Rethinking Textiles
11-01-2023
Newsletter 11th January 2023
Stitching Skills for Life
It seems like the fashion and textile industry is finally putting new practices into action to combat the dreadful amount of waste associated with the industry. At the latest ‘Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion’ APPG meeting at the House of Commons one idea was to teach sewing in schools from Key Stage 2 onwards. If more of us are able to repair or upcycle our own garments then we are more likely to wear them for longer. A recent study by WRAP.org.uk confirmed that if we repair an item of clothing, we’ll typically keep it for a further 1.3 years.
While there are no quick fix answers the idea of finding ways to use textiles that are already in circulation makes sense. If you are interested in learning some basic stitching skills that you can use to create clothing items and repair, upcycle or alter existing garments, then take a look at our 4-Day Stitching and Upcycling course. Held at the FC Designer Workspace this course provides the perfect starting block for learners to gain confidence working with textiles and on the sewing machine.
Tap here to find out about the February 4-day course.
Fibre2Fibre Circularity Bid
A huge thank-you to the consortium for the Fibre2Fibre Circularity bid that’s been submitted this morning to Innovate UK.
Against the odds, an amazing team including PVH Corp, N Brown, ASOS, Nottingham Trent and Kingston University, has really pulled together to create a unique bid that spans the entire garment life cycle. Focusing on Novelle Yarns, artisan spinning, recycling and upcycling this is one unique bid. Fingers-crossed X.
Sustainable & Quality Printing with Us
Thanks to Kornit Digital we can offer a sustainable, high quality digital printing service at our Haringey HQ. We can print direct-to-fabric or direct-to-garment using the latest and most sustainable Kornit Digital printing technology.
Orders for this service have started to come in if you have a printing enquiry please contact: callum@fashion-enter.com
Or to use our ethical T-shirt printing service tap here.
Very Nice Thank-you Very!
We are delighted to be working with the Very Group on the production of two collections; end January and end February. This again reinforces how important ‘Made in the UK’ is for ethical and sustainable production.
Tap here to find out more about our ethical, audited factory.
Working with Crisis
Today we had an exciting visit from the amazing Georgia Ford and Tanja Mrnjaus from Crisis, they work within the Partnerships Training & Development department. They work directly with Crisis members facing housing difficulties, they support and guide their members in the right direction to paid employment, or courses such as apprenticeship opportunities across every industry. With their background in fashion, we discussed possible future projects that FashionCapital and Crisis could team up on…the possibilities are endless! We are very excited to see how our free courses such as pattern cutting and stitching could benefit the lives of even more people and also provide the opportunity of excelling people into their fashion career by applying onto our apprenticeship scheme.
Crisis offers members a life changing grant for those that are completely passionate about what they do. There are so many start-up brands that do not always have the support to bring their brand to life, so this is fantastic! In the Fashion Studio, we work very closely with a lot of start-up brands and get to see how their brand transforms from start to finish – we have no minimum order quantity at the Fashion Studio so it’s a great place to start.
FashionCapital and Crisis are super excited to carry on supporting every individual by working closely and holding a space for mental wellbeing and creatives that deserve a chance.
FCFTA on BBC Radio Leicester
On Tuesday 10th January, Deputy CEO Jackie Bertram was invited to be part of BBC Leicester’s mid-morning show with Summaya. This show is aired daily and covers stories, music and life across Leicestershire and Rutland. The FCFTA were invited to discuss how the Academy has progressed since opening 1-year ago. Summaya was part of the launch event and therefore had a lot of knowledge on our aims for the first year.
Jackie said: “This was an opportunity for us to reflect on the achievements at the FCFTA since it launched; the Leicester Academy has delivered 175 qualifications – 108 qualifications on workers’ rights and 67 qualifications in industrial sewing. We have also provided 40 businesses with business support – including 20 compliance reviews. 90% of learners that wanted full-time employment have secured jobs.
“As we move into our second year the Academy has been opened up and is available to rent by the hour, day or week and is excellently equipped to support Leicester’s creative sector. We are grateful to boohoo for their apprenticeship levy support and we are also available for technical residencies – which are great for groups from schools, colleges and universities. These residencies allow us to tailor make a course to suit the learning needs of the the group; which can include a seminar and a practical garment making session.”
Rent Our Shop Space!
As part of the Affordable Workspace program we run a retail shop, FC Designer Collective, on the iconic Fonthill Road, right next to Finsbury Park tube station. We want to share this with you! We’re now hiring out the shop for launches, press events and meet and greets on a day rate. The space is adaptable and can comfortably host events for up to 75 people.
For further information please contact: info@fashioncapital.co.uk
Masterclasses and Courses
This week we welcomed our January cohort of stitching and pattern cutting learners. These courses are held regularly throughout the year so if you would like to join at our Haringey, Islington, Leicester or Newtown campus then please get in touch: education@fashion-enter.com
We are also pleased to announce a series of free masterclasses to support start-up fashion businesses, these will be held via Zoom and if you are interested in gaining key industry insight you need to sign-up to receive a Zoom link to the session.
Ongoing Stitching, Patterns and Tailoring throughout 2023
25th January: 10 Step Guide to Building a Fashion Brand from Concept to Consumer with Jenny Holloway (Free)
13th February: 4 Day Beginners Sewing and Upcycling Workshop
22nd February: 12 Step Plan to Develop and Create a Fashion Collection including a tour of our Fashion Studio with Jenny Holloway, Claire Solley and Agnes Szepligeti (Free)
22nd March: UK V’s Overseas Sourcing, Development and Production with Jackie Bertram (Free)
10th April: 4 Day Beginners and Upcycling Workshop
26th April: 10 Strategies to Create an Ethical Brand from Yarn Sourcing to Works Rights’ with Caroline Ash (Free)
24th May: Top 10 Tips to Create a Strong Team and Partnership with Your Manufacturer with Caroline Ash (Free)
Fabric Swatch of the Week
The theme this month might well be blue but let’s turn a negative into a positive and celebrate shades of blue like this teal jersey – perfect for a January dress or top to brighten the mood. Available now from the FCFabricStudio.
This Week on FashionCapital.co.uk
How Did eCommerce Change in 2022? And What Innovations Are on the Horizon for 2023?
And Finally…
New year, new staff member. This week we have welcomed Angel to the Fashion-Enter team as our Haringey HQ receptionist. If you are interested in working with Fashion-Enter, or a fashion business in general, please regularly check our jobs and apprenticeships section here.
Until next time, have a great week.
The Team at FashionCapital
