The United Kingdom’s ninth largest manufacturing sector is the clothing and textile industry which has a turnover of approximately 17.7 billion pounds per year. However it has been on the decline due to pressure from low cost suppliers in other countries. Between 1997 and 2001 production reduced by around 30%. Some of the factors that caused this decline during the period can be accounted to the following reasons. Foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations has made imports of products from overseas much cheaper than those produced on the island. The resultant surge in cheap foreign imports coupled with the high value of the Great British Pound also led to a reduction in the amount of exports from the UK. It was further accelerated by the economic downturn in some Asian economies during the period. Other factors which further bolstered the Asian competitiveness included the comparably cheap cost of labour. UK retail giants were quick to exploit the cheap foreign labour costs and a mass outsourcing of production still continues to counties like Sri Lanka, Vietnam, China, Thailand and Cambodia.
The industry is extremely diverse and covers the manufacture of a whole range of clothing such as yarns, lace, threads and knitwear. In the last ten years crafting has become very popular and knitting has become a popular pastime. You can see evidence of this by taking a look at the shelves of your local magazine store which are now full of popular titles with names like Let;’s Knit, Crafts Beautiful and Sew.
Knitting can be a social event and people meet up and have knitting parties. When not meeting up in person these busy crafters will network over social media websites like Facebook and Ravelry. Not only can cloth making be fun but you can end up with some really nice garments at the end of it.
A good way to get started is to find some knitting kits online which can be delivered to your home in a matter or days. A typical kit would include everything you need to knit yourself your first garment. For knitting you will need two knitting needles whilst in crochet you only need one crochet hook. There is a massive amount of lovely yarns available for both crochet and knitting so why not support your countries textile industry and buy British. Specialist breeds of sheep of reared on farms in the South West of England which produce some very luxury yarns like the soft and warm Alpaca. In the summer months you might want to track down some crochet cotton to experiment with as it is much cooler on the skin.