500% increase on 3 years! It’s not often you see a figure like that – but that’s the increase in learners that we have been teaching on our Stitching and Patterns Level 1 and 2 with Capital City Group over the last three years – and that’s without our standards dropping with success rates and completion rates.
(-7.6 figure in red is due to the cut off of timings. It represents unfinished courses by learners and is not an accurate % of completed learners.)
Fashion-Enter Ltd (FEL) identified in 2008 the need for technical skills in education and that’s why we approached ASOS for funding for the first ever Stitching Academy in the country.
Back in September 2013 the Stitching Academy officially launched with the Minister for Employment, Mark Hoban and the likes of The Times, The Evening Standard, The Independent, The Telegraph and Drapers Record in attendance.
Since then we have grown to incorporate the Fashion Technology Academy (FTA), with campus’ in Leicester, Islington, Haringey and Wales we are offering the following courses:
Stitching Level 1 and 2
Pattern Cutting Level 1 and 2
Tailoring up to Level 5
Production Skills
CADCAM
Workers Rights
Functional Skills / Multiply
Creative and Design
With both Multiply and Workers Rights our FTA was the first in the country to trial these new qualifications, and Leicester in particular has been a leading light in the delivery of both of these qualifications.
As part of the change in fashion today we have seen a huge demand for stitching courses in particular. More people are buying secondhand but then they want their garments to fit correctly. Our upcycling classes are particularly successful!
As part of delivery Quality Assurance is of paramount importance to us all and that’s why we are particularly pleased to see the report form CCCG which reviewed and assessed all of our stitching and pattern courses before Christmas.
Some of the feedback is highlighted below:
AEB funded provision continues to grow exponentially at FEL. CCCG should now work closely with FEL to continue to explore the development of RARPA based short courses around the Style3D programme at FEL, utilising the 10% flexibility model. It is also worth noting (though not in scope for this visit) that close links with FEL were further developed with the creation of the new L3 Diploma in Creative Practice programme in 23/24 as part of the ongoing development of the Fashion Academy.
Hybrid End Starts
19/20 – 11
20/21 – 33
21/22 – 144
22/23 – 277
There are several intakes for each pathway (Stitching/Pattern making) throughout the year with students studying around 20 hours per week mainly on site but also through blended learning. Some groups are mixed level but study the same units for smaller qualifications.
Three programmes are offered for adults in the different pathways: L1 Award/L1 Certificate/L2 Certificate, with the majority of students at the lower levels progressing to the larger qualifications (75%).
Length of programme varies from 5 weeks for L1 Awards to 10 Weeks for the Certificate programmes. This is appropriate given the volume of work that students produce and the successful outcomes on all three programmes.
Fashion-Enter Ltd has an ideal offer in terms of the dual-purpose location visited in Haringey. The benefits were clear throughout the visit of the links to the live working environment, continually updated modern industry technology and equipment, excellent on-site teaching and learning facilities and a forward-thinking leadership team. Future progression and employment are integral to all the qualifications offered. Processes from IAG through induction, to on-program monitoring and progression are robust, as are the assessment processes and IQA. All the key areas checked met or exceeded the requirements.
Jenny Holloway, Founder commented: “Upskilling is a necessity in fashion today, aligned to the awareness of how fashion is so harmful to our planet today. (Fashion production makes up 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions, dries up water sources, and pollutes rivers and streams. Additionally, 85% of all textiles are dumped in landfill each year – UNECE, 2018.)
“As we strive to be a centre of excellence in all we undertake at FEL it was so important to understand what Quality Assurance really meant. I consequently trained to be a Level 5 teacher, then an assessor and then IQA. Now I really know what QA means! These high standards are now part of the FTA – they are etched into our daily teaching and compliance and the entire teaching and operations team has the same outlook and responsibility as I do.
“The report from CCCG is very much welcomed. It’s a joy for the hard work of the entire FTA to be recognised.
“Thank-you to CCCG for having the confidence and faith in Fashion-Enter. Here’s to even more growth in 2024.”