UK Manufacturer & Supplier List 2019 makeitbritish.co.uk 1 2 Introduction Hello. I’m Kate Hills. Founder of Make it British. After a 25 year career in designing and buying I launched Make it British to help promote British-made brands and UK manufacturing. I’ve helped hundreds of designers to work with UK factories since 2011 and this UK Manufacturers and Suppliers List is just one of the ways that I can help YOU. Inside you will find the contact details of hundreds of handpicked UK manufacturers and suppliers who have previously exhibited at Make it British Live! - The only 100% British sourcing event. I’ve also including lots of useful information to help you on your journey to Make it British. Kate Hills Where to find me makeitbritish.co.uk Pinterest Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube Linkedin 2 3 10 Reasons why you should manufacture in the UK Thinking about making here? Make it British can give you at least 10 reasons why it’s great to manufacture in the UK and how it can improve your business. 1. You can build good relationships with your manufacturers Being able to meet face to face with your manufacture aids communication and demonstrates that you mean business. 2. It gives you more control With greater communication comes greater control. You can check on progress, on quality control and negotiate better when your factory is within easy reach. 3. You can develop ideas with your factory Being able to meet with your manufacturer in person opens up the opportunity for them to share their experience with you. They can suggest materials and techniques that you might not even have heard of to improve your product. 4. You are never more than a few hours away if there is a problem Things do, and probably will, go wrong in manufacturing. Keeping your manufacturing local means you can get to, and resolve, any issues quickly. 5. You don’t wait months for the finished product to arrive Fast delivery is possible to and from anywhere within the UK. No more waiting weeks while your new stock is at sea. You can have your product on the shelves, ready to sell, straight away. 6. Customers appreciate a ‘made in Britain’ label The results of our Make it British survey found that ‘When it comes to building trust, knowing that a retailer is selling goods that are made in the UK is one of the main things that gives shoppers the confidence to buy’. Find out more here. 7. It helps create employment in the UK The more products that are made in the UK, the more job security and opportunities there will be. 8. The carbon footprint of a product is reduced if it is made locally By simply taking out the travel to and from an overseas manufacturer, and the shipping of samples and goods, you will significantly reduce the carbon footprint of your product. Find out more about why manufacturing in the UK is more sustainable here. 9. Enjoy the sense of pride that your products are made in Britain We have a strong heritage of design and manufacturing in Britain. You can be proud that your brand is British-made and know that it will add value to your customers here and overseas. 10. Great Britain becomes a nation of makers again You are reinforcing the manufacturing sector by making your product here. If you can make it here – you should. Otherwise we will lose the manufacturers and the skills needed to make the high quality products we are known for. So let’s keep supporting UK manufacturing! 3 Quickstart guide to working with a UK Manufacturer Before you even begin to approach a UK manufacturer to make your products you’ll need to have certain things in place. Use this handy checklist to ensure that you’ve thought of everything before you start, and you’ll look super-organised when you start to contact UK manufacturers! p Who are you making this product for? Having a clear idea of who your customer is, or if you are still starting out, who you want them to be, should be the starting point for any product development. You’ll need to define this clearly in order for all of the next steps to fall into place. p What do you want to make? Different manufacturers make different types of products and in order to start conversations with the right ones you first need a very clear idea in your head of exactly what it is you want to get made. If it is a brand new design, are there similar products in the marketplace that you can buy in order to study their construction, and later show to a manufacturer? p What material(s) is it made from? Manufacturers are often specialised in working with certain materials and one of the first things that they need to know from you is what you are planning to make the product from. Few manufacturers are able to source the raw materials for you, so you’ll need to have thought about this early on. Where are you going to get the materials from? What lead- times is there on the material? And if you need to order more in the future can you do so easily? p How much do you want to sell it for? By looking at similar products in the marketplace, and knowing who your customer is, you’ll have an idea of how much people might be willing to pay for your product. From here you can work back and get an idea of roughly what you need your cost price to be. One word of advice - by making in the UK you will never be competing on price, but instead concentrating on other selling features such as design and quality. If price is your customer’s number one driver of purchasing decisions then maybe making in the UK is not right for your product. p Do you have detailed sketches, or technical drawings? The factory or pattern maker will need these in order to turn your ideas into a first sample. If you don’t have the ability to do the sketches yourself then you’ll need to find someone to do them for you. A physical product from another brand, that is similar to what you want to make, is often a great starting point and will also help the factory interpret the sketches better. 4 Quickstart guideguide toto workingworking with with a a UK UK Manufacturer Manufacturer p What packaging and labelling will you need? Manufacturers will generally need to have all of the packaging at the factory before they will start production. You’ll need to know where you’re getting this from and what the costs and lead-times are. p Are you wholesaling, or just selling directly to the customer? The biggest mistake that people make is not pricing their product high enough from the start. It is easy to discount a price later on but almost impossible to raise it. If you want to wholesale you will need to take your cost price, plus all your overheads, and times it by at least 4. Whereas if you only sell directly to the end user you will need to double it. If you are only ever going to sell direct have you thought about where you are going to get all of the customers from? Answering this question will help you define the answer to the next one. p How many of each product do you want to make? Some factories are set up to make small orders, whilst others manufacture in high volume. If you can only sell a few pieces a week then you’ll need to find one of the factories that has low minimum order quantities (MOQs). Bear in mind that you will pay more the smaller the order you place as it is less efficient for a factory to set up a production line for a low order quantity. Each manufacturer will be able to tell you what their MOQs are, which makes a good starting point for determining whether they are the right fit for you. 5 Cost Price Calculator How should you price your British-made products? use our easy cost price calculator to find out. Confused about where to start when costing your British-made product? Our easy cost price calculator can help you work it out. One of the biggest issues I see with businesses launching a British-made product is not building in enough margin to wholesale. The typical newbie usually does something like this…the manufacturer gives you a cost price and you double it. You put your product on sale and everyone loves it. You then get a store saying that they want to stock your product, but obviously they want to sell it at the same price that you do. Bang goes your profit! So it’s always best to set the right retail price to start with. One that allows you enough margin should you want to wholesale further down the line. Which means flipping everything on its head and working back from your target retail price to find your ideal cost price. Once you’ve determined your ideal cost price then that’s the time to approach manufacturers. If they can’t make the product for the price you need you either need to strip out something from the design or rethink your selling price. Word of warning: It’s always easy to put your prices down, but practically impossible to put them up.