After just 1 5 years in their new premises, the Leicester Style and Textiles Academy Ltd, whose companies contain fashion design, production, and consultancy, has outgrown the area and is on the go again.
The Leicester Style and Textiles Academy Ltd (LFTA) was only available in 2015 by fashion custom Janie Morgan-Wood whose experience contains planning for home models such as, for example, Next, Matalan, and Scars & Spencer.
For quite some time, Janie applied to design rooms held by other programs on vacations to develop her business. Her core company was promoting makers with their technical skills, and she also began supporting start-up companies that needed to acquire a foothold in the industry. The business enterprise was doing well until Covid occurred, and she missed using these design rooms.
Janie claimed: “As I sat in the home during lockdown I noticed I needed to adapt. I needed my own personal physical place and machinery.”
With assistance from the Business Gateway Growth Centre, she effectively requested a Leicestershire Covid Healing Grant and was awarded £5,500. Along with her resources, she committed to equipment and premises in Wigston. A Small Business Healing give of £3,000 from Leicester City Council also meant she had been able to set up a style space with new equipment to create premium samples.
This place in Wigston started as a style link, but today her business also makes little goes of 100-300 outfits for niche, high-end customers. Items contain ladieswear such as gowns, T-shirts, hoodies, cycling shorts, swimwear, yoga apparel and lingerie, and, latterly, dog hoodies. Additionally, they produce men’s leisurewear, including sweatshirts.
The business enterprise started to build; therefore, Janie’s partner Roy quit his lecturing job and joined her full-time. She’s also taken on three machinists and a part-time fashion designer. They’ve outgrown the present area; therefore have just moved to a 3,500 sq foot development on Linden Block in Leicester.
Janie provides: “We are supporting new models move forward with quality products produced in the UK, and that’s anything we are very proud of. With over 35 decades of experience, I can guide these models to make greater conclusions for cloth and trims. It’s about focusing on what they want.
“We have seen lots of textile manufacturing in Leicester that’s cheap, fast-fashion, mass creation for high block or trusted online retailers but very few places make smarter quality garments. Our team have a advanced level of skill, every bit is quality examined, it’s quite artisan.”
The business enterprise can be making an effect on the environment. Along with making outfits of a superior quality that last, they’re promoting start-ups and creating models by affordable sourcing fabric.
Janie explains: “There is plenty of spend within our industry, not much within our business, but once you obtain into larger-scale creation, there’s manufacturing with empty fabrics and trims.
“We assist supplying organizations to recognize any excess, top quality inventory that is provided to your clients. This implies they can use higher quality fabrics and trims at a reasonable price. We are supporting these small models obtain their seeks keeping them income and diverting undesired fabrics from landfills.”
