FROM Savile Row to Shadsworth. “It seems like a natural career progression to me,” says designer Patrick Grant, only half joking in response to a question enquiring what on earth he’s doing here.

“I’ve lived all over the north, but I’d never visited Blackburn. I love it,” he says. “It’s cool and I could even see myself living in the town centre.

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“It’s full of former grandeur and there are some beautiful old buildings. Some towns have the pall of death hanging over them, but here I see green shoots. I’ve met some incredible people, there’s talent and drive, and I’m very impressed with what they’re doing here.”

Wowzer. Who’d have thought the debonair, be-suited demi-god of a man who can guide an amateur seamstress through a trouser gusset construction, would be taken with such humble surroundings.

But that’s perhaps an indication of how East Lancashire is starting to regain some of its former glory and people in the know, like Patrick, want to be in at the start.

He’s sitting – all 6ft 3ins of him – behind a desk at his newly acquired business Cookson and Clegg clothing manufacturer on Shadsworth Business Park. Dressed in a navy cashmere sweater and wide-legged olive jeans from his own ranges, it’s easy to see why he regularly graces the pages of GQ and Esquire.

He openly admits he’s taken a considerable risk in buying Cookson and Clegg. But he’s unruffled because the order book is already full to overflowing and there are even bigger deals in the offing – hence the urgency to recruit skilled staff. He’s even prepared to retrain.

Patrick does, however, have considerable experience in turning around historic companies. He acquired the tailoring business Norton and Sons in 2005, while studying for his MBA at Said Business School at University of Oxford. Legend has it that he sold all his possessions to acquire it. A decade on it’s a roaring success.

He also re-launched old British brand E Tautz, which once dressed Winston Churchill, making it the ready-to-wear arm of Norton and Sons.

Cookson and Clegg had everything he could hope for in a business he says – British heritage, quality and above all else, great potential.

“The loss of the military contracts was an enormous blow to the business and it happened virtually overnight,” he says. “The British Army was looking for cheaper ways to make everything and all the production went overseas.

“It makes you wonder how joined up the government thinking is, you might save millions of pounds on your purchasing bill from one department, but you’re putting a load of people on the dole.

“I’m a great believer in British manufacturing and I think there’s a great future in high-end clothing manufacture. Where we work in Savile Row is the pinnacle of that and business is doing extremely well.

“Since I’ve taken over here we’ve had all sorts of discussions with international brands and there is a desire to continue to make in Europe and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be in the UK.

“There’s a future here. In the five months since I took over, I got on the phone to the CEOs of all the big British clothing businesses that I know and we found a huge opportunity. That’s why our order book is absolutely jammed.”

Patrick’s also working with Blackburn College and students on the garment-making course.

“We want apprentices to come forward from 16 to 30 plus. There is a chance of a brilliant career for the right people.”

Patrick charges the Great British Sewing Bee with revitalising interest in sewing. Sewing machine purchases in the UK have risen from 100,000 to 400,000 in three years.

“The economics of buying clothing changed dramatically over the last 20 years. There was no longer the necessity for people to make their own clothes. You can now buy, albeit reasonably awful quality, for far cheaper than you could make them.

“We also went through a period where it felt anachronistic to learn to sew. What’s the point of learning to do it? But we’ve now re-discovered an appreciation for the quality of clothes that you make yourself. You put more care and love into it. It’s rewarding to make things for people.

“People have also rediscovered their individuality and there’s a backlash against unethically sourced companies that don’t care about products or people or where clothes comes from. People want to know where their clothing comes from in the same way that they want to know where their food comes from. They’re starting to question the process of buying from overseas.”

Patrick is currently working on a new programme for the BBC, which looks at the effect on the community of the loss of the British textile and clothing industry.

“These businesses tie communities together and their loss is felt very strongly. We should strive to restore what we can for these communities. Blackburn council is enormously supportive in this. It’s very difficult down south to take risks on a business and see how things go because just renting a property is extraordinarily expensive. Here you get the sense that you can give things a go and the council are behind it all the way. Blackburn Is Open is indicative of the positive attitude of the whole town.”

Looking right is understandably important to Patrick, but it’s more about the details of cut and construction. He has a degree in material science from Leeds University “because I just liked how things were made, that interaction between process and material and finish”.

He admits to having more than 100 pairs of trousers, but his vast wardrobe is divided into two “uniforms”.

“I’m fortunate in that I have a business that allows me to design clothes that I like. My wardrobe forms the archive at work. I buy a lot of second-hand clothes and shop on Ebay a lot. I buy a lot for reference and for my own personal use. I wear the same stuff every day. I either wear what I’m wearing today in different colours.

“I have 40 or 50 crew neck jumpers and then I have my other uniform, which is a dark grey or a navy blue suit, which makes life very easy.”