British-made underwear and lingerie splits along one line: whether the style has a wire. Unwired bras, bralettes, briefs, boxers, loungewear and nightwear are sewn in Britain today, by contract makers and by brands that run their own workrooms. Wired bras mostly are not, and the UK businesses that say so openly are telling you something useful about the product rather than turning work away.
This guide covers both sides of that line. It names the businesses we checked on their own websites and on Companies House in November 2026, says what each one actually claims, and explains why wired construction and bra grading are hard. It then looks at the trade data, the duty on bras and briefs made abroad, and how a small brand can plan a first run that fits the way UK intimates production really works.
Who we are: UK Clothing Factory places and manages production with documented factories in the United Kingdom. The companies named below are independent businesses, checked on their own websites and on Companies House in November 2026, and are not members of our group. What we do is different: our team replies to your brief within 24 hours, then places and manages your production with the factory in our group built for your product, from 100 pieces per style.
In short
- Unwired is made here. Apparel Inspired in Hartlepool makes non-wired lingerie and underwear for men and women, with MOQs of 50 pieces (Apparel Inspired).
- Wired usually goes abroad. The same business says wired designs go to an overseas partner that specialises in wired lingerie (Apparel Inspired).
- Very small runs exist. The Fashion Studio at Fashion-Enter in London lists lingerie and runs short production from 1 to 300 units (Fashion-Enter).
- Imports dominate. The UK imported $355.4 million of bras and similar goods in 2024, $150.3 million of it from China (WITS).
- Duty if you make abroad: 6% on bras and 12% on knitted briefs, or 0% from partner countries when the rules of origin are met (UK Trade Tariff).
Which UK businesses make underwear and lingerie for brands?
Only a few businesses say on their own websites that they make intimates for other brands in Britain, and they describe their work quite differently. We list them with what each one states, not what a directory says about them.
Apparel Inspired (Hartlepool)
Apparel Inspired says its team creates patterns, samples and production runs for non-wired lingerie and underwear for both men and women, and offers a design service for the category. The styles it lists are non-wired bras, sports bras, soft underwear, knickers, briefs and boxer shorts. Its production panel lists UK manufacturing and overseas factory sourcing, MOQs of 50 pieces and up to 3,000 pieces a month (Apparel Inspired, lingerie and underwear).
For wired designs, it says it works with an overseas partner that specialises in wired lingerie. Its production unit is in Hartlepool. Companies House lists Apparel Inspired Ltd, 14901020 as active, incorporated on 29 May 2023 with a registered office in Harrogate. Because it offers both UK and overseas production, confirm in writing which applies to your order if a UK origin claim matters to you.
The Fashion Studio at Fashion-Enter (London)
Fashion-Enter's Fashion Studio, established in 2008, makes first patterns, toiles, seals, grades and short production runs from 1 unit to 300 units. It says it can stitch any product, and lingerie and swimwear are both on its list (Fashion-Enter, the Fashion Studio). That makes it one of the few places where a brand can test a handful of soft bras or briefs before committing to a run. Fashion - Enter Ltd, 05779844 is active at Companies House.
Inspire Intimates (Harrogate)
Inspire Intimates says it specialises in the design, development and manufacture of lingerie, underwear, sleepwear and swimwear, with services across design, technical, supply chain management, manufacturing and sourcing. It says it manages more than three million garments every year with a 98%+ on-time delivery record (Inspire Intimates).
Read that as a supply chain business at scale. Companies House lists Inspire Intimates Limited, 07590383 as active, incorporated in 2011, with its nature of business given as agents involved in the sale of textiles and clothing. Its site does not say where the garments are sewn, so ask that question first rather than assume a UK origin.
Apparel Inspired in Hartlepool makes non-wired lingerie and underwear for men and women, lists MOQs of 50 pieces and up to 3,000 pieces a month, and sends wired designs to an overseas partner. The Fashion Studio at Fashion-Enter in London stitches lingerie in runs of 1 to 300 units. Inspire Intimates in Harrogate manages more than three million garments a year and does not state where they are sewn.
Which British brands sew their own underwear?
Some of the clearest evidence that intimates can still be sewn in Britain comes from brands with their own workrooms. They do not take outside orders as far as their sites show, so they are not suppliers for your brand, but they show which products the UK makes well.
- David Nieper (Derbyshire). Its site says it designs, cuts, knits and sews its clothes in the UK, and it sells nightwear and lingerie (David Nieper). Make It British's 2022 list adds a telling note: not all David Nieper lingerie is made in the UK, and its bras and briefs are made by other brands (Make It British). David Nieper Limited, 00687485 is active, incorporated in 1961, with women's underwear among its listed activities.
- Emma Willis (boxer shorts). Make It British's 2022 list says its boxer shorts are made in its Gloucester factory, and its own site describes each pair as cut and sewn individually (Emma Willis). Emma Willis Limited, 03698533 is active, registered on Jermyn Street in London.
- Something Wicked (Leeds). Its site says its lingerie is handmade in the UK, from a Leeds LS9 address (Something Wicked), and Make It British describes made-to-order pieces in Japanese plonge leather (Make It British). Something Wicked Holdings Limited, 10000218 is active at Mabgate Mills in Leeds.
The pattern is worth noticing. Nightwear, woven boxer shorts and made-to-order luxury pieces are sewn here, while the volume bra, the most engineered item in the drawer, is the piece even a British maker of nightwear buys in. That is the wired and unwired line seen from the brand side.
Why is wired lingerie so much harder to make?
Because a wired bra is an engineered structure as much as a sewn garment, and almost nothing about it follows standard garment practice.
- The wire has to stay contained. A channel holds each wire, and that channel has to survive repeated washing and wear without the wire working through. A wire that pokes out is a garment that hurts and comes back.
- The cup has to hold its shape under load. Moulded cups need tooling, and cut-and-sewn cups need seams placed to spread the load. Either way the cup does structural work, and a cup that looks right flat can collapse on a body.
- The band carries most of the support. Customers tend to think the straps do the work, but in a well-fitted bra the band does, which makes the band elastic and its application the most important operation in the garment.
- The trims are specialised. Wire, channelling, underwire casing, hook-and-eye tape, rings and sliders come from specialist suppliers, often with their own minimums and lead times.
None of this is impossible in Britain, and made-to-order workrooms do it. But at production volume it calls for dedicated machines, trims bought in quantity and operators who sew the same construction every day. That is why wired production clusters in factories built for it, and why a UK maker that sends wired work to a specialist is making a sound technical call.
Why does bra grading work as a grid?
Because a bra size has two parts that move separately, the band and the cup, so a size range is a grid rather than a single line.
Going up one band size and down one cup letter keeps a similar cup volume. So a 34C and a 36B are sister sizes: roughly the same cup on a different band. A 34C and a 34D share a band and differ in cup. A factory that grades a bra the way it grades a T-shirt, one step at a time in a single direction, produces a range where one size fits well and the others fit approximately.
For a small brand this has a practical side. Every band and cup combination is a size you must grade, fit, stock and sell. A first collection of unwired styles in S, M and L, or in a short run of bra sizes, keeps the grid manageable. Wider grids are better added once the core sizes are proven on real bodies.
A wired bra needs a wire channel that survives laundering, cups that hold shape under load and a band that carries most of the support. Bra sizes form a grid because band and cup move separately: a 34C and a 36B are sister sizes with a similar cup volume. Grading a bra like a T-shirt gives a range where one size fits and the rest fit approximately.
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How much underwear does the UK import?
Far more than it exports. Under HS heading 6212, which covers bras, girdles, corsets and similar articles, the UK imported $355.4 million of goods in 2024, weighing 9.16 million kg, according to UN Comtrade data published on WITS (WITS, UK imports 2024). UK exports under the same heading were $44.5 million (WITS, UK exports 2024). Values are in US dollars as reported.
The value fell from $595.6 million in 2019 to $355.4 million in 2024. The data does not say why, and part of the change may reflect prices, exchange rates and how goods are recorded rather than how many bras were bought, so read it as a trend in declared value only (WITS, 2019).
Where those goods come from is more striking. In 2024 China supplied $150.3 million, Bangladesh $73.2 million, Vietnam $28.2 million, Sri Lanka $25.4 million and Morocco $13.5 million (WITS). China alone was about 42% of the total.
For a brand, the lesson is not that UK making is hopeless. It is that the UK intimates base is small and specialised, so the businesses in it are easier to list, worth checking carefully, and best used for the products they are set up for.
What import duty applies to bras and briefs made abroad?
If you place wired styles overseas, duty goes into your landed cost. Under the UK Global Tariff, bras under commodity code 6212109000, and sets of a bra and briefs made up for retail sale under 6212101000, carry 6% with no preference (UK Trade Tariff, 6212109000; 6212101000). Women's knitted briefs of man-made fibres (6108220000) and men's knitted cotton briefs and boxers (6107110000) carry 12% (6108220000; 6107110000).
The tariff lists 0% for these codes from the EU, Turkey, India, Vietnam, Morocco and other partner countries, and 0% under the comprehensive and enhanced preferences of the Developing Countries Trading Scheme. The standard DCTS rate is 4.8% on bras and 9.6% on knitted briefs. China, the largest source of UK bra imports, has no preference and pays the full rate.
Do not read 0% as automatic. Preferential rates depend on the goods meeting each agreement's rules of origin, which for sewn garments look at where the fabric was made as well as where it was sewn. A bra assembled in a partner country from fabric and trims made elsewhere may not qualify. Check your own product and proof of origin with a customs adviser before you price on 0%.
Under the UK Global Tariff, bras carry 6% duty and knitted briefs and boxers carry 12%, with 4.8% and 9.6% at the standard DCTS rate. Goods from the EU, Turkey, India, Vietnam and Morocco can enter at 0% when they meet the rules of origin. In 2024 the UK imported $355.4 million under HS 6212, $150.3 million of it from China.
How do the UK underwear makers compare?
| Business | Location | Minimum | Makes | Where it is sewn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apparel Inspired | Hartlepool | MOQs of 50 pieces | Non-wired bras, sports bras, briefs, knickers, boxer shorts | UK, with overseas sourcing; wired via an overseas partner |
| Fashion Studio, Fashion-Enter | London | 1 to 300 units | Short runs of any product, including lingerie and swimwear | London studio |
| Inspire Intimates | Harrogate | Not published | Design, development and supply chain for lingerie, underwear, sleepwear, swimwear | Not stated |
Source: each business's own website and Companies House, read 9 November 2026. "Not published" and "not stated" mean we did not find the information on the business's own site.
Two of the three publish a minimum, and only one gives a clear answer on where its work is sewn. That is the honest picture of this category. In intimates, mixed UK and overseas arrangements are common, so the origin question has to be asked directly, and the answer kept in writing.
What does an intimates tech pack need to specify?
More than most garments, and the gaps are what cause extra sample rounds.
- Every elastic, by position. Band, leg, neckline and strap elastics are usually different products, with different widths, stretch and application methods. A brief that just says "elastic" leaves the most important decision to the factory.
- Application tension. Elastic is sewn on stretched, and how far it is stretched against the fabric decides whether the garment supports or cuts in. Give it as a ratio, and expect it to be the first thing adjusted at sample stage.
- Fabric stretch and recovery, separately. They are different properties. High stretch with poor recovery gives a garment that fits for a few weeks and then sags.
- The grading rule. For cup-based garments, say how band and cup grade. Do not leave it to a standard apparel rule.
- Hardware and finishes. Rings, sliders, hooks and eyes come in different metals and coatings. Choose one finish for the whole range rather than style by style.
- Labels. Brand, care, size and fibre content labels all need sizes, positions and wording, and care labels sit against the skin in this category, so choose soft materials.
If your specification is not written yet, a factory-ready tech pack covers these points, and how we work explains where that fits before you approach a factory.
An intimates tech pack should name every elastic by position with its width and stretch, give the application tension as a ratio, list fabric stretch and recovery separately, state how band and cup grade, and fix one hardware finish and one label set for the whole range.
Why does underwear need so many trims?
Because almost every part of an intimates garment does a job, and each job needs a specific component. A plain T-shirt is mostly fabric and thread. A soft-cup bralette, by contrast, can take a main fabric, a lining or power mesh, band elastic, underarm elastic, strap elastic, neckline elastic or binding, rings, sliders, a hook-and-eye fastening and several labels.
Each of those parts is often bought from a different supplier, and suppliers commonly sell by the roll, the reel or the box. On a run of a hundred garments, you may buy more trim than the run uses, and someone has to hold the leftover stock. Ask for the trim minimums along with the garment minimum, so the total cost of a first run is clear before you approve it.
How do you keep the trim bill under control?
By fixing the component palette before the styles, so one trim order serves the whole range.
A collection where every style shares the same elastic widths, the same hardware finish and the same labels needs one trim order. A collection where each style has its own palette needs one per style, each with its own minimum and its own leftover stock. That is why intimates factories value consistency across a range so highly.
The discipline is unusual in fashion design, because it means choosing the elastic widths, the hardware finish and the label set first, and designing within them. It pays back later as well. With trims already on the shelf, a repeat order can start sooner, and a new style can be added mid-season without a new trim order. In a category where repeat orders are how small brands grow, that matters as much as the first saving.
A soft-cup bralette can need a main fabric, lining, four separate elastics, rings, sliders, a hook-and-eye fastening and labels, each often bought from a different supplier. Sharing one elastic set, one hardware finish and one label set across a range turns several small trim orders into one.
Can a small brand make underwear in Britain?
Unwired, yes, in small runs. Apparel Inspired lists MOQs of 50 pieces for its underwear and lingerie, and the Fashion Studio covers runs from 1 to 300 units (Apparel Inspired; Fashion-Enter). Our own group works from 100 pieces per style. Wired, realistically, means an overseas specialist, either one you find yourself or one a UK business manages for you.
That line should shape the first collection rather than be discovered by it. Bralettes, soft cups, sports bras, briefs, boxers, loungewear and nightwear all fall on the side the UK can make.
A practical plan for a first run
- Choose unwired constructions the maker already sews, because intimates assembly depends on specific machines and operator experience.
- Fix the trim palette across the range: one elastic set, one hardware finish, one label set.
- Launch in one or two colours. Each colour multiplies the fabric and elastic buys, and dyed elastic often has its own minimum.
- Keep the size range short at first, and widen it once the fit is proven.
- Sample on bodies, not forms. Fit in this category shows in wear and movement, so a garment approved on a mannequin can still be wrong.
- Wash and wear before bulk. Elastic relaxation and recovery loss appear after use, so test samples through several washes.
If a wired style is central to the brand, plan it as a separate supply chain from the start: a second factory, a second lead time, a second set of fit approvals and possibly a second origin on the label. Many brands launch unwired in the UK and add wired once the core range sells.
Can you label UK-sewn underwear as made in the UK?
Usually, but be exact about what it means. Make It British's guide to origin rules says a product comes from the country where it last underwent a substantial transformation, and its example is imported fabric stitched into garments in Leicester (Make It British). So briefs sewn in Hartlepool from imported jersey can carry a UK origin, but the fabric is not British.
In intimates this matters twice over, because so many arrangements mix UK and overseas work. If you sell a range where the briefs are sewn here and the wired bras abroad, label each product by where it was made, and do not let a range-level "British" message imply more. Our guide to what the made in UK label legally means goes through the detail.
How do you verify a UK underwear manufacturer?
- Ask where it will be sewn, in writing. In intimates this is the first question, because mixed UK and overseas arrangements are common and several businesses say so openly.
- Check Companies House. Confirm the company number, status and filing history on Companies House, and note the nature of business: an agent and a manufacturer are listed differently.
- Ask about the machines. Which machines do you use to attach elastic under tension, and are they on your premises? Anyone who runs them can say in one line.
- Ask how they grade a cup-based garment. Someone who does it often explains band and cup as two steps straight away.
- Ask who holds the trim stock. Settle in writing who pays for and keeps leftover elastic and hardware before the first order.
- Ask for their most common sample correction. A maker who sews intimates every week will have a quick, specific answer, often about elastic tension or strap position.
- Wash, wear and repeat. Approve bulk only after samples have been worn and washed, since the faults that matter appear after use.
Related Reading
- Clothing manufacturers UK: the verified list
- Swimwear manufacturers UK
- Gym clothing manufacturers UK
- Low MOQ clothing manufacturers UK
- Made in UK clothing: what the label legally means
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I get lingerie made in the UK?
Yes, if it is unwired. Apparel Inspired in Hartlepool says it makes patterns, samples and production runs for non-wired lingerie and underwear for men and women, with minimums from 50 pieces. The Fashion Studio at Fashion-Enter in London lists lingerie among the products it can stitch, in runs of 1 to 300 units. Wired styles are usually made abroad.
Why are wired bras usually made overseas?
Because a wired bra needs a wire channel that survives laundering, cups that hold their shape under load and a size grid where band and cup grade separately. That takes specific machines, trims and experience. Apparel Inspired, for example, says it sends wired designs to an overseas partner that specialises in wired lingerie.
What is the minimum order for UK-made underwear?
Apparel Inspired lists MOQs of 50 pieces on its underwear page, and the Fashion Studio at Fashion-Enter covers short runs from 1 to 300 units. Our own group works from 100 pieces per style. In practice the elastic, lace and hardware you need often come with their own minimums, which can set the real floor for a small run.
How does bra sizing work for grading?
A bra size has two parts that move separately: the band and the cup. Going up one band size and down one cup letter keeps a similar cup volume, so a 34C and a 36B are sister sizes. A size range is therefore a grid rather than a single line, and grading has to treat band and cup as two separate steps.
What import duty applies to bras and briefs made abroad?
Under the UK Global Tariff, bras carry 6% and knitted briefs and boxers carry 12%. Goods from the EU, Turkey, India, Vietnam, Morocco and other partner countries can enter at 0% when they meet the rules of origin and you hold proof of origin. China, the largest source of UK bra imports, has no preference.
Where does the UK import its bras from?
In 2024 the UK imported $355.4 million of goods under HS 6212, which covers bras, girdles and corsets, according to UN Comtrade data on WITS. China supplied $150.3 million, Bangladesh $73.2 million, Vietnam $28.2 million, Sri Lanka $25.4 million and Morocco $13.5 million. UK exports under the same heading were $44.5 million.
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Editorial note: trade names and marks mentioned here belong to their owners. Company details are taken from each company's own website, Make It British and Companies House, trade figures from UN Comtrade via WITS and duty rates from the UK Trade Tariff, all read on 9 November 2026. Minimums and rates change. Confirm terms directly with the business, and your commodity code and origin with a customs adviser, before committing.
Sources consulted
- Apparel Inspired, lingerie and underwear: non-wired range, wired overseas partner, MOQs, monthly capacity, Hartlepool unit.
- Fashion-Enter, the Fashion Studio: established 2008, 1 to 300 units, lingerie and swimwear.
- Inspire Intimates: services, garments managed per year, on-time delivery record.
- David Nieper, Emma Willis and Something Wicked: own-site statements on UK making.
- Make It British, UK lingerie and underwear brands (2022) and UK clothing manufacturers for small businesses: brand notes.
- WITS, UK imports of HS 6212, 2024, 2019 and UK exports 2024: UN Comtrade figures (2020 to 2023 pages use the same address with the year changed).
- UK Trade Tariff, 6212109000, 6212101000, 6108220000 and 6107110000: duty rates, read 9 November 2026.
- Make It British, can I label my product as made in the UK: origin follows the last substantial transformation.
- Companies House: companies 14901020, 05779844, 07590383, 00687485, 03698533 and 10000218, read 9 November 2026.
