Ask the Style Doctors: ‘Which British fashion brands should I buy?'

Telegraph

22-05-2025

In this advice series, Telegraph fashion experts Lisa Armstrong and Stephen Doig answer readers' what-to-wear dilemmas. This week, they advise on how the best British brands to shop now and the return of the waist.
Dear Stephen,
I'm increasingly keen that when shopping for clothes I help feed into our economy and secure jobs for UK craftspeople. So how can I make sure to buy British?
– Charles
Dear Charles,
This is an issue that's become increasingly thorny in today's fashion landscape – like 'greenwashing', the practice of claiming to be eco-friendly while doing no such thing, there can be a fair amount of 'localwashing'. This means that a brand proudly claims to be ' Made in Britain ', but that involves some zips or finishing being applied in Blighty while the majority of the work is done elsewhere.
If you're interested, it's a topic tackled nobly by Patrick Grant, the tailor and The Great British Sewing Bee judge in his book Less, which urges us to stop our over-consumption. Grant writes about companies who are swaggeringly British in their branding, but do little to support the local economies from which they sprang.
Cotton pique polo, £120, Private White VC
For instance, Aquascutum and Hunter are just two 'British' brands that don't make in the UK. Grant includes an excellent glossary of pieces that are genuinely 'Made in Britain' from start to finish, including his own initiative Community Clothing, which is excellent (great socks), as well as Barbour, Begg & Co, Margaret Howell, Private White VC and many others that produce in a way that feeds into the UK economy, creates jobs and safeguards skills.
Ribbed cotton socks, £8.50, Community Clothing
From my own experience, I've been lucky enough to visit many factories that are based in the UK: Sunspel in Northampton, for example, which makes expensive but very, very good T-shirts, as well as Johnstons of Elgin, Emma Willis shirts in Gloucestershire and the many shoemakers based in Northampton.
One thing to note is that this is a more expensive way to buy clothes than ordering from a fast-fashion retailer, where the products will likely be pumped with plastics. But I'd rather buy less and better, and little items – like Rooska socks made by a local family-run company in Leicestershire – that aren't pricey considering they're properly made.
– Stephen
Dear Lisa,
Is there any sign of the waist coming back anytime soon? All those empire lines make everyone look seven months pregnant.
– Yvonne
Dear Yvonne,
You're in luck. The waist is emphatically back, on the catwalks, on the red carpets (think Demi Moore's series of drastically cinched-in gowns during this winter's award season, although she was far from the only one), and it's in the stores too. A good starting place is Jasper Conran, who has made a speciality of the shirt dress in various natural fabrics and weights (from £350).
Bubble hem dress, £115, Cos
Anthropologie is always worth a look. Cos has beautiful bubble-hem sleeveless dresses – that sounds weird, but they look subtly different in a not-too-artsy, sophisticated way and come in soft neutral shades, although you may not go for the 100 per cent recycled polyamide sell… in fact waisted dresses are everywhere. Nothing like the constricted gowns Moore et al wore, but more gentle and comfortable for a 16-hour stint. Separates are another route to stylish contouring. My eye is on a bubble skirt and matching top from M&S in a beautiful cherry red cotton that should hit the stores in a few weeks.
– Lisa