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1760-founded royal lace maker is facing ‘terminal’ closure post-Brexit

Chloe Burney
13 April 2023

Cluny Lace, known for embellishing Kate Middleton’s (now the Princess of Wales) wedding dress, is facing closure after HMRC implements post-Brexit duty rules, hitting the company with £10,000 duty debt.

The owner of the company, based on the border of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, told The Telegraph that he has been struggling because of HMRC’s implementation of a complicated post-Brexit duty rule.

Cluny Lace was already facing the detrimental impacts of Covid, the cost of living crisis and the war in Ukraine. For a company that is based on 90% exports, Brexit was the "final straw".

Mason, who took over the business from his father, is planning to trade its remaining stock and see what happens. Recently, the business that the Mason family began at the start of the Industrial Revolution, was forced to lay off six staff from a small artisan workforce of 10.

The delicate lace is sent to France to be dyed and finished because there are no dying companies left in Britain with machinery sophisticated enough to handle the delicate fabric. Despite the majority of the lace work done in the UK, Cluny Lace has received a demand for backdated duty payments on the goods sent back to Britain.

Mason commented: “I think it’s terminal and I feel angry. We have spent more than 200 years building our business and fought for 30 years against the global textile trend of moving to the Far East.”

Under the Brexit bill, goods being exported to the EU and back again can be granted an expemption from duty tax, but only if they undergo sufficient transformation. In Cluny Lace’s case, becuase is only being finished and dyed in France, it does not qualify. Instead, 8% duty on yarn is demanded on the increase in value of the lace.

Paul Algar, Director of International Affairs at the UK Fashion and Textile Association, told TheIndustry.fashion: “As we emerge from Covid, we are now seeing the real effects on UK manufacturers of the decision to take the UK out of the EU Single Market. Sadly, Cluny Lace is far from the only British manufacturing company being affected by the shortcomings of the UK-EU Trade Continuity Agreement.

“The irony is that non-British manufacturers can use logistics solutions (at a cost) to isolate themselves from some of the worst effects but our domestic manufacturers cannot."

Not all hope is lost for the centuries-old manufacturer, however. Despite the recent demand for £10,00 in tax, the company can request a custom ruling from HMRC, which could reduce the charge.

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