We are delighted to confirm that LLEP (Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership Area) has awarded Fashion Enter training contracts throughout 2018 working with the local garment manufacturers to improve their productivity and efficiency. There will be three workshops between January 2018 and April 2018 and they will be hard hitting and specific to KPI’s that every garment manufacturer should be operating.
Leicestershire has over one and a half thousand businesses employing almost 10,000 people within the region and has recently experienced an enormous growth in the number of people employed in the sector.
Fashion Enter/FashionCapital CEO, Jenny Holloway, commented: “The statistics below clearly show that fast-track production is now here to stay within the dynamic fashion industry. Retailers are ready to capitalise on providing the right products in the right prints at affordable prices and the UK is the only way to cater for this instant demand required by consumers today. The days of two seasons a year Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter with transitional ranges in between all have long gone. Rolling ranges of the order of the day where assertive buyers will keep extending the life of a garment by bringing in new lengths, colours, prints etc. We are delighted that we have won this contract with Leicester and look forward to working closely with the manufacturers.”
The UK Business Registration and Employment Survey (BRES) is an Office for National Statistics data tool that is a source of official employment statistics. The results for the LLEP Area reveal an upward rise in several employment sectors including manufacturing.
The 2017 BRES shows that employment in the LLEP area in 2016 was 486,000. In 2015 it was 474,000. This is a rise of 12,000 or 2.5%.
Significant rises in employment in the following broad sector areas include:
· Manufacturing (2,125) (3.4%)
· Wholesale (4,755) (21.4%)
· Accommodation and Food Service Activities (8,140) (31.5%)
· Professional & Scientific and Technical (3,355) (8.7%)
To a lesser extent there have also been rises in:
· Transport and Storage (760) (2.9%)
· Arts, Entertainment and Recreation (780) (7.9%)
· Human Health and Social Work Activities (725) (1.3%)
Key sectors identified to reveal significant growth over the period 2015 to 2016 were:
· Distribution and Logistics (5,735) (13%)
· Professional and Financial Services (2,965) (7.5%)
· Social Care (2,975) (15.3%)
· Textiles Manufacturing (5,690) (125.1%)
· Tourism and Hospitality (7,980) (25.6%)
As listed the largest growth has been in Textiles Manufacturing and Tourism and Hospitality. The LLEP area has the highest concentration (1.9%) of employment in the Textiles Manufacturing sector in England. Only two other LEP areas in the Midlands (D2N2 (0.7%) and Black Country (0.6%)) have above average (0.2%) employment.
These results not only reveal an upward turn for British based textile manufacturing units in the LLEP area but a demand for skilled employees in the sector. The need for an ethical Fashion & Textile Hub that supports and trains (similar to the Fashion Enter / Fashion Technology Academy set up in North London) production employees in the area is clearly required to ensure continual growth.
Discussing the possibility of a Leicester based Fashion & Textile Hub Nick Pulley chair of the LLEP said:
“There is profound support for Leicester from many of Britain’s leading fashion retailers and e-tailers, but their support has been tempered by Leicester’s image of unethical trading practices.
“There is a need for a different kind of Leicester textiles industry and the Hub would have an important part to play in changing this perception. It would also work to help manufacturers to recognise the need to adopt a different approach to trading and costing.
“Leicester is one of only five UK centres for mass, fast fashion textile production. This is a fantastic opportunity for the local industry to pull together to maximise positive commercial developments such as re-shoring of UK based production to improve the fashion and textile sector in Leicester.”
Thanks to Brendon Brockway, Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership for providing the facts and figures.