The University of Leeds is launching a new Textile Innovation and Sustainability BSc that will prepare students to address the environmental and societal challenges that the textile industry is facing worldwide, through sustainable and innovative textile solutions.

The new Textile Innovation and Sustainability BSc will be delivered by the University of Leeds, starting in September 2024. Students will be given the key to understand how technology can drive the development of innovative and sustainable textile materials, processes and products. A combination of compulsory and optional modules will help them grow fundamental knowledge of the topic, while offering them a chance to specialise in the areas that fit within their career aspirations.

Dr. Muhammad Tausif, Deputy Head of School and Associate Professor in Sustainable Textile Manufacturing at The University of Leeds, commented:

“The new BSc Textile Innovation and Sustainability programme builds on a 150-year history of textile education at the University of Leeds. In addition to a cutting-edge syllabus supported by our extensive laboratories, we will be working together with the industry to offer a compelling package of industrial placements, and plan to offer student scholarships via academic achievement and means-tested routes.”

The three-year course will cover core areas such as textile, technology, innovation and sustainability, as well as a wider variety of topics through its optional modules. The compulsory modules included in the course are:

Year 1 – Sustainable Textile Manufacturing and Industry, Textile Fibres, Sustainable Fashion, Yarn Manufacturing, Knitted Textiles and Processes.

Year 2 – Research Methods, Woven Textiles and Processes, Textile Coloration and Finishing, Performance Evaluation and Quality Control, Garment Manufacturing.

Year 3 – Non-woven Products and Processes, Technical and Innovative Textiles, Major Research Project.

Interview with David Collinge, from The Worshipful Company of Weavers’ Textile Committee

David Collinge from The Worshipful Company of Weavers’ Textile Committee was instrumental in the development of the Textile Innovation and Sustainability BSc. He responded to a few of our questions, offering his insight about this new course.

Tell us more about why the Textile Innovation and Sustainability BSc launched:

The industry needs innovation at all stages of production and sustainability has become an essential element to consider in everything we do. It is vital for our planet that the textile industry does everything it can to make itself much less harmful to our environment.

The course has been designed to meet the skills gap in the UK textile industry who have an unmet need for trained textile technologists who can innovate sustainable solutions to global environmental and societal challenges.  It has been many years since there has been a degree level course in this area and many of the technologists in the industry are aged 55+ and there are very few younger UK trained people to replace them as they retire.

Without textile technologists there is a serious limitation to R&D work that can be undertaken by companies as well as maintaining efficient production for existing production lines.

Retailers need textile technologists to design new products and to ensure that products that are being made, both in the UK and overseas meet their specifications, and sustainability has a key growing influence on these decisions.  Indeed, it is the technologists themselves that need to set and maintain those specifications.

What can students expect from the course?

The students will gain an advanced understanding of the role that technology plays in the development of innovative and sustainable textile materials, processes and products of the future. Students can expect a course that will equip them for employment within the textile industry.  They should develop the technical knowledge to understand existing textiles and to be able to develop new products for the future while considering the impact on the environment and the sustainability of the products themselves.

The course has been designed with the needs of industry in mind and the industry will, we hope, back up that interest with placement and employment opportunities.

Where does it sit within the current UK fashion and textile sector?

There has been a widespread understanding within the industry that this course has been needed for many years, but it has been with the involvement of the textile livery companies that all parties have been able to come together to make this happen.  The University of Leeds to deliver the course, The UK textile industry, co-ordinated by UKFT, to support the course with placements and employment opportunities, and the Textile Livery Group (notably the Weavers, Clothworkers, Drapers, Merchant Taylors and Woolmen) who have helped to pull everyone together.

The Textile Livery Group is providing substantial bursary/scholarship funding for the UK students to help attract the brightest talent to the course which will hopefully bring a new generation of technologists and the managers of the future into the UK fashion and textile industry.

Find out more:

Textile Innovation and Sustainability BSc

Want to know more about innovation and sustainability in UK textiles? Visit:

UKFT’s innovation and sustainability page