Cabbage, Tradition and Bunce: Marion Donaldson and the Black Economy of the British Rag Trade in the 1970s

Abstract

This article explores illicit aspects of the British rag trade in the 1970s through examination of so-called ‘cabbage’, a fundamental but hitherto obscure pillar of the hidden economy in British fashion production. Through analysis of oral, legal and material sources, it examines the ways in which the fashion company Marion Donaldson encountered ‘cabbage’, and how it negotiated with this as an integral part of doing business in the British rag trade. Hidden economies in ‘illegal but bona fide’ cultures of production and consumption are thus highlighted as a way of enriching our understanding of the complexities of the post-war British fashion business.