John Smedley Bets on Craft and New Ideas to Reverse a Sales Dip
Few clothing makers stay in Britain. John Smedley does, and its managing director says the company is in the middle of a turnaround after a loss in its latest filed year.
A shrinking trade, and one holdout
Most UK fashion manufacturing closed more than 30 years ago, when brands moved production to China, India and Bangladesh. The Office for National Statistics counts 3,515 UK clothing manufacturers, 315 fewer than a decade earlier. Industry employment is 15,000 people, against 173,000 thirty years ago.
Smedley kept the whole chain in one place. At Lea Bridge in Derbyshire it knits, dyes cotton yarn, assembles, washes, steams and packs. One building dates to 1784, and some machines are more than 60 years old and need bespoke parts. A smaller site in Armthorpe, South Yorkshire, also finishes garments.
A team of 230 makes 4,500 items a week. Some carry the Smedley name. Others are made under contract for Lanvin, Margaret Howell and Daks.
The Smedleys took control of what was then a spun cotton and muslin business in 1818. The brand name was registered in 1876. The three-button polo shirt entered production in 1932 and remains one of its bestsellers.
The numbers behind the push
Sales fell 5% to £16.8m in the year to 31 March 2025. The group moved from a £270,000 pre-tax profit to a £720,000 loss, according to accounts filed at Companies House. A weaker yen hurt sales in Japan, which accounts for half of international trade.
The company has answered with a long list of changes. It put more than £4m into new machinery in 2024. It added a French website and opened a Milan showroom to test pop-up sales. The actor Bill Nighy, a wearer of its three-button polo since the age of 17, worked with the label on two collections. The cheaper JS line sold through John Lewis in 2024 and is now sold on the Smedley site and in Japan.
Those moves and a new website helped deliver UK sales grew for the first time in more than five years, in the 12 months to the end of March 2026.
Managing director Jess McGuire-Dudley on the road back
McGuire-Dudley, 41, became managing director last year after a decade at the firm. She calls the market "extremely tricky." The last several months have been profitable, she says, but recovery is a slow burn because the company must win back large volumes lost in Japan.
Rising costs add pressure. Higher employer national insurance contributions and the minimum wage added £700,000 to the bill last year. "Energy and labour costs can wipe out profitability straight away," she says.
Family owners and a skills gap
About 65 members of the founding family own the business, and the eighth-generation descendant Ian Maclean chairs it. The turnaround is self-funded. Director Robert Marsden-Smedley says the family has turned down approaches before, fearing a buyer would strip assets.
The company says it is not struggling to recruit, since young people are drawn to craft skills and local production. It has refurbished on-site housing to offer cheap accommodation, with pilates classes and a running club among the perks. The pressing issue is training: the most skilled staff near retirement, and an apprenticeship can take up to two years.
Our View
Smedley's case is a test of whether heritage and local production can carry a business through a currency shock. One year of UK growth is a thin base against a loss and a drop in Japanese sales.
The answer will come from the next filed accounts, which should show whether the profitable recent months hold.
Source: The Guardian