UK garment industry gets training boost

Fashion Enter, a not for profit manufacturing enterprise, is aiming to boost the development of skills within the fashion and textiles industry to bring fashion production back to the UK. In collaboration with Asos and Haringey Council, Fashion Enter is aiming to re-skill the country’s workforce and build on the

potential for domestic production.

In January 2015 Fashion Enter will launch a new technical academy at its North London production site to offer eight new qualifications related to various stages of the garment life cycle.

New apprenticeship to teach production skills

Fashion Enter already runs a Fashion and Textiles Apprenticeship Programme and houses a Stitching Academy at its London facility, where it offers a six-week course in association with Asos that equips students with a range of production skills.

The technical academy, which will train over 1,000 people a year, is part of an expansion that will also see Fashion Enter increase its production capacity. It currently makes 7,500 garments a week for clients such as Asos, Marks & Spencer and John Lewis, and the aim is to take that up to 16,000.

The optimism is down to the success Fashion Enter has seen with its UK manufacturing operation, which builds on the desire among brands to increase local production. Founder and chief executive Jenny Holloway puts this growing trend down to a greater awareness of the total costs of production, as well as increasing fast-fashion demands.

“There’s a bigger awareness of footprint, shipping, the hotel costs of sending garment technicians over to factories,” said Holloway. “There’s no substitute for a three week turnaround.”

Apparel fit solution provider Alvanon is another of those partnering with Fashion Enter and it has committed over 50,000 pounds worth of mannequins and pattern blocks as part of its global Fashion Fit Movement initiative, which is aimed at helping to restore skills and manufacturing hubs in the US, Europe and Asia.

“We all recognise there is a problem in the industry with a loss of skills, and only by working together can we fix this problem,” said Alvanon CEO Janice Wang. “It’s a whole chain effort.”

Image: Made in Britain