UKFT's Young Textile Technician Fund
UKFT’s Young Textile Technician Fund is designed to allow businesses across the UK to train their young textile technicians. The fund will cover 50% of the costs of in-depth training for young textile technicians, thanks to the generous support of The Worshipful Company of Weavers, The Worshipful Company of Clothworkers and The Worshipful Company of Drapers.
Training is typically carried out by machinery builders, often at overseas training schools, and is extremely specialised. As companies invest in new textile technology, the requirement for highly-skilled textile technicians has never been more important but this type of in-depth training can be prohibitively expensive. UKFT’s fund allows businesses to extend their capabilities, increase flexibility and develop new skills at textile companies within the UK.
The fund is now open to businesses applying to train textile technicians under the age of 35.
“Training young people is essential to ensure the future of our industry and access to this type of training is a critical way of ensuring that the UK textile sector remains competitive against global competition. It is great news that employers across the UK can now access funding to train textile technicians to allow the industry to capitalise on all the opportunities that exist for further growth.
“UKFT is deeply grateful to Weavers’, Clothworkers and Drapers’ Companies for their support in up-skilling the textile technicians of the future.”
Companies interested in accessing funding should contact Katie.robinson@ukft.org
Colin Spencer Halsey, executive director of The Natural Fibre Company – a recipient of the fund, said:
“Just to let you know we have received the grant for the UKFT Young Textile Technician Fund towards our technical dye training. Firstly, thank you for your excellent support during this process. Secondly, my compliments to UKFT for delivering such a valuable grant for textile businesses, particularly small enterprises. The whole process was easy to navigate and the terms of reference enabled us to achieve a step change in our business.”
Case studies
Kate and Joanne at Harley of Scotland
Kate Wilson and Joanne Fowlie, both knitwear programmers at Harley of Scotland recently completed in-depth training at Stoll in Germany, with support from UKFT’s Young Textile Technician Fund
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Georgia Clarke at John Smedley
Georgia Clarke, aged 25 and a Trainee Programmer at John Smedley, undertook a technician’s training course on the new Shima Seiki Mini Machine with support from the UKFT Young Textile Technician Fund
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Lewis Stanners at Lochcarron of Scotland
Lewis Stanners, a 22-year-old dyer at tartan manufacturer Lochcarron of Scotland, has recently undertaken training in boilerhouse operations, with support from UKFT's Young Textile Technician Fund
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Jessica Turnbull, Production Assistant at Bill Baber Knitwear
Jessica Turnbull, aged 23 and a production assistant at Bill Baber Knitwear, completed her Stoll M1 Plus software training with the support of UKFT’s Young Textile Technician Fund.
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Will Pullen at C&J Antich & Son
Will Pullen, aged 24, is a qualified Tuner and mill operative who undertook a technician’s training course on the new Staubli Knotting Machine with support from UKFT's Young Textile Technician Fund.
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Bethanie and Emma at The Natural Fibre Company
Bethanie Jenkins, a trainee dye technician, and Emma Smith, a marketing support executive, both received in-depth dye training at the company's mill in Launceston, Cornwall
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Liam and Josh at Milliken
Liam Booth, aged 23 and an engineering apprentice, and Josh Robinson, aged 29 and a loom technician, have both received in-depth training on Dornier rapier weaving machines at Milliken in Bury
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Mark at Halley Stevensons
Mark Soutar, a trainee dyer at Halley Stevensons, has undertaken in-depth training as part of the firm’s major capital investment project to support capacity and range expansion
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Jason, Jonathan and Mitchell at John Spencer
Three young textile technicians from John Spencer have undertaken in-depth training to enable optimum performance and maximum efficiency from the firm’s knotting and warping machines
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Ben, Ryan and Simon at Arville Textiles
Three young textile technicians from Arville Textiles in Wetherby gained in-depth weaving training on Picanol looms to facilitate the company’s capacity expansion
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Case studies continued...
Nadia Whitehead at The Natural Fibre Company
Nadia Whitehead, a 21-year-old trainee spinner at The Natural Fibre Company, recently completed spinning frame technical training with support from UKFT’s Young Textile Technician Fund.
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Harry McHale at Marton Mills
Harry McHale, aged 25, from Marton Mills undertook a training course on the Picanol Optimax Weaving Machine with support from UKFT’s Young Textile Technician Fund.
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Fiona and Alice at Bristol Weaving Mill
Fiona and Alice both received in-depth training on the Dornier industrial loom at Bristol Weaving Mill with support from UKFT’s Young Textile Technician Fund.
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Lewis and Danny at Pennine Weavers
Two technicians at Pennine Weavers recently completed in-depth training to replace Dornier loom gearboxes
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Travel Bursary Fund: ITMA 2023
A group of talented young textile technicians from across the UK recently had the opportunity to discover new technologies and industry innovations at ITMA 2023 in Milan, with the support of the UKFT Travel Bursary Fund.
Educating the future generation of the UK textile and fashion skilled workforce has never been as important. Technological advances and automation, advanced material development and processes, fibre and fabric innovation alongside sustainable practices in manufacturing and transparency across the global supply chain, will be the core foundations of the fashion and textile industry for the future.
This fund builds on the success of UKFT’s Young Textile Technician Fund, which covers 50% of the costs of in-depth training for young textile technicians, thanks to the generous support of The Worshipful Company of Weavers, The Worshipful Company of Clothworkers and The Worshipful Company of Drapers.
As part of the scheme, travel grants were available to visit the next edition of the international textile machinery show ITMA in Milan in 2023. ITMA has been at the heart of the industry since 1951 and is the world’s only exhibition to cover textile machinery used in the entire supply chain. ITMA 2023 focused on advance materials and automation, a digital future, innovation technologies, sustainability and the move towards a greener planet and a more circular economy.
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