Re – Commercialised Thanks To The Creative Catalyst Fund

The world of garment manufacturing has substantially changed over the last two years. In 2023 we, at Fashion-Enter Ltd, were proud to announce that our manufacturing units could produce up to 30,000 garments a week for big retailer clients. However, we could see that demand continued to dwindle and making bulk was not what the macro economies of the fashion industry wanted. 

When you are geared up for production and you have spent the last 15-years creating a centre of excellence for ethical and transparent garment making a shrinking of that market becomes a major issue. Fashion-Enter Ltd CEO Jenny Holloway, commented: “We had a workforce of 180 from four regions across the UK and we were looking into a big black hole of nothingness! No orders, no work to keep the highly talented machinists engaged, and no sign of the market changing any time soon.” 

Fortunately this is when FEL applied for the Creative Catalyst Grant (part of Innovate UK)  in August 2024 under a new program entitled Circle8 the New Fashion Fix. Jenny continued: “We had not applied for this funding before but we realised that if we were to change business direction, become more sustainable for the fashion industry, and stop mass production that contributes to waste then we needed help to pivot the business!” FEL successfully applied for the £48k grant that substantially supported FEL’s transition into the world of the 6Rs starting with the recommercialisation of deadstock for major retailers. 

Key Highlights of the Project:

• Collaborations with Leading Retailers: FEL will work with top retailers to salvage garments by providing repairs and alterations. This not only extends the life of these garments but also reduces the amount of textile waste that ends up in landfills.
• Recycling Programs for Unusable Garments: For garments that have no commercial value, FEL will develop new recycling programs in line with the upcoming 2025 legislation on End Producer Responsibility. This initiative will ensure that even the most worn-out items are disposed of sustainably.
• Consumer-Facing Services: FEL will expand its services to the general public, allowing consumers to send in their pre-loved garments for repair or recycling. This service will be available across England, with options to mail items to our retail shop in London or our offices in Islington, Haringey and Leicester.
• Educational Initiatives: FEL will also educate the public on home sewing and repairs, offering access to industrial machines and a wealth of dead stock fabrics, trims, buttons, and zippers. This empowers consumers to upcycle and recycle their garments, further reducing fashion waste.
• Leveraging Advanced Fashion AI Technology: FEL will utilise cutting-edge Fashion AI technology from Style3D, which enables rapid garment design—reducing the design process from three months to just 30 minutes. This technology, currently used by top international brands like Chanel, will bring digital skills to the general public and create new wholesale opportunities.

FEL already had a strong working relationship with the N Brown Group producing garments in previous years for Simply B and J D Williams but for the last two seasons there had not been any Open to Buy for orders in the UK.  Fortunately, the timing was excellent, and N Brown had a black trouser order that had been delivered too long. This was a perfect example for the Circle8 the New Fashion Fix program! We were going to “fix” the length by reducing the inside leg by 5cm! Sounds easy but there is actually a lot of work involved as follows…

• Boxes are delivered with delivery notes
• Check of actual stock against delivery notes
• Debox and debag – keep all packaging to reuse SKU data
• Itemise out garments into size categories
• Set up production lines to start measuring and marking garments to be cut
• Cut garments
• Inform all machinists of quality standards and implement said standard. Undertake in work checks
• 100% AQL (ensure acceptable quality level) is maintained and this includes stitches per inch
• Press
• Re-bag
• Re-box
• Raisie delivery notes   
• Organise transportation
• Raise invoice 

This is manpower heavy, and prices have to be keen as these are garments being imported from offshore countries that are a fraction of the UK cost – consider Bangladesh is 35p per hour compared to the UK’s wage from April 2025 of £12.25 per hour! 

The program was a complete success. Over 3,000 garments were saved and sold well on the N Brown sites. This was a win win for everyone involved and ensured that the new processes set up by FEL to diversify into the world of recommercialisation of stock were correct. 

A huge thank you to Creative Catalyst for enabling the new business services to be developed and implemented for the future.