So last night I tuned into Mary Portas’ 3 part Documentary Series “Mary’s Bottom Line” – Thursday’s Channel 4 at 9pm.
Mary is battling to make 100% British knickers at the last remaining textile factory in Middleton Manchester. She gets together a team of seamstresses and a work force of eight to try to make her mission reality.
Having watched her plight to launch her own collection at House of Fraser, I thought this would be a very similar set up, but to my surprise this is set to be a very touching documentary which in turn can give a bit back to the community, and hopefully UK manufacturing to Britain.
One of the highlights of the show for me was Portas stopping people on the high street and checking the labels in their knickers! Finding out more that £98 billion is spent on manufacturing outside the UK is a HUGE shock especially that once upon a time the UK was the heart of the manufacturing industry.
One of the touching moments of the show was the genuine emotion Portas felt at the loss of UK manufacturing industry and how Britain had lost that sense of belonging & pride.
For a few years now especially since the recession started to creep up on us, a lot of consumers have been going “back to basics”; be it with their food shopping – growing vegetables or with clothing – recycling and restyling. Money seems to be tighter than it ever was before and if people are actively buying products they want quality as they want it to LAST! I think today’s consumers are happy to spend a little bit extra on products knowing that they will last a little bit longer – what I would call “investment pieces”.
I think that Portas has her work cut out for her, as based on her previous shows, nothing ever runs smoothly, but if she is able to show consumers a new value and put money back in Britain then she has my vote!
Tune in Next Thursday at 9pm on Channel 4 for the second instalment of Marys Bottom Line
Mary's Kinky Knickers are available in store and to buy online at Liberty:
http://www.liberty.co.uk/fcp/categorylist/designer/kinky-knickers?resetFilters=true&designer=true
Lingerie with Love x
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