The UK fashion and textile supply chain has long operated in a complex global environment; however UKFT argues the challenges businesses now face are on a different scale. Trade disruption, rising protectionism, higher domestic costs and a fragile consumer climate are converging to force companies to rethink the fundamentals of how and where they source, manufacture and sell.
UKFT’s international business director, Paul Alger MBE, outlines how the sector has entered a period that demands clearer insight and more coordinated guidance. For many businesses, the past few years have stripped away long-held assumptions about stability in global supply chains, exposing new risks related to market access, compliance, and over-reliance on a narrow set of trading partners.
According to the association, recent shifts in global trade policy have had a profound impact on UK fashion and textile businesses. The introduction of US IEEPA tariffs, the effective removal of De Minimis and the wider rise in protectionism have landed at the same time as the industry continues to adapt to post-Brexit trading realities.
For many brands, the US had become a critical export market following the loss of frictionless access to the EU. The sudden increase in cost and complexity of shipping into the US has therefore had a disproportionate effect, disrupting established business models and undermining confidence in previously dependable routes to market.
UKFT says this has triggered a fundamental reassessment of risk. Companies are no longer questioning whether disruption will happen, but how often and how severely. As a result, supply chain resilience is being reframed as a core commercial priority rather than an operational afterthought.
One of the most significant shifts UKFT highlights is the growing focus on what it describes as “safe-shoring”. While the industry has long debated near-shoring, on-shoring and ally-shoring, the current climate has pushed businesses to look more closely at political and regulatory stability as a sourcing criterion in its own right.
Rather than chasing the lowest unit cost, companies are increasingly asking which countries are least likely to become sudden targets of tariffs, sanctions or trade barriers. UKFT says this is driving interest in alternative sourcing destinations such as Morocco and Jordan, alongside continued engagement with suppliers in Türkiye, Egypt and parts of Eastern Europe.
At the same time, the organisation notes that no market can be considered permanently safe. For many brands, the goal is no longer to find the perfect sourcing location but to build a diversified network that spreads risk across regions and reduces exposure to any single policy shock.
While global sourcing has become more precarious, UKFT argues that domestic manufacturing has not been able to fill the gap at scale. UK producers are operating in what the association describes as the harshest environment in over a decade.
Rising labour, energy and tax costs, combined with the lingering effects of Brexit and weaker export demand, have left many UK factories under pressure. Some are running below capacity, others are pausing investment plans or considering relocation overseas in order to remain viable.
This is creating a paradox for the industry. On the one hand, local manufacturing offers clear strategic advantages: shorter lead times, greater control, and the flexibility to support innovation and small production runs. On the other hand, the commercial reality makes it difficult for many businesses to commit to UK production without stronger structural support.
UKFT believes this is where government policy must play a more decisive role. Without targeted intervention on costs, skills and incentives, the UK risks losing not just capacity but the creative and technical ecosystem that underpins its fashion and textile sector.
Alongside sourcing and cost pressures, UKFT highlights the growing burden of compliance as a defining issue for the supply chain in 2026. Regulatory requirements around product safety, sustainability, due diligence and documentation are evolving faster than many businesses, particularly SMEs, can track.
This is increasing the risk of costly errors, shipment delays and non-compliance, especially for companies operating across multiple markets with different rules. UKFT explains that the ability to interpret and act on regulatory change is becoming as important as traditional commercial decision-making.
For the association, this underlines the need for expert-led guidance across the sector. Helping businesses understand rules of origin, labelling requirements, forced labour obligations and upcoming regulatory changes is now central to protecting both revenue and reputation.
UKFT argues that resilience in today’s fashion and textile supply chain is not built on a single strategy but on a combination of disciplined, forward-looking actions.
These include mapping and stress-testing supply chain exposure to tariff and policy risk, diversifying sourcing even in small volumes to reduce vulnerability, and reassessing market dependence, particularly where sales are concentrated in just one or two regions.
The organisation also points to the importance of strengthening compliance systems, investing in internal capability and seeking specialist support before regulatory changes become operational emergencies. In a climate where uncertainty is constant, preparation is becoming a competitive advantage.
UKFT warns that the pressures facing the UK fashion and textile supply chain are real, structural and unlikely to ease in the near term.
But the association is equally clear that the situation is not hopeless. With better risk management, smarter sourcing strategies, stronger compliance and meaningful policy support, the UK sector can still protect its competitiveness and creative edge.
“Making the UK fashion supply chain competitive in a protectionist world” was originally created and published by Just Style, a GlobalData owned brand.
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