Opinions

28th March 2018

Here's an article I first published in August 2016 (between the UK's Brexit referendum and America's Trump election), after reading someone else's commentary. I believed at the time that Robert...

27th March 2018

21 months ago, I excitedly wrote about the implications of Britain's Brexit vote to leave the EU. On March 19, the UK and EU agreed a provisional transition deal on...

1st February 2018

The watchword this year is BINO: Brexit in Name Only. I think it's the best prediction of what awaits Britain after March 2019. Britain is a Parliamentary democracy, most MPs...

20th December 2017

The extraordinary tizzy Brexit and Trump threw commentators into tell us more about commentators than about global politics. But it casts light on the changes the global apparel has been...

15th November 2017

My new Saturday job's opened my eyes to a huge set of changes in fashion retailing that seem to have passed the apparel industry by. Sharper-eyed readers sometimes ask why...

22nd May 2017

When it comes to apparel-making in Britain, there's one thing we all think we know: there isn't very much of it. But Britain's official trade statistics seem to tell a...

12th May 2017

There’s an awful lot less to two recent, apparently game-changing, announcements about our industry than you’d imagine at first glance. However flaky the assumptions they’re based on, though,  they highlight...

7th April 2017

Brexit and the Trump Revolution are often linked. What really unites them is the extraordinarily uncommercial attitude many of their politicians are taking to what real businesses want. They differ...

31st March 2017

On 29 March, Britain's Prime Minister signed a letter triggering the two-year process for leaving the European Union (EU). Though the negotiations will cover almost every aspect of British life,...

8th March 2017

“China must be ready to face [the] growing trend of protectionism” said its Premier Li Keqiang on March 5. Well, he should know. Time after time, whichever political parties have...

28th February 2017

The speed the sourcing environment's changing, you'd think this is a good time for a new strategy. You'd be wrong. No-one knows yet how Britain's options will develop On February...

27th February 2017

Is the British government's “name and shame” campaign High Street retailers concentrating too much on headline-grabbing mistakes? “Minimum wage abuses will not go unpunished” announced Britain’s Business Minister Margot James...