Make, Not Brand

Branding: The action of marking with a hot iron, as a surgical operation; or of burning a mark upon a criminal, or an article for sale, OED.

With the exception of livestock and some leather goods, there is very little that is genuinely branded by hot iron today. And yet 'branding' is everywhere. What used simply to be companies or makers — or even people, political parties or politicians — are now brands. Hotels and house builders can be brands, cooks and countries, even.

You can read books about branding, get advice on branding — even get a degree in branding. There seems to be no buzz-word that escapes the possibilities of branding. You can look after, nurture and (of course) edit, polish, position (or reposition), promote and protect your brand. You can extend it, curate it, upscale it, upsize it, upmarket it, identify with it, license it or collaborate with it. Product now follows brand, in what is surely the most perverse of propositions.

EdNerat and Weskit are 'makes', not brands. 'Make' is what we do. Our maker's marks are found inside, not brandished on the outside of our garments. Our marks are hidden from the casual viewer and visible only to the wearer. They are there to signify who made the garments, not to justify price, signify value or — bless — elevate the consumer experience or promote consumer engagement.

To the extent anything at EdNerat is curated or nurtured, it is the garments themselves.

Brave and foolish we may be, but we hope our garments will sing softly for their own suppers with neither 'brand hype' nor brash hyperbole.

A Note on our Labels

Our maker's marks are embroidered to order in a workshop in East London ever-so-conveniently positioned downstairs from our own. Sufficient ribbon and thread and a loud holler is all it takes to procure some more. We make our labels here so that we don't have to over-make and so that we can make the best labels we can. We make them on silk because they are positioned to sit on the delicate skin at the back of the neck where scratchy taffeta is not welcome.

Our care labels are woven in Neath. Our lovely makers at National Weaving are superbly tolerant of our small order sizes as well as the vagaries in sizing that our composition labels require. Made on the softest cotton, they will neither scratch nor add bulk — and of course, they are discreet.