Let’s get this straight. A pie has pastry at the bottom, round the sides and on the top. It doesn’t just have pastry on the top. It might look like a pie from the outside but it’s not a proper pie.

We’re not being pedantic, this is an issue of quality. The pie tastes better when it’s cooked as a whole, the pastry holds in and absorbs the flavour of the filling. It might be easier for the kitchen to make a big stew and a load of pastry lids and put them together in a bowl at the end. It’s probably cheaper too, but it’s not a bloody pie because pies are supposed to be good, not easy or cheap.

When we started out, we launched our company with a Kickstarter crowd funding campaign. We had to be be clear about what we were aiming to do. What’s our elevator pitch? What’s our USP?

We came up with “properly made British trousers.” We wanted the trousers to look good on the inside as well as the outside. Tidy stitching, good quality linings, bound seams, bar tacks at stress points. All of this requires skilled machinists who can do a thorough and careful job and it needs quality checking. HebTroCo clothing is meant to be worn and washed and worn again, not simply worn a couple of times and discarded. We back up all our products with a lifetime guarantee against any manufacturing defects. If something falls apart we will repair or replace it. HebTroCo is here to stay and made to last.

The experience of quality is not just about what the garment looks like. The feel of quality cloth is distinctively different to the touch. It feels good on your skin and will hold its shape. Every day you will see what your clothes look like on the inside and all the details add up.

So what about the British bit? Our aim is to source production locally, so that we can have a close working relationship with our suppliers to ensure quality. That’s the primary goal. It’s nice to support the local economy and to keep skills alive, but none of this means anything without quality. There are still quality manufacturers in this country and we’re proud to work with the ones that we’ve found so far.

There’s nothing wrong with a stew, but please don’t put a lid on it and tell us it’s a pie. We know the difference.