An industry organization called Fashion Roundtable plans to deliver a letter to Downing Street signed by over 1,200 people, including adventurer Ben Fogle and television personality Patrick Grant, requesting that Andy Burnham commit to manufacturing NHS and military uniforms within the United Kingdom.
Proponents argue that public procurement contracts represent a significant opportunity to support domestic manufacturing, skills development, and regional economic resilience. The thinktank emphasized that awarding textile contracts to UK-based suppliers could prove vital for preserving the country’s manufacturing sector. Evidence from the Covid-19 pandemic illustrates the potential benefits: Scotland invested £102.7m in domestically produced personal protective equipment in 2021, generating £66.7m in additional economic value and creating 1,400 jobs, while the broader public spent nearly £10bn on PPE procurement that involved significant waste partly due to reliance on overseas manufacturers.
Kate Hills, founder of Make It British, noted that such government contracts would provide manufacturing companies with the confidence and stability needed to expand employment and plan for long-term growth. She pointed to the United States as a model, where the Berry amendment, enacted in 1941, mandates that military uniform contracts go to domestic manufacturers. The US military uniform market reached $1.62bn in 2025. Hills suggested that Burnham, who personally purchases suits from Manchester-based brand Private White VC, may be receptive to policies prioritizing UK-made goods over lowest-cost overseas alternatives.
Patrick Grant, who invested in Blackburn-based military outfitter Cookson & Clegg, emphasized that manufacturing enterprises require stable, predictable demand with clear long-term visibility to succeed—precisely the kind of stability government procurement could provide. However, he also flagged concerns about the complexity of bidding processes, noting they remain prohibitively complicated for smaller operations lacking extensive administrative resources.
Concerns about supply chain resilience have been raised by officials, with some characterizing overseas military uniform manufacturing as a security vulnerability given geopolitical uncertainties and potential disruptions to international relations.
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