Sealskinz moves production facility back to the UK, absorbs price increase

Weatherproof garment specialist Sealskinz has announced that it will return of all of its knitted manufacturing to Kings Lynn.

Starting the recruitment process back in March, SealSkinz has re-employed many of the people who used to work within its UK production team and has also recruited 15 new employees to ensure that supply meets global demand.

Manufacture of all socks and knitted gloves was outsourced to Europe in 2015, but Managing Director Alistair Tait explained that the company took the decision bring manufacture back to the UK to improve the supply chain.

“Of course, the cost of manufacture in the UK is greater, but our ability to provide a much more flexible response to retailer and consumer demand is just so much better. The market has many challenges at a time when things are changing ever more quickly. The additional cost is being borne by SealSkinz and we are not passing this onto our customers by way of price increase.

“We have a great team of people and we are extremely proud and grateful that so many of our staff from three years ago were happy to return. Together with new recruits, the next two years will see exciting times for SealSkinz.

“SealSkinz has always been proud to be a UK brand and once again a significant portion of our products will be manufactured in the UK.  Our products have always been designed in the UK, and once again all of our knitted products will be handmade and every single sock hand tested for quality in the UK prior to being finished, packed and shipped globally.”

The firm has produced the below video to showcase its UK assembly:

Sealskinz comes up against competition eager to grab market share. Speaking to CI.N at Eurobike, Dexshell outlined its plans to decrease its prices.