The Unexpected Return of the Shirt-Maker to Manchester

Monday, November 9th, 2009

Posted by: Peter Kawalek

bella lugosiThe usual associations of the digital economy are with software programmers, games, media, telecommunications and marketing. But recently I heard of how in Ireland they are looking at the potential of crafts industries to expand sales and reach new audiences. This ‘long tail’ phenomenon rests on being able to offer fabulous digital connections so that the overseas buyer can see into the crafts person’s workshop, view products intimately and maybe have a conversation with the creator. A common old laundry basket for your Manhattan loft, or a traditional basket woven by Padraig in Ballyshannon? Well, it is down to your budget and preference.

This got me thinking about Manchester. What ‘traditional’ industries might prosper in its long tail economy? What kinds of workshop might fill the city’s edges and trendier quarters? Well, how about the return of the shirt-maker to Manchester? What about a whole renaissance in fine Manchester textile products? If not woven in Manchester, then cut here and hand-stitched here in Cottonopolis?

What about other crafts? Industrial crafts? Ceramics? Paint? Brewing?

Or how about proper Manchester tea from Mr Scruff? www.mrscruff.com

It might not be quite as good as standing in the workshop itself, but internet purchase of crafts can be an uplifting, interesting retail experience. Take the hypothetical of a young businessman in Shanghai. He’s doing well, prospering, eight years after studying for his Masters degree in Manchester. For him, purchasing a shirt that is hand-stitched in Manchester is part of what sets him apart. He likes the image it gives him. He likes to tell his friends. He certainly much prefers it to buying something with an American label from a boutique. Tonight, he has been chatting to Matt and Sue, the tailors, in their small workshop on Tib Street. They have shown him the latest prints over the webcam. “I can see them perfectly,” he says, commenting on the bandwidth.

Come to think of it, why aren’t digitally-enabled Manchester tailors going in for the top end of the Milan market? Manchester versus Milan is always a good game.


This post is developed from a project with Manchester Digital Development Agency.

Bella Lugosi picture taken under Creative Commons from Aenea Studio (Rome) http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeneastudio/3969897512/

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One Response to “The Unexpected Return of the Shirt-Maker to Manchester”

  1. The footprint of a modern business is smaller physically, but greater digitally. Its all about the virtual ripples in the market, the wider the spread, the better the sucess and possibilities for growth.

    The footprints across that far away beach are those of the customer, and increasingly the worker, a golden thread linking them both, the internet. No longer constrained by place, but only by innovation, working practices have changed as shirts become the stuff of dreams, and dreamcatching is busines as usual.

    And Manchester as the birthplace of many of those primary golden threads is a logical City to link those emerging business ideas together to China or India or Brazil. The spinning jenny in Rochdale was funded from a co-op ideal, used the thread from India, and has morphed to ‘virtually’ spin ideas into the products of tommorrow.

    We just need to build up the image and the cachet of ‘Made in Manchester’ and we can use the digital tools to deliver it anywhere.

    Posted by ken usman-smith, December 1, 2009 at 12:15 am Reply