DSF

Wish I'd kept a bookmark of the official PDF guide that I read on this after making the original post.
The gist I got was that if you take something not made itself in UK, but once in the UK you alter it in a way which significantly changes it appearance, use, or value then you can class it as being "made in UK" so if I take a blank mug from China which cost around 50p, print some artwork to it, and put it in a nice gift box, and then can sell it for £10-£15 then I have altered the appearance and value significantly, (and arguably its intended purpose, as it now is not only somehting purely functional in design to drink from, but is now something to be admired, home decoration, or giftware) and therefore the 'end product' is no longer made in China, but UK - the Chinese blank mug ceases to be a product in its own right, and becomes as component part of this new UK made gift/art mug, along with the inks and transfer paper.

Does the same go for classing it as a craft item. After all you are changing the appearance etc from an original!

We have often put on Printed in UK on a mug etc for several customers but know we are legally entitled to put on Made in UK as well. It didn't sit right going that far so I got the customer to settle on the "Printed" option. The way trade works globally these days many products will have some kind of influence from more than one country.

We're toying with the idea of having our mugs preprinted at manufacture with our logo, copyright info and "Made in UK" - not sure what the Thailand factory will say to printing Made in UK on mugs which aren't!

pisquee;78272 wrote:We're toying with the idea of having our mugs preprinted at manufacture with our logo, copyright info and "Made in UK" - not sure what the Thailand factory will say to printing Made in UK on mugs which aren't!

My mug bases have on them "Produced in England"
I had read this thread some time ago and decided that whilst it may be legal to put "made in UK," it may be open to criticism, so after much thought chose the "produced" option. It sits more comfortably for me, with the basic materials being anything but British, but the final "product" most definitely British.

Maybe we need to put "legally defined as Made in England, but literally and actually not"

pisquee;78286 wrote:Maybe we need to put "legally defined as Made in England, but literally and actually not"

Yes indeed