INSIGHTS - APRIL 2024

UK Clothing & Fashion Industry

UK Clothing & Fashion Industry Information

Clothing manufacturing, also known as the garment industry, involves all stages in the production of apparel, including design, cutting and sewing of any clothing items such as outerwear, underwear, workwear, formal or casual clothing and accessories.

Active Businesses

6,003

Annual Sales

£6bn +

Employees

45,588

Economic Contribution 

£1bn

Tags

Location of Clothing & Fashion Companies

Clothing & Fashion Companies by Size

78% Micro

18% Small

3% Mid

1% Large

0% Mega

Largest Clothing & Fashion Companies
Turnover
Clothing & Fashion Companies by Age

35% Young

26% Startup

23% Established

16% Mature

0% New

Fastest Growing Clothing & Fashion Companies

45% Declining

18% Healthy

18% Rapid

11% High

8% Low

Clothing & Fashion Industry Competitive Environment - New Entrants vs Leavers

Clothing & Fashion Industry Valuation

EBITDA Multiple

Clothing & Fashion Industry Valuation

Turnover Multiple

Clothing & Fashion Industry Valuation

Net Asset Multiple

Note - from March 2020 multiples are calculated monthly, prior to this they were calculated on an annual basis.
UK Manufacture of wearing apparel Industry Insights

There are 6,003 active Businesses in the UK with combined annual sales of £6 billion .

The Industry employs around 45,588 people and contributes £1 billion to the economy.

The most popular location for Clothing & Fashion companies is London with 2,333 and the fewest are located in Northern Ireland with 81.

The largest Clothing & Fashion company is Burberry Limited with a turnover of £2bn. 78% of the industry is comprised of Micro companies with only 3% Mid companies.

16% of the Clothing & Fashion Industry is made up of 16% Mature but the majority are Young businesses (35%) the oldest company is Quantum Clothing Group Limited founded in 1865.

Clothing & Fashion industry has a number of high growth companies (11%), the fastest growing company is Bioworld International Limited with a 3 year growth rate of 46%. Other fast growing companies include B M Fashions (Holdings) Limited (45%), Afg Media Ltd (31%) and Finisterre Uk Limited (30%).

The UK Clothing & Fashion Industry’s valuation has been improving over the past 3 years with a current EBITDA multiple of 11.28x, Turnover multiple of 1.47x and a Net Asset multiple of 3.19x.