is the largest network for fashion and textile companies in the UK. We bring together designers, manufacturers, suppliers, agents, and retailers to promote their businesses and our industry, both in the UK and throughout the world.
We are in a unique position representing the entire UK fashion and textile supply chain from spinning, weaving, and knitting, right through to the catwalk.
business (exports), and Our activity is focused on six key areas: representation, business support, championing UK manufacturing, skills & training, international innovation, R&D, and sustainability.
Recently, you partnered with British Fashion Council (BFC) to launch the Industry Government Forum. What were the key priorities discussed in the forum?
UKFT and the British Fashion Council (BFC) launched the Industry Government Forum this year to help identify key priorities for the sector, particularly in light of the impact of Covid-19 and Brexit. The forum, which will be held regularly, will help to identify key priorities for the industry and shape UKFT and BFC’s interactions with government both in the short and long term. The two organisations are closely aligned in three areas: supporting people and talent, helping businesses to trade, and shaping the sustainable future of the UK fashion and textile industry. The first of our joint initiatives have focused on the immediate impact of Covid-19 and Brexit; issues surrounding talent and intellectual property; followed by trade and tariffs.
Which are the biggest import/export markets for UK textiles? Where else is the demand growing?
The major markets for UK textile exports in 2020 were Germany, the US, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain and China. For imports, the major markets were China, Turkey, Pakistan, German, Belgium, India, The Netherlands, Italy, US and Hong Kong. Non-EU textile imports surged dramatically in 2020.
What are your key awareness campaigns/initiatives already in place or in pipeline to showcase the British fashion industry to the world?
In normal times, UKFT helps to showcase the best of the British fashion industry at a variety of international tradefairs, events and showrooms. These are starting to return now, and you can find British fashion brands at events around Paris Fashion Week and UK textiles at Intertextile Shanghai Apparel fabrics. To support brands when they could not travel during the last 18 months, we ran a digital campaign called ‘British Brands: the best in homegrown talent’ to showcase the emerging designers, cult labels, heritage producers and creative artisans changing the face of UK fashion. It offered a snapshot of some of the most innovative labels in the various sectors of our industry, including lingerie/intimate apparel/swim and sleepwear, menswear, womenswear, childrenswear and accessories.
What is the size of the UK textiles industry? What is the workforce that it employs?
Official sources suggest that the UK textile industry produces approximately £4.2 million worth of products, but we know this figure is much larger as textiles are found in so many other product areas. The combined fashion and textile industry in England, Wales and Scotland employs approximately 500,000 people, made up of 88,000 employed in manufacturing, 62,000 in wholesale, and 413,000 in retail.
Where does the UK textiles industry stand with respect to sustainability parameters? What steps is it taking to cut down on carbon footprints?
Sustainability and environmental issues are a great focus for UK textile manufacturers at the moment, with the vast majority taking great strides to reduce their impact and enhance transparency within the supply chain. Many manufacturers are well placed to meet current targets as they typically use natural fibres and have short local production chains but there is still a lot to do to reduce our sectors’ environmental impact and meet net zero requirements. UKFT is working on several projects to support the industry, including a cross-sector Textile 2030 initiative which aims to cut carbon by 50 per cent and reduce the aggregate water footprint of new products sold by 30 per cent. We are also leading on a project with IBM, Tech Data, and the Future Fashion Factory to design, prototype and pilot a new technology platform to help the UK fashion and textile industry to drive sustainability and profitability through increased transparency within the supply chain. Retailers Next, H&M (COS brand), N Brown, New Look and yarn manufacturer Laxtons are part of the initial pilot.
There is a lot of greenwashing happening in the name of sustainability. How does UKFT keep a check on this?
There are a lot of false or misleading claims around sustainability and environmental impact and UKFT aims to promote best practice on how members can communicate their credentials in this area. Most recently, the UK government has unveiled a new Green Claims Code, which underlines that firms making green claims “must not omit or hide important information” and “must consider the full life cycle of the product”. Following an initial bedding-in period, the CMA will carry out a full review of misleading green claims, both on and offline (e.g claims made in store or on labelling), at the start of 2022 and firms found to be flouting the code, may face penalties.
How did the UK textiles industry fair during the pandemic and even now as it continues to linger?
Like most industries, the UK textile industry was hard hit by the nationwide lockdowns and diminished consumer demand but as the world starts to reopen, we are finding increased appetite for UK-made textiles.
Apart from the pandemic, what are the biggest challenges and opportunities facing the UK textiles industry?
UK textiles manufacturers are responding to a growing domestic demand for speed to market, convenience and flexibility, as well as increasing interest from international consumers looking for high quality UK-made product. However, the availability of skilled workers remains a challenge, as does the supply chain disruptions and rising costs of raw materials.
What are your future plans?
UKFT’s medium to long-term plans are focused around ensuring our industry has the skills required to succeed today and in future and helping UK fashion and textile companies build business both here and overseas. We are also increasingly focused on innovation and sustainability, working across a wide range of projects to help the UK industry take full advantage of these new technologies and markets and to help change the future landscape into one where circularity and environmentally sustainable supply chains are the new normal.
Credits: Paulami Chatterjee
What changes have the UK textile/apparel companies experienced post Brexit?
Many UK fashion and textile companies have found trading with our closest trading partners much more challenging, costly and time consuming than it was before the UK left the European Union. We have been working with companies and government since the start of the year to find practical solutions to some of the issues and explore new opportunities. Despite this, we have found many companies who have experienced increased demand for their products from domestic buyers and those in the Asia, the US and beyond.
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