Made here. Well, quite near here.

I make many of the HIGGS products, but I don’t make every HIGGS product; it would make a beautifully neat marketing line, but it wouldn’t be true.

What I do is look for opportunities to work locally whenever the right skills, materials and people are available. That means several HIGGS products travel considerably fewer miles during production than the people who eventually wear them.

It also means I get to work with some very talented humans.

Thirty miles down the road

The Gatsby Fleece and other specialist garments are made in small batches by a wonderful seamstress around 30 miles from HIGGS HQ.

Producing it this way means I can be closely involved in how each batch is made, keep quantities sensible and pay proper attention to the fit, fabric and details.

It isn’t the quickest or cheapest way to make clothing. It is, however, how I can make garments that I’m genuinely proud to put the HIGGS name on.

And Big G is a notoriously exacting fit model.

Ten miles in the other direction

Much of the embroidery you see across HIGGS is created by an independent embroiderer just ten miles from the barn.

This is where WALKIES takes shape in gloriously bright thread, names are added to sleeves and designs move from something on my screen to something you can actually wear.

Being nearby means I can pop over to look at samples, compare thread colours and make tiny adjustments that would be considerably more complicated from several hundred miles away.

It also allows us to produce in smaller batches and personalise selected pieces without requiring warehouse-sized quantities of everything.

Candles made close to home

Our Doesn’t Smell Like Wet Dog and Doesn’t Smell Like Fox Sh!t candles are also made around ten miles from HIGGS HQ.

They are carefully produced in small batches by people who know far more about wax, fragrance and creating a very good candle than I do.

I concentrated on the names. It felt best for everyone.

Why nearby matters

Working locally isn’t simply about drawing a small circle around Devon and refusing to look beyond it. A nearby postcode doesn’t automatically make a product perfect—or sustainable.

It does allow me to know who is making certain HIGGS products, understand how they are produced and build proper working relationships with the people behind them.

I can order sensible quantities, visit in person, make changes collaboratively and support other independent businesses while growing my own.

For a small brand, that closeness makes an enormous difference.

The honest bit

Some HIGGS products are made elsewhere in the UK and overseas because that is where the right manufacturing expertise exists. I’ll never describe something as locally made when it isn’t, or use “made in Devon” as a convenient blanket claim for the whole collection.

Instead, I’ll keep looking carefully at every product and asking where it should be made, who should make it and how I can make a better choice.

Sometimes the answer happens to be ten miles down the road.

Which is rather lovely.