Companies bet on British allure to get by Brexit

U.K. businesses appealing to visions of classy culture and quality workmanship

LONDON— Tim Barlow pushes a green stamp onto the edge of an unfinished plate, leaving behind the words “Made in England.”

It’s still a piece of unglazed grey clay, a far cry from the gleaming decorated disc of Wedgwood Jasperware it will become, but Barlow and his employers are betting those words will be a selling point as Britain begins the process of leaving the European Union.

“It takes on a greater importance now we’re coming out of Europe,” he says, matter-of-factly. “We’re standing on our own now.”

It’s not just Wedgwood, the 258year-old firm that has supplied tableware to Britain’s royal family, the Kremlin and the White House. Companies ranging from luxury clothes maker Burberry to Bee Good, a small business making products from British bees, are hoping to make virtue out of necessity by promoting British identity as a selling point.

For some, like Wedgwood, it can mean appealing to foreign visions of a stereotypical Britain: the traditional, classy culture of high tea and garden parties. For others, it’s a bet that consumers around the world recognize the quality of British workmanship and are willing to pay a premium for it.

The question is important for British business if, as expected, Brexit leads to tariffs and other barriers to trade with the EU, the country’s big- gest export market. Exports of goods and services account for about 27 per cent of the British economy. Almost half of exports go to the EU.

The government is trying to bolster overseas trade with a five-year program designed to help 100,000 new exporters sell goods and services abroad. The Exporting is Great website lists potential buyers including online retailers in China looking for U.K. jewelry and housewares, a Japanese company interested in British raincoats and Wellington boots, and a Turkish importer seeking British cosmetics.

Leaning into the uncertainty, Wedgwood has embarked on a sweeping revamp of its offerings to broaden its international market. Building on a heritage of making granny’s china, Wedgwood is planning to capture the image of crum- bling castles, Downton Abbey and Will & Kate as it expands to a younger audience and tries to tap into the zeitgeist of companies such as Burberry — except that they are doing it for homeware.

Wedgwood is an “unpolished jewel to undust,” said Ulrik Garde Due, president of the Fiskars Corp. unit that owns the company. “I think Britain will sell more than ever” after Brexit, he said. “We are turning it into an opportunity.”

There’s value for a company in being associated with Britain. The country is perceived as a “quality supplier,” which means that customers in new and emerging markets are willing to pay as much as 7 per cent more for British products, according to a 2014 study by the Centre for Economics & Business Research for London-based Barclays bank.