Fashion-Enter and the FTA aim to provide a broad range of fashion and textile apprenticeships to ensure that the next generation are knowledgeable and skilled within their chosen field. The latest apprenticeship standard the team have been working on in collaboration with NewGen Business Services centres on Textile Care.
NewGen works with some of the biggest and best in the business across the hospitality and leisure industry sectors and have developed a range of solutions to satisfy the diverse needs of the marketplace. For over 15-years NewGen has been working with facilities and operators all over the world to help them improve their understanding of the commercial laundry process and upgrade their service, efficiency and profitability. The New Gen team have also worked on a huge number of bespoke consultancy projects from design & new builds, to branding and recruitment and now, alongside Fashion-Enter with this new apprenticeship standard.
The textile care industry encompasses commercial laundry and dry/wet cleaning. Commercial laundries provide laundry services and often product rental, to a wide range of sectors in the UK. This includes work-wear for manufacturing, industrial, food, transport and pharmaceutical sectors; and linen for hospitality, catering, hotel, hospital and care sectors. Dry/wet cleaning is defined as high street aftercare of garments and fabrics using solvents such as perchloroethylene or hydro-carbons (dry) or the relatively new aqueous-based process utilising detergents (wet). There are over 3,500 textile care businesses in the UK, ranging in size from SMEs to PLCs. The industry employs circa 32,000 employees and is worth in the region of £1billion a year. Textile Care Services Operatives form the majority of employees in the sector and are at the heart of the operation.
Textile Care Service Operatives need to have core knowledge, skills and behaviours and specialist knowledge and skills in either commercial laundry or dry/wet cleaning. The new Textile Care Operative Standard is an ABC Award – Level 2 qualification which can lead to specialised job roles including: Laundry Operative, Production Operative, Garment Cleaner, Dry Clean Operative, Wet Clean Operative and General Laundry Operative.
(NewGen Technical Director Iain Weir training up a team)
NewGen’s Technical Director Iain Weir commented: “We are delighted to be working with Fashion-Enter to help deliver the Level 2 Textile Care Operative Standard. We have been working in dry-cleaning operations all over the world and all the best operations always have the best staff. With the developments in new solvents and wet cleaning, we are seeing real growth around the sector but getting skilled staff is key to the success of the operation. The apprenticeship scheme is a fantastic way, for both large and small operations, to invest in their teams and we develop the skill base they will need. Having worked with Fashion-Enter in developing the Standard they have the exact energy, resources and personnel to deliver this new and exciting apprenticeship.”
The new standard will launch in February 2020 and further details will be available via this website in the ‘Apprenticeships’ section.