Helping UK jobs and economy - Buy British?

[Moodyman]

I think Carradice still make most of their bags in the UK. I certainly think they're worth the extra money!

I, like many others, buy Carradice not because they're British, but because the products are very good quality. The fact that they're British is a bonus.

That quality is worth the premium over other brands. In fact, Carradice are so busy, they can't make enough bags - I had a 2-month wait for one of mine recently. Most of their bags go abroad.

 

[mac1]

To survive, British manufacturers need to produce world leading products. Rolls Royce and Bentley have no problem selling £300k cars (made in GB) to the Chinese. But why it taken the Germans to make these products desirable?

Because the Germans were willing to invest a billion for each car (as they were for Lamborghini) and taken a longer term view whilst domestic owners weren't?

 

[mac1]

I, like many others, buy Carradice not because they're British, but because the products are very good quality. The fact that they're British is a bonus.

That quality is worth the premium over other brands. In fact, Carradice are so busy, they can't make enough bags - I had a 2-month wait for one of mine recently. Most of their bags go abroad.

Another niche product that doesn't require huge amounts of money to compete with bigger players? Brompton, Brooks; seems there's a pattern.

 

[John the Monkey]

I, like many others, buy Carradice not because they're British, but because the products are very good quality. The fact that they're British is a bonus.

and they have brilliant customer service, and nothing else (yet) is as good for commuting and day rides (imo).

They're also hugely tolerant of bodging and DIY "improvements", as the Carradice hacks page shows.

 

[Night Train]

I'd buy a Brompton, that's British.
I'd also buy a Morgan as that is British too.
But both are a bit more then my budget allows and Morgan don't to a diesel estate car.

TBH I prefer buying British if I can but we don't tend to make many of the things we, as consumers, would buy and what we do make tends to cost a bit more. That would be fine if we were able to maintain a higher standard of quality but that hasn't been easy without being very expensive or just assembled in Britain.

I remember the old 'Buy British' campaign, and I remember wondering why anyone would givien the state of British manufacturing at the time.

Nowadays modern consumers have been conditiond to buy without need nor expectation of quality or longevity.
I have found it difficult to pursuade some people that it is worth paying a little more for something that will last a lifetime when they have no intention of it lasting beyond this season's fashion.

 

[Fletch456]

I, like many others, buy Carradice not because they're British, but because the products are very good quality. The fact that they're British is a bonus.

That quality is worth the premium over other brands. In fact, Carradice are so busy, they can't make enough bags - I had a 2-month wait for one of mine recently. Most of their bags go abroad.

Partly a marketing success? I know of a shop that sells vacuum cleaner parts and bags and the only make he will sell is the premium brand Siebel (a hose the length of you stairs too).....chatting to him he said he gets a very good income from repairing Dysons.

 

[GilesM]

I came across ShuttVR.com a while ago, Yorkshire based and young - a cycle clothing company now doing a range from caps, to a polo to longs to a range of jerseys and more - since then have come to know them and found they have it made in factories in the north. One factory wrote them a letter thanking them for an order cos it helped keep the factory open a couple of Christmases ago.

Thankyou for that post, really good, I was thinking to myself that I like the fact that my bike frame and a large percentage of the components are made in Britain, but all of my cycle clothing is made in some far off sweatshop, I just had a look at the website, excellent.

 

[MacB]

Germany and Japan are next exporters - very large ones in fact. Their wages are amongst the highest in the world, yet, their companies compete successfully with cheaper manufacturers.

British companies that excel in their field are also thriving, but there are so few of these.

If we continue to produce middle-of-the road things and expect folks to pay a premium then we're mistaken.

To survive, British manufacturers need to produce world leading products. Rolls Royce and Bentley have no problem selling £300k cars (made in GB) to the Chinese. But why it taken the Germans to make these products desirable?

But that's kind of agreeing with me, if we had some sort of new level of labelling conditional on employment conditions, all of these products would still make the grade. I was arguing that quality should be put at the forefront, but quality of the whole process and all involved rather than just the finished product on its own. Left as labelling alone I don't think would be enough, too many people are beyond the ability to be that choosy.

I don't know detail on Japan, other than it's a very different culture, but you are aware that German workers are better protected than those in the UK?

I'm not arguing for protection of Spanish practices or for nationalistic fervour, just that you cannot resist a race to the bottom, wage wise, without some sort of overarching legislation.

By the way, higher wages and fuller employment could see national, and personal, debt problems taken care of as well.

 

[subaqua]

Would it have been better for him to have soldiered-on in the UK and gone bust?

still doesn't give him the great british manufacturing hero status so many people bestow on him

plenty of other manufacturers manage to keep a manufacturing plant operational in the UK without going bust or running at a loss. I think he had the PP denied then thought screw u UK i can get it done cheaper elsewhere. research facility aside he could have tried to keep the plant in the UK but didn't.

as it is i think the cleaners he makes ( they are not vacuum cleaners, none are!!) are damn good. we are on our 2nd , the 1st lasted 10 years before it went bang and that was due to abuse of the thing in cleaning up after a lot of DIY . I could have replaced the brushes in the motor but i needed a cleaner desperatley on a sunday afternoon and currys had a good deal on this upright animal

 

[Hacienda71]

Shouldn't it be buy British owned rather than British made as most of the money comes back to the UK or is that an old wives tale?

 

[GilesM]

Shouldn't it be buy British owned rather than British made as most of the money comes back to the UK or is that an old wives tale?

Most would probably argue, what's important is were the people are employed.

 

[mac1]

still doesn't give him the great british manufacturing hero status so many people bestow on him


plenty of other manufacturers manage to keep a manufacturing plant operational in the UK without going bust or running at a loss. I think he had the PP denied then thought screw u UK i can get it done cheaper elsewhere. research facility aside he could have tried to keep the plant in the UK but didn't.

Seems everything this bloke did in this country met opposition, which then expected him to display loyalty just because of accident of birth, once he'd been successful, unofficially bestowing a duty on him to "provide jobs". Maybe it was a good thing for him to move to the far east - teach those who would to their best to create their own problems and then moan about it a lesson; but I doubt they'll learn from it.

 

[vernon]

Another niche product that doesn't require huge amounts of money to compete with bigger players? Brompton, Brooks; seems there's a pattern.

Brooks is no longer a British owned company.......

 

[mac1]

yeah, of course, Selle have owned it for a few years now. OK, maybe another example of how a foreign company sees something in a British one that we cannot ourselves. I doubt it would still be going if it was.

 

[vernon]

Im remember the 'I'm Backing Britain Campaign'

I've only just discovered that the singer of the song is Bruce Forsythe and the campaign t-shirts were printed in Portugal.

Needless to say it wasn't a successful campaign.

[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWqysqItAzI[/media]