Fashion Roundtable Urges Downing Street to Make NHS and Military Uniforms in UK

On Wednesday in London, the organisation Fashion Roundtable is handing a letter directly to Downing Street urging the government to shift the manufacturing of NHS and military uniforms to the United Kingdom. The high-profile letter has already been signed by more than 1,200 people, drawing widespread support from industry leaders, figures such as Ben Fogle, politicians including Andy Burnham and Iain Duncan Smith, and prominent voices within the British manufacturing sector including Patrick Grant, Kate Hills, and representatives from labels like Private White VC, Cookson & Clegg, and Community Clothing.

According to an estimate by an economist, about 55% of all NHS and Ministry of Defence uniforms are currently manufactured overseas. The collective expenditure by the NHS and the Ministry of Defence on these uniforms reaches approximately £120 million a year. Campaigners point out that the global market for the industry reached $1.62 billion, which equates to £1.19 billion, in the year 2025. Proponents of domestic manufacturing contrast the current reliance on foreign factories with historical precedents, noting that the United States has successfully manufactured its military uniforms domestically by law ever since the Berry amendment was passed back in 1941.

Campaigners are heavily critical of past government spending habits, highlighting that nearly £10 billion of public money was wasted on flawed personal protective equipment procurement. In stark contrast, supporters point to a successful regional model: Scotland invested £102.7 million in PPE and managed to produce 88% of it domestically in 2021. That domestic effort successfully generated £66.7 million of additional economic value alongside 1,400 sustainable jobs, proving the tangible economic benefits of localized public sector manufacturing initiatives.

Kate Hills, founder of Make It British, emphasised the transformative effect that guaranteed public contracts would have on domestic producers. She stated that these sorts of contracts would give manufacturers the necessary confidence to employ more people and to look at the long term rather than feel like they are surviving day to day. Raising a direct question to the nation's leadership, Hills also remarked on whether the current leader might be the prime minister that actually sees the value of products that are made here.

Echoing these sentiments, designer and manufacturer Patrick Grant explained that the manufacturing sector requires a steady state of business characterised by good visibility and predictable, long-term demand. Grant stressed that public sector procurement is precisely the kind of tool that can achieve this stability. Furthermore, Grant highlighted severe geopolitical vulnerabilities in the status quo, warning that the nation is currently producing a lot of stuff in countries with which the UK does not have the most stable relationships, meaning that if something bad were to happen, the supply chains would possess zero resilience.

Looking ahead to future economic shifts, Grant argued that society must proactively consider where employment opportunities will originate in the coming years. Specifically, he urged leaders to think about where jobs are going to come from in the version of society that will exist in 10 years when artificial intelligence really starts to kick in, posing the fundamental question of why the government should not simply get ahead of it now.