This week I’m bringing some very sad news - that the UK’s only cotton spinning mill, English Fine Cottons, which brought cotton spinning back to Greater Manchester in 2018, has very sadly gone into administration.
In case you don’t know about the history of English Fine Cottons, it was set up by the technical textile spinners Culimeta-Saveguard, who invested £4.8m of its own money, £2m of which was a loan from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, to regenerate a former Victorian cotton mill and install new technology to create luxury yarn. A further £1m was awarded as a grant by the N Brown Textile Growth Programme.
English Fine Cottons was the start of something very exciting in UK manufacturing, and for this to have happened is tragic. The collapse into administration is caused by the parent group Culimeta-Saveguard going down, and unfortunately that has taken the cotton spinning down with it. Something needs to be done to save our only cotton spinning mill, otherwise this is history repeating itself.
So today's episode is a remastered version of a visit that I did to English Fine Cottons in 2019, along with an interview with Andy Ogden, who was the general manager at the time.
180 – LIVE: How to make more money making in the UK
179 – Growing a UK-made lifestyle brand – Rebecca J Mills
178 – The real reason you aren’t making any money with your UK-made business
177 – A guide to digital textile printing – Debbie McKeegan, Texintel
176 – When should you choose making overseas versus making in the UK?
175 – The benefits of lean manufacturing – James Stewart, Lean Practitioner
174 – Why are your products not selling?
173 – Launching an Organic Skincare Brand – Hannah Lovegrove
172 – Should you sell your UK-made products on an online marketplace?
171 – How we set up a micro swimwear factory – Rich Keegan & Linda Souto Maior
170 – Are you confusing mark-up and margin?
169 – From make-up artist to product innovator – Phyllis Cohen, Face Lace
168 – How much does it cost to start a UK-made brand?
167 – Building a Business With Your Customer in Mind – Rowena Howie
166 – 12 Questions to ask a new manufacturer
165 – How the pandemic has changed our manufacturing business – Jenny Holloway
164 – 8 Things to look out for when visiting a manufacturer
163 – How to Use Data to Transform Your Business – Jodi Muter-Hamilton
162 – Fail to plan…plan to fail!
161 – 50 years of manufacturing in the UK – John Elliott MBE, Ebac
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