165 – How the pandemic has changed our manufacturing business – Jenny Holloway

Today I’m chatting to UK garment manufacturer Jenny Holloway who I first featured on this show on episode 21 back in January 2019.Jenny runs Fashion Enter, a social enterprise that makes 1,000s of garments every week in their North London factory. Fashion Enter also runs a training academy teaching people the essential skills needed to work in fashion production and recently set up another factory in Wales which employs over 70 people.In this episode, we catch up on what Jenny has been up to in the last two years, including making PPE and developing a totally reusable isolation gown.  Jenny offers great insight into how she sees the relationship between the big retailers and UK manufacturers developing, and what the future holds for garment manufacturers as they turn into smart factories making on-demand and one-of-a-kind pieces.Episode 21 featuring Jenny HollowayDiscover:How Fashion Enter rose to the challenge to supply PPE to the NHS 03:13Making a reusable gown that can be washed over 70 times 06:03How Fashion Enter pivoted during the pandemic 09:30How Jenny has built relationships with the online retailers 10:32How she has diversified the business to not be so reliant on just one type of customer 13:26Opening a new sewing factory in Wales 17:26Lessons learnt from setting up their own brand 'B of London' 22:48Opening up a retail space for designers 28:24How Jenny is helping to clean up garment manufacturing in Leicester 31:27Jenny's thoughts on the future of garment manufacturing and how technology will play its part 42:35More about Fashion Enterfashionenter.com The FC Fashion Collective Stay in TouchBritish Brand Accelerator - Find out how you can work with me to build your British-made brandMake it British websiteJoin Make it British - become a member of our community and promote your business in our directory or UK-made brands and manufacturersMake it British on InstagramMake 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