Fashion-Enter Ltd (FEL) Director Caroline Ash has been kept busy this past week, (from 27th May 25) with visiting groups gaining behind-the-scenes insight into the inner workings of an ethical apparel factory. Using Fashion-Enter’s Haringey factory Caroline is able to show and explain the entire garment lifecycle alongside important industry developments such as repair, repurpose and new tech including Style3D and Maeknit.
Caroline commented: “We kicked off the week on a high note with The State University of New York, a new client. The two professors were incredibly knowledgeable and we discovered a lot of shared interests. The students impressed with their existing knowledge and high level of engagement, asking thoughtful questions throughout. They thoroughly enjoyed seeing the knitwear producer, Maeknit with all its technology and the seminar was a huge success. To top it off, they’ve already confirmed they’ll be returning next year!
“It was great to have the lovely Sarah from Fashion Retail Academy back with us for her eighth visit, bringing her Fast Track students. We made the most of our four hours together, doing a deep dive into our production processes and the impact of technology on our speed to market. It was a really informative session – feels like we covered a lot of ground!
“Next up was a return visit from the University of North Texas, a fantastic group who thoroughly enjoyed the tour and were impressed by our technology. Sustainability was a key area of interest for them, and the feedback from the visit was overwhelmingly positive.”
Caroline rounded the week off with a seminar specifically tailored to the current cohort of NEXT apprentices discussing the ‘Design to Production’ process, outlining the journey from design initiation to final production. She addressed the challenges encountered during the design phase, emphasised the importance of effective communication with suppliers, and discussed common issues related to garment fitting, along with their cost implications. Caroline also provided an overview of the cutting docket and demonstrated how FEL carries out this process in the factory.
Feedback included…
The State of New York:
“We learnt about the 6 R’s of sustainability and how the factory applies them to the production is very interesting. Also the use of AI was wonderful to see. I loved the visual examples that the tour provided us with, The speaker was wonderful and very insightful.”
“Caroline was amazing to learn from, she is extremely educated and talented.”
“This was amazing. Thank you so much for all your time, you are so knowledgable and I learned so much in a short space of time.”
“Everyone that spoke was so knowledgeable about the company and very detailed in their explanations. Plus super, super nice!”
Fashion Retail Academy:
“I have learnt a lot about the production process and critical path as well as about technology. I have had a really inspiring day and found everything so interesting.”
“I learnt about the use of different technologies. The AI use was an eye opening experience. Excellent industry insight.”
“I learnt a lot of stuff – AI, knitting machine process, new technology, different garment construction methods, some construction details, fabric laying etc. Very insightful session. Loved it.”
“Learned about prices, cost pricing, critical path and AI. Caroline was amazing.”
“It was interesting to see the process of production.”
“The seminar and tour was really insightful.”
University of North Texas:
“Caroline did an amazing job! I loved how she taught us things and showed us around the factory.”
“I learnt how much time and effort is put into manufacturing and about quality, productivity and sustainability aspects of the industry. The AI was cool as well. This was a great presentation and the host was amazing.”
“This was a great visit, I learned a lot and thought everything was super cool.”
“I loved how informative our seminar was.”
“This has helped me a lot because I have found it quite uncommon for people to have an interest in fashion and gaming and this has given me confidence in a future job that has both.”
NEXT apprentices:
“Overall, I enjoyed the session and found it very informative.”
“It was great to learn about Maeknit!”
“I appreciated how more interactive it was, especially regarding fitting on models and the various aspects of knitting.”
“I learned about the fitting and tech packs process, which helps identify issues.”