Key Points
- British designer Margaret Howell has officially opened a brand-new production workroom in Harringay, north London, replacing her previous long-standing facility in Edmonton.
- The facility serves as a dedicated production space for shirtmaking, which remains one of the foundational garments of the luxury label.
- Each garment produced in the facility is crafted by a single machinist, incorporating up to 25 individual components with meticulous attention to detail.
- Garments made at the new site will feature a special black “London Workroom” label to denote their provenance.
- The range produced at the new location includes two special shirts created using leftover shirting cotton to support sustainable manufacturing.
Harringay (North London News) October 16, 2026 – Quintessential British designer Margaret Howell has officially unveiled her brand-new workroom facility in Harringay, north London, establishing a dedicated temple to traditional shirtmaking. As reported by Jack Moss of Wallpaper* magazine, the new production facility represents a modernized workspace for manufacturing the designer’s foundational garments. Each shirt produced within the facility is assembled and hand-stitched by a single skilled machinist and contains up to 25 individual pattern components, maintaining the rigorous, high-level craft standards established by the brand over five decades ago.
How Has Margaret Howell’s Approach to Shirtmaking Evolved Over Time?
The origins of the designer’s passion for shirtmaking trace back to her youth and early experimental work. As documented in the official Wallpaper* report by Jack Moss, Margaret Howell previously reflected on her initial experiences with tailoring in the 2021 film The Making of a Shirt, directed by Emily Richardson. In the film, Margaret Howell stated:
“In my teenage years, I enjoyed making my own clothes from paper patterns, but the one thing that was a real challenge was to make a shirt. A shirt has so many strong pieces. You have to halve and quarter to get it to set correctly, and then all these little details – at least two dozen pieces of pattern that go into making the shirt”.
According to coverage published directly on the official Margaret Howell brand journal, the initial spark for her commercial shirt production occurred in the early 1970s following a fortuitous discovery. As recorded by the brand’s archival documentation, Margaret Howell stated:
“I found a shirt at a local jumble sale, it was a soft, pinstripe fabric and made beautifully, with tiny stitching and I thought I’d love to make a shirt like this”.
Following this discovery, Howell sourced traditional cotton from David & John Anderson, a historically renowned Scottish supplier of men’s dress shirt fabrics, before establishing her first formal workroom in Blackheath, South London, in 1973.
What Details Define the Craftsmanship Inside the New Harringay Workspace?
The opening of the Harringay facility marks the latest evolution in the brand’s physical manufacturing footprint, following the establishment of “Unit 7” in Edmonton, north London, in 2000. As reported by Jack Moss of Wallpaper*, the brand’s team of cutters, machinists, and finishers shares more than 175 years of combined experience in high-end garment assembly.
Detailing the exacting standards required during production, Margaret Howell stated on the official brand platform:
“When you’re producing something, or making something, everything’s important. Every last detail has to be thought about. The collar has to be notched and sit perfectly on the neckband. It has to be well cut as well as well stitched”.
The manufacturing process concludes with horn or mother-of-pearl buttons being hand-attached before each shirt is hand-pressed for global distribution.
As further noted by Jack Moss of Wallpaper*, garments made within the new facility are distinguished by a special black “London Workroom” label sewn into each piece. Furthermore, the line-up produced at the facility features two shirts constructed entirely from leftover shirting cotton, a step that Howell highlighted as “underpinning the brand’s continued commitment to responsible manufacturing”.
Background of the Development
The opening of the Harringay workroom represents the latest chapter in Margaret Howell’s fifty-year dedication to British garment manufacturing. After graduating with a Fine Art degree from Goldsmiths University in the late 1960s, Howell initially began drafting patterns and sewing shirts from her own home. Her emphasis on relaxed, unconstructed tailoring stood in stark contrast to the stiff, formal menswear prevalent during the early 1970s.
To maintain total oversight of production quality, Howell established dedicated workroom spaces, moving from Blackheath in 1973 to Edmonton in 2000, and finally to the newly constructed space in Harringay. By retaining in-house production capabilities within Greater London, the brand has preserved heritage garment assembly techniques that have largely disappeared from the modern British high street.
Prediction: Impact on the Luxury Garment Industry and Consumers
The establishment of a brand-new, modern manufacturing facility within Greater London signals a strong reinforcement of localized luxury garment production. For consumers and brand enthusiasts, the introduction of the exclusive “London Workroom” label offers heightened transparency, guaranteeing that garments are produced locally under ethical, artisanal conditions.
For the broader fashion industry, Howell’s continued investment in domestic production facilities demonstrates the commercial viability of maintaining specialized craft workrooms within major urban centers. Furthermore, the inclusion of circular manufacturing practices—such as utilizing leftover deadstock fabrics—is likely to encourage other luxury labels to adopt localized, low-waste production models to meet growing consumer demand for responsible manufacturing.
