More than 30 textiles companies were at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) to hear how the university will support their businesses to innovate.
Earlier this year, Leicester’s garment sector received £500,000 from the Government’s Community Renewal Fund which is split between Leicester City Council, DMU and Fashion-Enter to offer co-ordinated support to textiles manufacturers and textiles workers.
As part of the programme, DMU will be working with companies to develop growth plans, innovation strategies and look at how they can shift their processes to be more sustainable.
“It’s about how we can support our local industry through our technology, our facilities and also our expertise in fashion and textiles,” explained Dr Claire Lerpiniere, Associate Professor in Textile Design, who was one of the event hosts.
“DMU has a longstanding tradition of supporting Leicester’s textile industries and we’re keen to explore how we can work with these companies.”
Companies were taken on tours of the facilities at DMU’s Vijay Patel Building which is home to the latest industry-standard equipment and had the chance for 1-1 sessions with business and textiles academics to help them identify areas for growth, funding opportunities and new business models.
DMU will also be mapping all the textiles activity in the city from companies and dye houses to brands.
Professor Rachel Granger, DMU’s Professor of Urban Economies, said the research team will be visiting the companies to see the sites before working with the owners on bespoke business plans.
She said: “Within eight weeks, we are hoping that we’ll be able to see what the innovations look like for each individual business.”
Vinay Sidar, of embroidery specialists SidCo Textiles, said: “The event has been brilliant. It has been very informative and I think it’s good to get everyone together and work out how we can move forward together as an industry.”
Fashion-Enter, which opened a new HQ in Highfields, Leicester, is running classes to upskill technicians and share best practice.
The funding award is part of an overall £3milllion package secured by Leicester City Council from the Community Renewal Fund, with four further projects also benefitting, including schemes to support people into employment, provide English lessons for speakers of other languages, help women in business and provide mentoring and digital support to businesses.
