Almost anything can be called British if you only look at the last step. There are many UK businesses who buy blank t-shirts from Asia, print a pattern on them and sell them as “British made”. Of course, in some sense this is made in Britain, but I think most would agree it is not made in Britain. The further back a supply chain runs, the more money stays within the four nations of the United Kingdom. A coat sewn in a factory supports that factory. The same coat cut from woven cloth also supports that mill, and the mill supports a spinner, and the spinner supports a sheep farm. If those upstream trades such as the mills, spinners, tanneries, clay houses and foundries close, they are extremely difficult to bring back; skills and factories can be lost forever. Here at Grown and Made UK, we recognise the importance of these trades through the Gold and Silver standard. This isn’t about “good” or “bad” businesses, it’s about celebrating businesses who truly value the UK supply chain.
Genuinely made in the UK, from a main material that is imported or whose origin isn’t published.
Silver is not a consolation prize — the vast majority of businesses in the UK wouldn’t even qualify for Silver. These are real workshops and factories employing real people, and for several trades Silver is simply the best that Britain can currently offer as the upstream industry no longer exists here at any scale. For example, a Northampton shoemaker using European calf is doing highly skilled work that supports a town; there is no British tannery producing that leather to buy from. Equally, nearly all knifemakers and foundries are Silver because sadly Britain no longer has a prominent steel industry. Many Silver listings are also only Silver because a business hasn’t said who spins its yarn or rolls its steel. One clear answer could move them up. Buying Silver is buying British.
Fully made or grown in the UK — including the main material.
Gold means the chain runs deeper: the cloth was woven here, the clay was dug or prepared here, the metal was worked from bullion at a British bench, the food was grown on the farm. Raw inputs that Britain simply cannot produce such as cotton, cashmere fibre, gold bullion and gemstones do not count against a business, because no amount of effort could change this. What counts is whether the first properly manufactured stage possible in the UK happened here. The Gold standard is difficult to obtain because it is strictly rule based and not discretionary. By supporting Gold businesses, you are supporting the entire UK supply chain for that product.
| Category | Gold | Silver |
|---|---|---|
| Farm shops | Effectively everything sold is British: grown or reared on the farm itself, or bought in from other British growers and producers. No imported produce lines. A farm shop selling its own meat and veg alongside other British suppliers. | Mostly British, and often growing a great deal of it, but stocking a meaningful amount of imported food alongside. Daylesford and Riverford sit here: excellent British farms with imported lines on the shelves. |
| Clothing | The garment is made here and the main fabric was milled, woven, knitted or tanned in the UK. Raw fibre such as cotton is always imported and doesn’t count against them. For knitwear, the yarn must be evidenced as UK-spun. Knitting a jumper here creates the fabric, but the spinner still has to be named. Cloth woven at a British mill, or knitwear on named British-spun yarn. | Genuinely cut, sewn, knitted or made in a UK workshop, but the main fabric or leather is imported or its origin isn’t published. Northampton shoemaking is the standing precedent: superb British construction, imported calf leather. |
| Ceramics | Formed, fired and decorated in the UK, and the clay body itself is British: dug or prepared here by a British clay house. Imported glaze chemicals and stains don’t count against them, in the same way dyes don’t for cloth. Cornish china clay or Devon ball clay, worked in a British pottery. | Made in a British pottery, but from a ready-made imported body. A business is also Silver if clay’s origin can’t be evidenced. Decorating of imported blanks does not qualify for the map at all. |
| Jewellery & Watches | Jewellery fabricated in the UK from grain or bullion, at a British bench or casting house. Bullion counts as a raw material, and imported gemstones are fine. For watches, a movement that is substantially UK-made. UK-mined materials such as Welsh gold, Whitby jet or Blue John go further still, and are noted in the listing. | The key here is British bench work. The business must do the setting, finishing, assembly but can do so on imported castings, mounts or chains. For watches, genuine UK making and assembly around an imported movement. A British hallmark is not evidence of British making as import hallmarks exist. |
| Cutlery & Cookware | Fully forged, ground, spun or cut in the UK and the principal material is British such as steel, iron, or British-quarried stone. Very rare, because Britain no longer has a stainless strip industry serving this trade. | Genuinely made in a British workshop or factory, but the steel or iron stock is imported or its supplier isn’t disclosed. Nearly the whole trade sits here, including long-established Sheffield firms. Real forging and finishing in Sheffield on steel that came from elsewhere. |
Two rules that sit above all of the above. Where the origin of a main material isn’t clearly evidenced, a business gets Silver until it’s confirmed; we never give the benefit of the doubt for Gold. Badges can never be bought: no business pays to be listed, promoted or upgraded, and only evidence moves anyone on to the map or up to Gold.
Every badge on this map is researched by hand from what businesses publish about themselves, and we try hard to get it right. But supply chains change, websites go out of date, and some of these judgements turn on a single line buried in a product description. We will get some of them wrong. Whether you run it, buy from it, or simply know the trade better than we do, if you think a business has the wrong badge then please do let us know why so we can review it. You can contact us here.