Press Release from Future Fashion Factory. Written by Sarah Parkin
Brands, designers and manufacturers are gearing up for this year’s Make It British Live! trade show next month, set for the Business Design Centre in Islington 17-18 March. As many of our members prepare to exhibit or visit the event, we are excited that the Future Fashion Factory team will be returning for our second year.
Make It British Live! showcases UK manufacturers and producers of textiles, clothing and homewear, with over 200 exhibitors covering the whole supply chain. A packed programme of talks and panels also tackles key questions for the industry, bringing experts from across the industry together to share ideas and experiences.
Craftsmanship versus Technology at Make It British Live! 2019: (L-R) Lucy Siegle, Nick Keyte, Prof. Stephen Russell, Mark Randle, Andy Ogden (Image: Make It British)
Future Fashion Factory’s stand at last year’s event attracted a constant stream of visitors, many of whom joined our community after meeting the team at the show. Professor Stephen Russell, Programme Director, participated in a panel on ‘Craftsmanship vs Technology’, alongside industry partners including Gieves & Hawkes and Galaxius Systems.
In 2020, we are delighted to be hosting our own panel at 13.30 on Tuesday 17 March.
Entitled ‘Reducing Waste in Design and Manufacturing’ and chaired by Professor Russell, the panel will bring together industry partners to discuss different approaches to reducing waste at each stage of the product design and manufacturing process.
Waste is one of the biggest issues facing the global fashion and textile industry and its reduction is vital to creating a more sustainable future for the sector. Sustainability and circular economies are a key theme of Future Fashion Factory’s research, on which we are collaborating with businesses across our network.
Among the speakers confirmed for the panel is Julie Roberts, Marketing Manager at AW Hainsworth. The Leeds woollen mill recently published its first sustainability report, setting out its approach to topics from the provenance of its fibres to support for its workforce.
After receiving funding through our first funding call, AW Hainsworth collaborated with Yorkshire Textiles to develop its New Heritage Cloth project – an opportunity to trial a new service offering short runs of bespoke cloth, reducing waste and offering new opportunities for fashion designers to access bespoke fabric.
Deluxe Beds is also working on a project approved in our funding call, focusing on design of a modular mattress product. By replacing only the components which fail over the course of the mattress’ lifetime, the new product could drastically reduce the number of mattresses going to landfill every year.
James Appleyard, Sales Director at Deluxe Beds, will take part in the panel and share the company’s approach to reducing waste through product design.
Completing the panel is Lucy Blackley, founder and CEO of Bombyx PLM.
After over a decade in product development for major brands, Lucy made the switch to support fashion businesses with product lifecycle management (PLM) software, enabling more efficient design and manufacturing and increasing transparency throughout the value chain.
Bombyx technology is currently being introduced to fashion design degree programmes at the University of Leeds, giving students hands-on experience of a key digital industrial tool to support their career aspirations.
Come and say hello to the team on our Future Factory stand, Y2.
Registration costs £9.50 + VAT and booking fee, and include entry to the full programme and exhibition on both days as well as use of the event app.