Patrick Grant and Community Clothing launch campaign to boost Welsh manufacturing

Wales, once the home of intimates manufacturing for Gossard and its famous Wonderbra brand, wants to reignite underwear production in the country.

Under the banner ‘Hello Boyos’, Patrick Grant’s clothing brand and social enterprise, Community Clothing has launched a campaign to bring manufacturing back to Wales.

Hello Boyos, an amusing Welsh play on the words ‘Hello Boys’ delivered by supermodel Eva Herzigova on her traffic-stopping billboard for Wonderbra in the 1990s, sees Community Clothing launch an inclusive range of affordable underwear for men and women.

The company, which manufacturers clothing across 42 factories in the UK, is attempting to restart manufacturing in Wales from scratch. To get production off the ground, Community Clothing is asking for customers to pre-order its underwear through the Hello Boyos campaign website and the ambitious brand is hoping to secure orders for 10,000 pieces.

If the target is reached, the company will use it to kickstart regular production and it’s hoped this will lead to as many as 50 skilled staff being brought back to the sewing room in the short term.

To bring the campaign to life, Community Clothing has brought together a host of Welsh talent, including singer and actor Wynne Evans, comedian Kiri Pritchard-McLean. The campaign also includes company founder Grant (who’s not Welsh), shot in their pants by British portrait photographer Chris Floyd.

“Everything we do at Community Clothing is about making great clothes and preserving and creating skilled jobs. There is a strong heritage of manufacturing the finest underwear in the South Wales Valleys, we want to see that tradition continue. Supporting our campaign means supporting the growth of good jobs in a corner of the UK that really needs them,” said Grant.

The new “everyday” underwear collection for men and women has been developed using 100% organic and single farm cotton fabric, also knitted in the UK in Leicestershire. 

Created using a supersoft lightweight single jersey for women, a soft and durable midweight interlock fabric for men, every piece is cut and sewn by seamstresses at the factory in New Tredegar in South Wales, noted Grant.

The collection for women consists of a cami, two unstructured bra styles and three knicker shapes — a high rise, classic brief and thong in black, white, grey marl, sage and pink. The men’s range features three pant styles — a boxer, Y-front and brief, available in black, white, grey marl, navy and denim blue.

The inclusive collection will be available in sizes 6-20 for women, XS to 4XL for men and priced from £9-£15. Customers who support the campaign by pre-ordering from the underwear collection will also receive a 10-15% discount on the retail price.