On today’s episode I am chatting to Maxine Wells, who is the founder of Intimate Apparel Samples, a small lingerie studio in North West London.

Getting lingerie made in the UK can be challenging. Whilst the UK once had thousands of machinists making underwear for the likes of Marks & Spencers, sadly there are only now only a handful of lingerie manufacturers left in the UK.

I took a trip to Brent Cross where Intimate Apparel Samples is based to ask Maxine why there aren't more lingerie manufacturers in the UK and the benefits of having a great relationship with your manufacturer.

You'll learn:

• How Maxine set up Intimate Apparel Samples after she had her own lingerie brand [03:14]
• Why Maxine believes there is such a lack of lingerie and swimwear manufacturers in the UK [05:30]
• The main pitfalls when it comes to making lingerie, and Maxine’s advice for how to avoid them [09:49]
• Why having a great relationship with your manufacturer is so important [12:43]
• How Maxine ensures she gets the fit right for her clients [14:49]
• Why Maxine enjoys meeting the clients she works with to build a working relationship [23:40]

More from Intimate Apparel Samples

Intimate Apparel Samples on Instagram

Intimate Apparel Samples Website

Stay in Touch

British Brand Accelerator - A 6-month group programme for small businesses who want to manufacture and sell profitable UK-made products.

Make it British website

Join Make it British - become a member of our community and promote your business in our directory or UK-made brands and manufacturers

Make it British on Instagram

Make it British on YouTube - subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch many of the podcast episodes as videos.

Mentioned in this episode:

British Brand Accelerator

After taking a couple of months hiatus to focus on writing my book, I'm back with a brand new series.

I'll be answering all of your most commonly asked questions about manufacturing, marketing and selling products that are made in the UK, and have some fantastic guests lined up for this series too.

In this episode you'll hear a snippet from Selling Without Social - a workshop I ran recently, which covers all of the different ways that you can market and sell your UK-made products without using social media.

You'll learn:

•  What Make it British has been up to during the podcast break [01:29]
• Why you should look at other forms of marketing, other than social media [04:59]
• How UK brands and businesses are currently feeling about social media [06:26]
• Which other forms of digital marketing offer a higher return on investment [09:48]
• Why it's dangerous to rely on social media to build your business [13:40]
• Which marketing content has the longest lifespan [17:07]

An online workshop covering 140 different ways that you can market and sell your product-based business without using social media!

Sign up at makeitbritish.co.uk/sws and you’ll also get a £10 discount as a podcast listener.

Stay in Touch

British Brand Accelerator - A 6-month group programme for small businesses who want to manufacture and sell profitable UK-made products.

Make it British website

Join Make it British - become a member of our community and promote your business in our directory or UK-made brands and manufacturers

Make it British on Instagram

Make it British on YouTube - subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch many of the podcast episodes as videos.

Mentioned in this episode:

British Brand Accelerator

In the meantime, I wanted to tell you about a few things we have coming up, that if you are a listener of this podcast you will probably be really interested to hear about.

An online workshop that I will be hosting on Thursday 23rd February.

Covering all of the different ways that you can market and sell your product-based business without using social media!

Go to makeitbritish.co.uk/sws and you’ll also get a £10 discount as a podcast listener.

The doors for our group coaching programme, British Brand Accelerator, are opening at the end of this month (February 2023), but only for a very short time.

If you know you’re serious about launching or growing your business in 2023, then make sure that you sign up to the waitlist. We will then send you all the details ahead of the official launch, so that you can get first dibs on a spot.

Go to makeitbritish.co.uk/apply to save your spot on the waitlist

British Brand Bedrock is a private podcast feed covering over 30 of the most commonly asked questions that we get asked at Make it British.

Want to subscribe to this special, private podcast feed? Go to makeitbritish.co.uk/bedrock and you’ll be able to sign up.

Something really exciting that I wanted to tell you about, is that I am writing a book!

That’s part of the reason why I took a break from recording the podcast for a couple of months, as I wanted to focus on starting on the book.

The book will, of course, be about manufacturing products in the UK. And will include case studies on some of the very best UK manufacturers and British brands.

If you are interested in being one of the first to get hold of a copy of my book go to makeitbritish.co.uk/book to get more details :)

As always, I love getting your feedback about the podcast. Please do keep those comments coming, either as a review in your favourite podcast app. You can find a whole back catalogue of over 250 episodes at makeitbritish.co.uk/podcast

If you want to contact me about anything you hear on the podcast please drop me an email to [email protected] that way your message will go into my VIP folder and won’t get lost in the Make it British inbox, which can be a very busy place at times.

Having worked with hundreds of British brands over the last few years, and speaking to them about what is working for them right now, and what they see working in 2023, here are 11 ideas you can use for growing your British brand in 2023.

Discover:

• 02:31 Why being a small business means you're in a great position right now
• 05:12 The 11 ways that you can grow your brand in 2023
• 29:35 How joining British Brand Accelerator can help to hit your goals in the next year
• 30:27 Why now is a good time to reflect on the past few years of business

Mentioned in this Episode

YouTube Live - How to Build a Brand in 2023

Stay in Touch

British Brand Accelerator - Find out how you can work with me to build your British-made brand

Make it British website

Join Make it British - become a member of our community and promote your business in our directory or UK-made brands and manufacturers

Make it British on Instagram

Make it British on YouTube - subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch many of the podcast episodes as videos.

Mentioned in this episode:

British Brand Accelerator

Meet Siwan Oldham, the founder of ByBiology, a business that is giving to scientific research by creating the most beautiful luxury silk scarves. Siwan talks about how her business idea came about, the reason she decided to manufacturer in the UK, and her journey so far in building the brand. Discover:

• 03:59 What Siwan's background is and how the idea for her business came about
• 05:10 Why Siwan knew she always wanted to print her silk scarves in the UK
• 07:52 The challenges Siwan faced during the process of lauching her business
• 10:58 How Siwan prepared for her launch to ensure it would be successful
• 18:04 Why Siwan believes it's important to invest in the key parts of your business
• 22:20 How working with UK manufacturers means Siwan can test the market with different products

More By Biology

By Biology Website

By Biology on Instagram

Mentioned in this Episode

British Brand Accelerator -  Find out how you can work with me to build your British-made brand

Luxury Silk Scarves Celebrating the Art of Science - Watch on YouTube

Stay in Touch

British Brand Accelerator - Find out how you can work with me to build your British-made brand

Make it British website

Join Make it British - become a member of our community and promote your business in our directory or UK-made brands and manufacturers

Make it British on Instagram

Make it British on YouTube - subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch many of the podcast episodes as videos.

Sarah Turner is the founder of Little Beau Sheep, a brand that celebrates the best of British wool through a unique range of hand-made laundry and body care products.

Flying the flag for British wool, the Yorkshire-based entrepreneur came up with the idea of eco-friendly laundry balls to help families save money on washing. In this interview we chat all about how British wool has influenced Sarah and her brand.

Discover:

• 04:01 Why Sarah invented her cute wool laundry balls.
• 07:34 How's she's grown the business from being a maker to employing staff to help with the manufacturing.
• 08:22 What the benefits are of using British Wool.

More Little Beau Sheep

Little Beau Sheep Website

Stay in Touch

British Brand Accelerator - Find out how you can work with me to build your British-made brand

Make it British website

Join Make it British - become a member of our community and promote your business in our directory or UK-made brands and manufacturers

Make it British on Instagram

Make it British on YouTube - subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch many of the podcast episodes as videos.

How do you attract the right peoplt to your brand, and keep them coming back for more?

In this excerpt from one of the sessions at the Make it British Virtual Forum, you'll hear the ways in which three successful business founders are marketing their brands - and some of the tips they share may surprise you! My guests are Justine Tabak, from womenswear brand Justine Tabak; Jack Millington, from leathergoods brand Billy Tannery and Rosie Macpherson, from dog travel brand Where's Winnie.

Discover:

• 06:10 What forms of marketing are working for these successful British brands right now.
• 11:09 How Rosie built up her audience before even launching her first product.
• 15:38 Why stories help these brands to stand out.
• 19:26 How each of the brands come up with ideas for marketing content.
• 22:50 Their thoughts on TikTok versus Instagram.
• 29:46 What really works with their email marketing.
• 33:15 Thoughts on Black Friday and why should avoid it

Enjoyed this Episode Get Access to the full video recording of this session and all of the other sessions from the Make it British Virtual Forum.

Access the Recordings

More Justine Tabak

Justine Tabak Website

Justine Tabak on Instagram

More Where's Winnie

Where's Winnie Website

Where's Winnie on Instagram

More Billy Tannery

Billy Tannery Website

Billy Tannery on Instagram

Stay in Touch

British Brand Accelerator - Find out how you can work with me to build your British-made brand

Make it British website

Join Make it British - become a member of our community and promote your business in our directory or UK-made brands and manufacturers

Make it British on Instagram

Make it British on YouTube - subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch many of the podcast episodes as videos.

There are around 4,000 manufacturers based in Greater London, making everything from bicycles, ballet shoes, military uniforms, neon signs, umbrellas, mannequins and paint. Photographer Carmel King and factory owner Mark Brearley have produced a stunning book showcasing 50 of the best manufacturers in London. In this interview I talk to them about London’s rich and diverse manufacturing heritage and how they selected their favourite factories to go into the book.

Discover: 

• 02:11 How the idea of the book came about
• 04:12 How the 50 factories and workshops were picked to be featured
• 09:11 How Mark loved one factory so much that he bought it!
• 12:16 Some of Mark and Carmel's favourite London factories.
• 16:01 The biggest challenge facing the inner city's factories and workshops.
• 22:13 Carmel's tips on how to take good quality photographs in factories

Mentioned in this Episode

YouTube Live - Made in London - The Capital’s Hidden Factories and Workshops With Carmel King and Mark Brearley

Made in London Book

More Carmel King

Carmel King Website

Carmel King on Instagram

More Mark Brearley

Made in London on Instagram

Stay in Touch

British Brand Accelerator - Find out how you can work with me to build your British-made brand

Make it British website

Join Make it British - become a member of our community and promote your business in our directory or UK-made brands and manufacturers

Make it British on Instagram

Make it British on YouTube - subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch many of the podcast episodes as videos.

When it comes to manufacturing a product, planning is critical! In this episode, I cover exactly what you need to have prepared before going ahead with your production.

You’ll also find out what a critical path is, why you need one and most importantly, how to keep it updated.

Discover:

• 01:27 Why you need to plan your production
• 03:46 What is a critical path and why you need one 
• 06:41 How to create your own critical path for your product development 
• 11:48 How to avoid the common mistakes people make when planning their production

Mentioned in this Episode

Make it British Virtual Forum

YouTube Live - How to Plan Your Product Development

Stay in Touch

British Brand Accelerator - Find out how you can work with me to build your British-made brand

Make it British website

Join Make it British - become a member of our community and promote your business in our directory or UK-made brands and manufacturers

Make it British on Instagram

Make it British on YouTube - subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch many of the podcast episodes as videos.

In this episode, I chat with Oscar Boatfield, who is one of the co-founders of bags and accessory brand BearMade who make all of their bags in the UK. If ever there was a great example of a business doing the right thing by both the planet and its customers, then BearMade is definitely it.

Discover:

• 02:27 What Oscar was doing before BearMade which led to the launch of his business
• 07:00 How Oscar found BearMade’s niche market
• 09:09 Why Oscar doesn't offer discounts on their products
• 11:20 Why Oscar and his wife Nell set up The Wildish Club
• 14:20 How BearMade sticks by their brand ethics
• 20:14 Why Oscar has been so honest with their customers about raising the prices of their products
• 22:20 How Oscar is able to retain good value on his well-made bags

Mentioned in this Episode

YouTube Live - Sharing Wellness Through Well Made Bags with Oscar Boatfield, BearMade

Make it British Virtual Event - A one-day online event for British brand founders

More BearMade

BearMade Website

BearMade on Instagram

Stay in Touch

British Brand Accelerator - Find out how you can work with me to build your British-made brand

Make it British website

Join Make it British - become a member of our community and promote your business in our directory or UK-made brands and manufacturers

Make it British on Instagram

Make it British on YouTube - subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch many of the podcast episodes as videos.