Made in Britain Knitwear

After my brother recommend it I have been regularly listening to the 'This American Life' podcast. A great way of hearing unusual and thought provoking ideas, and sometimes just something a little odd.
This week I was catching up and listened to last weeks as well, they were discussing China made electrical goods (must of our electrical goods then), especially Apple goods (a must listen if you have been brainwashed by Apple).

http://feeds.thisamericanlife.org/talpodcast (you can get podcast's from previous weeks on itunes and then such)

However the discussion of the terrible conditions the factories work in made me think of our high street clothing. Of course not all of it comes from these types of factories but as a consumer we never question where are good's do come from: apart from the occasions when horrible stories appear in the press.

As someone who has worked in a few fashion companies it is something I don't like to think about too much. All the companies I worked for placed strict regulations on their factories, sometimes enforced by an outside company. But then again so do Apple and listen to the horror stories in the podcast about them....
On occasion I would wonder just what was happening in those factories when we pushed an order through or cut the price down again and again, but thought's like that need to be suppressed, they're not helpful to keeping your job.

And so this is why I want to buy British- not because of the economical gains for the UK (questionable) or even to cut down on my carbon footprint but because I know that British manufacturing often use the better quality materials and treat their employee's fairly.

Some more interesting link's below about eco living and small British business's

Very interesting -Nettle underwear anyone?Green Living-Clothing-A Celebration of Nettle - The Ecologist:

Etsy is a great (if a little big now) way to find hand crafted British goods and support small craft's people - Hobbyists Use Etsy to Trade Day Job for Hard Work - NYTimes.com:


Inspiration (and a little bit of scared, jealous, and awe) from British knitwear brand Quinton and Chadwick, They say:

"Our aim is to keep the British tradition of knitting alive with our co-operatives of specialists who,s skill is their legacy. A truly British heritage product, to love and to keep with no air-miles what so ever "

 Interview with British knitwear brand ‘Quinton & Chadwick’ « IndependentBoutique.com Blog:


Great collection of British Breds for the hand knitter - British Breeds - Purl and Jane:
Beautiful hand knit by a British Designer- something special rather then the usual Rowan. Jane Ellison is a British freelance hand knit designer who specialises in creating simple straightforward patterns. - Jane Ellison: