Innovative apprenticeships with top brands for young designers

Designs by Roland Mouret

An innovative new apprenticeship based at London women's wear manufacturer Sourgrape has been developed by Hackney-based London Technical Fashion Academy (LTFA).

With support from Luxury Designer Roland Mouret and industry skills body Creative Skillset, in direct response to industry demand for technical training at the high end of the market, the programme will initially support four candidates, aged between 17 and 24.

With increasing demand from brands and retailers for high quality, UK made products – and with skills like cutting, machining and finishing in short supply – British manufacturers are rapidly realising the importance of investment in training a technically skilled work-force to ensure their businesses continue to flourish.

The existing courses offered by the LTFA provide a ready talent pool for those businesses wanting an employee with a good basic skill level on which they can build. Depending on the candidate, a company could recruit a member of staff with 4 years training at little or no cost to them, apart from normal employment costs.

For the candidates, sector specific pre-apprenticeship training helps prepare them for the work environment, whilst assessing their skill level and aptitude; this in turn helps companies find the right people, with the right skills for their business. And by developing talent in this way, the LTFA is able to access funding on behalf of companies, opening doors to future generations.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said: "The number of people choosing apprenticeships has more than doubled over the last five years and I hope these young apprentices will be the first of many more to embark on a career in high end fashion manufacturing, helping to ensure that even more top fashion brands will bear the proud label 'Made in London' in the future."

Daliah Simble, Head of Production and Sourcing for Roland Mouret, said: "The London Technical Fashion Academy is instrumental in supporting the growth of UK manufacturing.

"Manufacturing at high street and luxury level is at a crucial point in London, with demand exceeding capacity. Many factories wish to expand and the time is right to support this growth by training young people in technical skills, to enter the fashion industry and have the opportunity to have viable paid and fulfilling careers in the creative areas of cutting, sewing or finishing.

"We hope to expand the offer into other technical areas of fashion manufacture in the very near future.

"I am very excited about what we have created in conjunction with Hackney Community College and Creative Skillset: the technical fashion workforce of the future."

Owner of Sourgrape, Burhan Bilici said: "We have been working with other leading names in the fashion industry, along with the London Technical Fashion Academy and Creative Skillset to develop this apprenticeship because we are passionate about inspiring young people to get trained in top level technical skills for our industry. We're very excited to hire the first apprenticeships at the London Technical Fashion Academy scheme."

For more information visit:
http://creativeskillset.org/news_events/press_office/3102_first_apprentices_start_work_for_top_designers_at_london_fashion_week
- creativeskillset.org