A new multi-million-pound research project to boost creative innovation in the textile and fashion industry is being led by the University of Leeds, UK. The project will explore and develop new digital technologies to help improve high value, luxury design processes.
The project will explore and develop new digital technologies to help improve high-value, luxury design processes
Aiming to transform the fashion industry’s capacity, new digital technologies will be developed to increase productivity, shrink design process lead times, lower costs, and importantly, reduce waste.
Partners of the project include Yorkshire Textiles, the Royal College of Art, Burberry, Wools of New Zealand, Abraham Moon & Sons, The Textile Centre of Excellence, Camira and the British Fashion Council.
It will be led by Stephen Russell, professor of Textile Materials and Technology in the University’s School of Design.
“The vision is to transform the UK industry’s capacity for new product innovation, and to reduce lead times and waste,” says Russell. “This will be done through the convergence of new digital and textile technologies within the fashion design process.”
“Collaborative research and development by creative companies across the supply chain is fundamental to ensuring future growth, and harnessing UK design and manufacturing assets is central to our strategy.”
Partners of the project include Yorkshire Textiles, the Royal College of Art, and Burberry
Yorkshire and textiles
Nationwide, the fashion design industry contributes £28bn to the economy, with a growing workforce of nearly 900,000 – making it one of the largest creative industries in the country.
Yorkshire is a UK centre for design and manufacturing of high-value textiles – fabric made here is in high international demand and finds its way in to some of the world’s most prestigious luxury branded products.
Many of this region’s textile manufacturers are now exporting more than 65% of what they produce.
New fashion design programmes will also be created for undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers at Leeds.
Industrial apprenticeship programmes are also being developed to address a skills gap in the industry for designers who can combine their art, design, science and technology skills.
The Creative Industries Cluster Programme
The investment offers support to the UK’s globally important creative industries, which are already worth over £92bn to the UK economy and export an estimated £46bn in goods and services each year. The aim is to create jobs and drive the creation of companies, products and experiences that can be marketed around the world, significantly contributing to UK economic growth both regionally and nationally.
The Creative Industries Clusters Programme is part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy and comprises nine creative clusters and a new Policy and Evidence Centre. The Programme will bring together world-class research talent with companies and organisations from across the UK’s four nations in a first-of-its-kind research and development investment.
“Combining world-class arts and humanities researchers with our globally renowned creative industries will underpin growth in this vibrant and rapidly expanding sector within the UK economy,” says professor Andrew Thompson, executive chair of the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
“These pioneering partnerships between industry and universities are providing a huge vote of confidence for a sector that is vital to the future prosperity of the UK.”
Each of the nine clusters emerged from an open, rigorous and peer-reviewed selection process that began a year ago. They bring together a range of educational and commercial partners to tackle unique R&D challenges identified by a specific area of industry. The clusters span the UK from Bristol and Bath to Yorkshire and the Humber to South Wales and to Scotland.
Aside from the fashion, textiles and technology sectors, the funded projects will accelerate growth in in the broadcast and screen industries, data and design, animation and video games, digital storytelling and creative audio-visual industries, too.
This investment also establishes a new Policy and Evidence Centre. The Centre will address the fact that while the national economic strength of the UK’s creative industries is unquestioned, gaps in the evidence base still exist. Led by global innovation foundation Nesta, with university partners across the UK, the new centre will connect stakeholders within the sector, research communities, and policy makers. It will develop independent evidence that will inform decision-making across the creative industries and underpin future policy decisions.
The nine creative clusters will be showcased at the Beyond Conference, which will mark the start of a new chapter in the UK’s creative industries. Exploring the sector’s future and potential to grow, innovate, and lead as well as learn from its global partners and competitors.
The Beyond conference will take place on Tuesday 13 November 2018 at Milton Court, Barbican, in London, UK.
