Design students inspired by Yorkshire's textile heritage at Future Fashion Factory

Innovative ideas evolving from Yorkshire’s unique textile heritage took centre stage at Future Fashion Factory’s first annual showcase on October 16. More than 100 guests from across the fashion and textile industry congregated at Salts Mill in Saltaire to celebrate the programme’s success in its first year, and learned more about the research and development taking place across the FFF community of designers, mills, technology providers and researchers.

Garments were produced by the School of Design at the University of Leeds, based on designs from a student project inspired by the Yorkshire Fashion Archive, creating a stunning display. “The pedigree of Yorkshire’s textile industry is embedded in the region. To combine this with design, digital technology, fashion and skills makes a very powerful statement about how the sector and Future Fashion Factory’s academic partners are continuing this tradition of innovation. The support of the region’s mills and other industry partners has been phenomenal in our first year,” said Suzy Shepherd, Co-Director of Future Fashion Factory.

Guest speaker for the evening, Peter Ackroyd MBE (President of Campaign for Wool), praised Future Fashion Factory’s commitment to innovation-emphasising that innovation is a crucial part of the Yorkshire textile industry’s past, present and future.

Future Fashion Factory and the Creative Industries Cluster Programme

Future Fashion Factory is part of the Creative Industries Clusters Programme, an 80 million pound initiative led by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) as part of the Industrial Strategy. The programme is led by the University of Leeds in partnership with the University of Huddersfield and the Royal College of Art.

The Creative Industries Clusters Programme brings together world-class research talent with companies and organisations from across the UK’s four nations in a first-of-its-kind research and development investment. The programme aims to drive innovation, create products and experiences that can be marketed around the world.

Photos: courtesy of Future Fashion Factory