Community Clothing

Last updated

Community Clothing
Company type Social enterprise
Industry Sustainable fashion
Founded2016
Founder Patrick Grant
Headquarters
Blackburn, Lancashire
,
United Kingdom
Products Clothing
Website communityclothing.co.uk

Community Clothing is a British clothing brand and social enterprise founded in 2016 by Scottish fashion designer Patrick Grant. [1] The company is based in Blackburn, Lancashire, and produces a line of clothing staples using ethically sourced materials, in order to provide consistent employment for a co-operative of British mills and factories and reduce clothing waste. [2]

Contents

History

Clothing and textile factories in the United Kingdom, which boomed during the Industrial Revolution, began declining in the mid 20th-century due to cheaper overseas production, the rise of fast fashion, and lack of investment in the industry. The number of people employed in clothing manufacturing in Britain declined from 1.4 million in the 1970s to only 50,000 in the 2020s. [3] Additionally, the fashion industry, whose seasonal business model typically keeps factories busy only twice a year, left significant gaps of downtime for mills. [2]

In 2015, Patrick Grant purchased Blackburn factory Cookson & Clegg, which was facing closure after losing their contract with the British military in 2009. Grant purchased the company, which was founded in 1860 and had been a long-time supplier to his Savile Row tailoring house Norton & Sons. However, he was unable to keep the factory afloat after losing a contract with a major retailer, [4] and Cookson & Clegg went into voluntary liquidation in March 2016. [5]

Grant's solution to revive Cookson & Clegg and other struggling clothing factories was to create a line of clothing basics manufactured year-round at a co-operative of factories. [6] [7] Grant raised more than £88,0000 in a Kickstarter campaign in early 2016 to launch the enterprise, with the first orders made at Cookson & Clegg. [8]

The company began sales in partnership with eBay in September 2016, and opened a physical store in Blackburn in October 2016. The store closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. [9] [10] The company launched their own e-commerce site in 2018. [11]

In 2018, Grant delivered a TED Talk about the fashion industry and Community Clothing. [2]

Community Clothing menswear began selling at retailer John Lewis in Spring 2021. [12]

In 2022, the company supplied the opening ceremony uniforms for the English team during the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, as part of Team England's commitment to ethical production and sustainability. [13] The uniforms, consisting of a red blazer, white T-shirt and khakhi chinos, were manufactured within 100 miles of Birmingham. The outfit was designed to be reworn after the Games; the blazer featured a removable velcro Team England badge buttons along with other badges to allow the athletes to customise their kits. [14]

Business model

Community Clothing operates as a social enterprise to address the poverty caused by the decline in the British clothing industry and to fill the gap at clothing factories caused by the seasonality of the fashion industry. [8] [9] The company's goal is to provide skilled employment to allow factories to stay in business and expand, and encourage a more sustainable model for consuming clothes. [7] [15] The clothes are manufactured in more than 30 factories in the UK, including in six of the most economically deprived areas of the country. [16]

Community Clothing's business model is to sell high-quality wardrobe basics with minimal overhead costs and a shorter supply chain to increase affordability for consumers. The styles are not continually redesigned, leading to less expense and less waste of unused stock, with the goal to promote sustainability via long-term wear. [16] Community Clothing also uses "deadstock" materials — unsold fabric that otherwise would have gone to waste. [17] The company's website states where they source their raw materials, yarn, cloth, and finished product. [18]

The company sells directly to consumers online and mainly markets using social media, [15] and uses members of the local community as models, with their own hair and makeup. [19] The company states their markup is 30 per cent of that of comparable brands and their marketing expenditures do not exceed 5 per cent of their budget. [16]

Community Clothing also holds pop-up shops, including at Selfridges department stores. [20]

Community Clothing does not put their clothes on sale or participate in Black Friday or other discount promotions. [16]

Logo and branding

The company's logo is based on the CC41 logo introduced in 1941 by the British Board of Trade. The CC41 logo was stamped on products to indicate affordability during a time of austerity. [1]

The company's motto is Making Clothes, Creating Jobs, Restoring Pride. [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fashion</span> Stylish clothing

Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into outfits that depict distinctive ways of dressing as signifiers of social status, self-expression, and group belonging. As a multifaceted term, fashion describes an industry, styles, aesthetics, and trends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sweatshop</span> Workplace that has socially unacceptable working conditions

A sweatshop or sweat factory is a crowded workplace with very poor, illegal working conditions. The manual workers are poorly paid, work long hours, and experience poor working conditions. Some illegal working conditions include poor ventilation, little to no breaks, inadequate work space, insufficient lighting, or uncomfortably/dangerously high or low temperatures. The work may be difficult, tiresome, dangerous, climatically challenging, or underpaid. Workers in sweatshops may work long hours with unfair wages, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage; child labor laws may also be violated. Women make up 85 to 90% of sweatshop workers and may be forced by employers to take birth control and routine pregnancy tests to avoid supporting maternity leave or providing health benefits. The Fair Labor Association's "2006 Annual Public Report" inspected factories for FLA compliance in 18 countries including Bangladesh, El Salvador, Colombia, Guatemala, Malaysia, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, China, India, Vietnam, Honduras, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, and the US. The U.S. Department of Labor's "2015 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor" found that "18 countries did not meet the International Labour Organization's recommendation for an adequate number of inspectors."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">H&M</span> Swedish multinational clothing retail company

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB, also known as H&M Group, is a multinational clothing company based in Sweden that focuses on fast-fashion clothing. As of 23 June 2022, H&M Group operated in 75 geographical markets with 4,801 stores under the various company brands, with 107,375 full-time equivalent positions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zara (retailer)</span> Spanish multinational fast-fashion company

ZARA is a Spanish multinational fast-fashion company. It sells clothing, accessories, beauty products and perfumes. The head office is located at Arteixo in the province of A Coruña, Galicia. It is the largest constituent company of the Inditex group. In 2020, it was launching over twenty new product lines per year.

Arcadia Group Ltd was a British multinational retailing company headquartered in London, England. It was best known for being the previous parent company of British Home Stores (BHS), Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Debenhams, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Topman, Topshop, Wallis and Warehouse. At its peak, the group had more than 2,500 outlets in the UK and concessions in UK department stores and several hundred franchises operated internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vintage clothing</span> Garments originating from a previous era

Vintage clothing is a generic term for garments originating from a previous era, as recent as the 1990s. The term can also be applied in reference to second-hand retail outlets, e.g. in vintage clothing store. While the concept originated during World War I as a response to textile shortages, vintage dressing encompasses choosing accessories, mixing vintage garments with new, as well as creating an ensemble of various styles and periods. Vintage clothes typically sell at low prices for high-end name brands.

Patagonia, Inc. is an American retailer of outdoor recreation clothing. It was founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1973 and is based in Ventura, California. Patagonia operates stores in more than 10 countries globally, as well as factories in 16 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fast fashion</span> Quick retail copying of catwalk trends

Fast fashion is the business model of replicating recent catwalk trends and high-fashion designs, mass-producing them at a low cost, and bringing them to retail quickly while demand is at its highest. The term fast fashion is also used generically to describe the products of this business model. Retailers who employ the fast fashion strategy include Primark, H&M, Shein, and Zara, all of which have become large multinationals by driving high turnover of inexpensive seasonal and trendy clothing that appeals to fashion-conscious consumers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Textile recycling</span> Method of reusing or reprocessing used clothing, fibrous material and rags

Textile recycling is the process of recovering fiber, yarn, or fabric and reprocessing the material into new, useful products. Textile waste is split into pre-consumer and post-consumer waste and is sorted into five different categories derived from a pyramid model. Textiles can be either reused or mechanically/chemically recycled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fashion design</span> Art of applying design and aesthetics to clothing and accessories

Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and place. "A fashion designer creates clothing, including dresses, suits, pants, and skirts, and accessories like shoes and handbags, for consumers. He or she can specialize in clothing, accessory, or jewelry design, or may work in more than one of these areas."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable fashion</span> Part of design philosophy and trend of sustainability in fashion

Sustainable fashion is a term describing efforts within the fashion industry to reduce its environmental impacts, protect workers producing garments, and uphold animal welfare. Sustainability in fashion encompasses a wide range of factors, including "cutting CO2 emissions, addressing overproduction, reducing pollution and waste, supporting biodiversity, and ensuring that garment workers are paid a fair wage and have safe working conditions".

Patrick James Grant is a Scottish fashion designer and businessman who is director of bespoke tailors Norton & Sons of Savile Row, clothing lines E. Tautz & Sons and Community Clothing, and textile manufacturer Cookson & Clegg. Since 2013, he has been a judge on the reality series The Great British Sewing Bee, which aired on BBC Two before moving to BBC One in 2020.

Clothing industry or garment industry summarizes the types of trade and industry along the production and value chain of clothing and garments, starting with the textile industry, embellishment using embroidery, via the fashion industry to apparel retailers up to trade with second-hand clothes and textile recycling. The producing sectors build upon a wealth of clothing technology some of which, like the loom, the cotton gin, and the sewing machine heralded industrialization not only of the previous textile manufacturing practices. Clothing industries are also known as allied industries, fashion industries, garment industries, or soft goods industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fashion Revolution</span> Not-for-profit social movement

Fashion Revolution is a not-for-profit global movement represented by The Fashion Revolution Foundation and Fashion Revolution CIC with teams in over 100 countries around the world. Fashion Revolution campaigns for reform of the fashion industry with a focus on the need for greater transparency in the fashion supply chain. Starting in 2013, Fashion Revolution has designated the anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh as Fashion Revolution Day and holds events each year. Between 2014 and 2020, millions of people around the world called on brands to answer the question Who Made My Clothes? The hashtag #WhoMadeMyClothes became the no.1 global trend on Twitter. They have faced criticisms specifically about the Transparency Index.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental impact of fashion</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the fashion industry</span>

The COVID-19 pandemic affects the global fashion industry as governments close down manufacturing plants, and through store closures, and event cancellations to attempt to slow the spread of the virus. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on fashion brands worldwide. At the same time, the fashion industry faces challenges in consumer demand. New opportunities are also presenting themselves as fashion brands shift to making fashionable COVID-19 face masks. Domenico de Sole, chairman of Tom Ford International, remarked that "I have seen a lot of difficult situations in my long career and this has been the most devastating event, not just for fashion and luxury, but all industries."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ATA (Israeli company)</span> Israeli company

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact of fast fashion in China</span>

Fast fashion is a term used to represent cheap, trendy clothing that is made to replicate higher end fashion trends. As of 2019, China remains the leading producer of fast fashion clothing. Many sweatshops are located in China, where the workers are underpaid and overworked in unsafe environments. China produces 65% of the world's clothing, with a majority of these clothes being labeled as "fast fashion". The top ten competitors in the fast fashion market make up 29.13% of the whole fashion market in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental sustainability of vintage fashion</span>

Vintage clothing "Vintage" is a colloquialism commonly used to refer to all old styles of clothing. A generally accepted industry standard is that items made between 20 and 100 years ago are considered "vintage" if they clearly reflect the styles and trends of the era they represent. In recent years, the popularity of vintage clothing has grown, as consumers seek unique and sustainable fashion options.

References

  1. 1 2 Theodosi, Natalie (17 February 2016). "Patrick Grant Launches Nonprofit Label, Community Clothing". WWD . Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Dool, Steve (27 April 2018). "The Designer Staging His Own Industrial Revolution". GQ . Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  3. ↑ Grant, Patrick (17 January 2022). "A Letter from Patrick Grant, Founder of Community Clothing". Community Clothing. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  4. ↑ Chhabra, Esha (27 June 2018). "How This Young Fashion Startup Is Transforming British Manufacturing". Forbes . Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  5. ↑ Roberts, Hywel (23 May 2016). "Patrick Grant confirms closure of supplier Cookson & Clegg". Drapers. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  6. ↑ Winkleman, Claudia (3 June 2018). "Claudia Winkleman on Community Clothing and finding the perfect white T-shirt". The Times . Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  7. 1 2 Conlon, Scarlett (28 September 2019). "British manufacturing: back in fashion". The Observer. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  8. 1 2 Godwin, Richard (7 March 2016). "Patrick Grant talks classic clothes, capitalism & Kickstarter campaigns". Evening Standard . Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  9. 1 2 Hounslea, Tara (7 November 2016). "Community Clothing to expand through stores and online". Drapers. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  10. ↑ van der Post, Lucia (30 July 2020). "Meet Community Clothing, the Brand Reviving British-Made Fashion". Country and Town House. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  11. ↑ Marfil, Lorelei (29 March 2018). "Patrick Grant Creates E-commerce Site for Community Clothing Brand". WWD . Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  12. ↑ Wightman-Stone, Danielle (1 April 2021). "John Lewis launches Community Clothing line". FashionUnited. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  13. ↑ "Team England Opening Ceremony wear to be produced by Community Clothing". Commonwealth Games England. 20 October 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  14. ↑ "We're Going to the Games". Community Clothing. 29 August 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  15. 1 2 Howarth, Peter (22 December 2022). "Patrick Grant is on a mission". The Times . Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  16. 1 2 3 4 "About Community Clothing". Community Clothing. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  17. ↑ Grant, Patrick (30 August 2022). "Waste Not, Want Not". Community Clothing. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  18. ↑ James, Dr Alana. "Why you should stop buying new clothes". phys.org. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  19. ↑ "In the Factory: Community Clothing X Liberty | Liberty". Liberty London. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  20. ↑ Santamaria, Barbara (19 January 2017). "Selfridges celebrates sustainability in fashion in new Material World project". FashionNetwork.com. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  21. ↑ "Community Clothing". Twitter.
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