The Clothing Consortium exists for one practical reason: no single brand can build the order volume needed to make British T-shirt manufacturing pay. A group of us might.
In the summer of 2026, a Manchester-made T-shirt worn by Andy Burnham drew press mockery over its £80 price. The label told a different story: it was made by Private White V.C. in a Manchester mill that has been making clothes since the Industrial Revolution, with most materials sourced within fifty kilometres of the factory.
Clothes2order had already tried to solve this problem alone. Working with English Fine Cottons, we produced a small run of a UK manufactured T-shirt in and around Manchester. The making was never the issue. The machines, the people and the skills were all there. The problem was arithmetic: without serious volume there are no economies of scale, and without economies of scale a British T-shirt cannot get near the price of an imported one.
That is what turned an £80 T-shirt into an open offer: if any manufacturers or brands wanted to form a consortium to get T-shirt production working in the UK, we were in. Within days the conversation had started. The Clothing Consortium is that conversation, formalised.
The Clothing Consortium combines committed order volume from brands and buyers with proven production capacity from UK manufacturers, focused on a single flagship T-shirt spec first. Enough combined volume behind one garment is what makes investment in UK scale manufacturing viable again.
We are starting with T-shirts because it is the single largest and most fragmented category in the trade, and the category where proving the model matters most. From there, the same approach extends into hoodies, workwear, embroidery blanks and wider promotional apparel.
T-shirts look simple. Making them well does not come easily, and every brand tends to want its own fabric, its own fit, its own small run. That instinct is exactly what keeps volume fragmented and prices high. The Clothing Consortium's founding members agree one exceptional spec, put real volume behind it, and prove British manufacturing can compete before diversifying.
No member gives up their brand on the garments they sell. What changes is how the garment underneath is made, and at what price.
Founding membership is open to UK manufacturers, including mills, cutters, sewers and finishers with existing capacity in hubs such as Manchester and Leicester, and to brands and buyers, including apparel businesses, retailers, and organisations with recurring uniform or teamwear volume, who are willing to commit order volume against the founding spec. As the Consortium proves the model, membership widens to public sector procurement, where recent policy changes now score UK jobs and skills into major contracts.
Volume built the mills the first time. Only volume will do it again.
That is the entire idea. Everything else, the shared spec, the manufacturing partnerships, the route into public procurement, follows from that one piece of collective volume.
Founding membership is open now for a limited first intake on both sides of the Consortium.
See How to Join