TEXTILE chiefs in Huddersfield are celebrating after landing a national training contract.
Huddersfield’s textile sector training group – backed by dozens of firms across the town and based at Deighton’s Textile Centre of Excellence – is to spearhead a new National Fashion and Textiles Group Training Association (GTA).
The GTA will support all forms of training activity undertaken by fashion and textiles businesses across England.
It will offer advice on qualifications, access to training providers, online information and training services, practical and financial support, help with leadership and management development and help with school links and apprentice recruitment.
The move was welcomed by Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman, chairman of the Skills Commission and co-chairman of the Parliamentary Manufacturing Group.
He attended a launch event with Paul Johnson, chairman of the textile centre and managing director of Moldgreen-based dyeing and finishing firm WT Johnson & and Sons Ltd.
Also at the launch were Annie Warburton, head of partnerships at Creative Skillset, the industry body which supports skills and training for people and businesses in the UK creative industries; and Jennie Holloway, director of London-based fashions manufacturer Fashion Enter.
Mr Sheerman said the textile centre was a hub of innovation and new ideas.
“Now it is going to be the national hub for innovation in manufacturing and creating more entrepreneurs.”
Mr Johnson said he was ecstatic that textile employers in Huddersfield – who had been working to develop the industry for the past 36 years as a local trade training group – were now leading a national drive to develop skills needed to drive the industry forward.
But he said: “We are aware of the responsibility that comes with it. There are excellent opportunities. We need to keep the momentum building.”
UK textiles face major challenges surrounding recruitment – including an ageing workforce, a shortage of skilled people to work with new technologies, a need for improved leadership, management and business skills to promote growth and a need to improve the industry’s poor image among young people.
The employer-led GTA aims to tackle those issues with initiatives such as school visits to promote careers in the sector, company visits, internships, work placements and apprenticeships, and a pre-apprenticeship programme to match potential industry entrants with companies for an initial period prior to employment.
New diploma level courses will be run in subjects such as technical textiles, clothing production, strategic marketing, design development, supplier management and sourcing.
Bill Macbeth, textile centre managing director, said: “The growth of the global market for top quality goods, the strength of the ‘Made in the UK’ brand, together with changes in off-shore manufacturing conditions, are stimulating the renaissance of our fashion and textiles manufacturing sector.
“If we are to capitalise on this opportunity we must improve the skills of our workforce at all levels. We need to rebuild capacity in our companies and we need to increase the number of motivated young people joining the sector and undertaking good quality apprenticeships.
“Our new national GTA will enable us to respond more effectively to the skills needs of employers and learners.”
