Patrick Grant launches not-for-profit clothing initiative to support British manufacturers

Tailor Patrick Grant has launched a not-for-profit clothing initiative to support British manufacturers and has set up Kickstarter fund inviting the public to pledge their support by placing advance orders for the clothes.

The Community Clothing collection features three key items for men and women: a five-pocket jean priced at £49, a classic Harrington jacket priced at £79 and a single-breasted raincoat priced at £119.

Harrington

The clothing will initially be made at Cookson and Clegg clothing factory in Blackburn, Lancashire which Grant acquired last year saving it from closure. However Grant also has established links with other factories and suppliers who will benefit from the initiative, including suppliers of buttons and labels and described the initiative as "a new type of co-operative".

Raincoat and Jean

Grant, who owns Savile Row tailor Norton & Sons and ready-to-wear label E Tautz, believes that the seasonality of fashion has an adverse affect on British manufacturing and through Community Clothing he aims to keep manufacturers busy year-round preserving jobs and businesses.

"For several months of every year even the very best British factories are nowhere near full and this can lead to seasonal hiring and firing or zero hours contracts or worse still to factory closures," Grant said.

The Community Clothing collection has been engineered for simplicity and by selling direct to the consumer (thus cutting out wholesale and retail mark-ups) Grant can keep the prices low, while offering the same quality of fabric and construction as designer fashion. "Everyone in Britain should be able to afford exceptional quality British made clothes," he said.

Orders can be placed for the items now on the Kickstarter page, which has a target of £75,000. Manufacturing will begin in March with delivery expected in July.