Fashtech Innovation Centre opens in London to support production solutions

Social enterprise FashionEnter and production developer Kornit Digital have come together to open a new centre dedicated to the development of direct-to-fabric and direct-to-garment digital production solutions.

The Fashtech Innovation Centre, located in FashionEnter’s training and manufacturing site in London, hopes to bring on-demand fashion and textile mass customisation to the UK to tackle overproduction and waste.

The two organisations have developed the centre as a “prototype” for retailers to “mitigate logistical complexities, time-to-market, and supply chain risks by bringing production nearer to the end consumer”.

“As our partner ecosystem continues to grow globally by aligning with such leaders as FashionEnter, companies are realising just how powerful sustainable, on-demand digital production can be and the countless inherent benefits it provides,” said Chris Govier, president Europe, Middle East, and Africa of Kornit Digital, in a release.

The location will serve as a fulfilment site and academy for training production, complete with tools to grow product lines, create eco-responsible pieces, improve workflow and carry out graphic design jobs.

“This Innovation Centre makes it possible to capture the full, end-to-end production process in one, single location,” noted Jenny Holloway, chief executive officer, FashionEnter.

Holloway continued: “The beauty of having print on demand means there are no minimums, so we can make one garment, or we can make up to 30,000 garments a week from all locations at the same fixed cost. Here, we can also train future generations on the right way of producing garments for today, responsive to demand, with minimal waste - ethical and sustainable. This is the future of fashion and textiles.”