Manufacture of wearing apparel (SIC division 14)
Division 14 of the UK SIC 2007 list. It holds 5 codes, listed in full below with the number of active UK companies filed under each.
What sits in division 14
Businesses here make clothing and accessories. They do not just sell them. Most UK registrations sit under 14190, other wearing apparel and accessories. It is a broad code. It holds independent fashion labels, childrenswear brands and makers of hats, scarves and sportswear. Some of these firms run their own studios and small production units. Many others design in the UK and have the garments made abroad. They still call themselves apparel manufacturers, because the product is theirs.
Marketing agencies work this division hard. Young clothing brands live or die on audience. That means social, influencer work and paid ads. Ecommerce developers, product photographers and fulfilment providers chase the same names. The best signal is a recent incorporation whose website is clearly unfinished. That founder is mid-launch and picking every supplier at once. The poor-website filter surfaces exactly those brands. For older labels, growth signals point to budget for a rebrand, wholesale outreach and international shipping help.
How to read a division 14 code
A UK SIC code is five digits and division 14 is the first two of them. Everything filed under 14 shares those digits: all 5 codes below begin 14, then the third digit narrows to a group, the fourth to a class and the fifth to the subclass a company actually picks. Division 14 sits inside section C, manufacturing, which is the broadest tier of the classification. So a code is read left to right, from an industry down to a specific activity.
More on how division 14 codes are built
Companies choose their own codes at incorporation and can change them on any confirmation statement, and Companies House does not check the answer. A company may list up to four. That is worth knowing before you treat any division total as a headcount: the numbers here are what companies said about themselves, on the August 2026 register, and the largest single code in this division is 14190, manufacture of other wearing apparel and accessories n.e.c..
Working division 14 as a list
Division 14 holds 5 codes and 10,260 active companies between them. One code carries most of it: 14190 accounts for 56 per cent on its own, and the top three take 88 per cent, with the rest spread across the remaining 2 codes. Filtering by the whole division is therefore close to filtering by 14190 with a tail attached, so start from the code and widen only if the list runs dry.
More on working division 14
A caveat that matters more in some divisions than others: a company may register up to four SIC codes, and the figures below count every position, not just the first. A business filed under two codes in this division appears under both. Treat the totals as reach rather than a headcount, and if you need a clean list, filter to companies whose FIRST code sits in the division. Every company you pull carries the Companies House record, the director's name, a verified website and a verified email, and the ones we cannot complete are not charged.
Every SIC code in division 14
Prospecting this division
Division 14 companies, as leads
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Division 14 questions
I design clothes in the UK but production happens overseas. Is 14190 still the right code?
Yes, and it is common practice. Your company owns the designs and sells the finished garments as its own product. Classing that as apparel manufacture is fair, even when someone else does the sewing. Some brands prefer a wholesale or online retail code. Neither choice carries a penalty. You pick your own codes and can revise them on any confirmation statement.
Can a clothing brand list both a manufacturing and a retail SIC code?
Yes. Companies House allows up to four SIC codes per company. There is no rule against mixing divisions. Direct-to-consumer labels often pair 14190 with an online retail code such as 47910. You declare codes at incorporation on the IN01 form. You update them through the confirmation statement. No approval process is involved.
Find companies across division 14
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