Fashion Enter factory visit
Date: 12/10/2023
Time: 10:00 am
Who is “Fashion Enter”?
Fashion Enter is a not for profit, social enterprise, which strives to be a centre of excellence for sampling, grading, production and for learning and development of skills within the fashion and textiles industry.
What do they do?
Production and Sampling: They have a Factory for large scale production and a Fashion Studio for grading, sampling and small productions runs. (These are the main sectors we visited.)
Additionally, they also have Business Mentoring, Fashion Technology Academy, Apprenticeships, The Tailoring Academy, N17 Creative Callings, FC Designer Collective and some special projects.
About the factory:
Their apparel factory was established in 2010, I have visited Taiwan’s apparel factory in the past, I must say the scale of Taiwan’s factory is much larger than London factory, but during the visit, I can tell that the equipment and technology in London is fairly advanced. I believe this may be one of the reasons why they don’t need so many employees, in Asia, the production of apparel factories is still rely on a large number of manpower, to do the relatively basic work.
Firstly, we went to the classroom and learned the production process of the factory from the slides which are very informative. Also, the manager mentioned their past collaborations with brands(It is said they they produce an average of 15,000 garments a week for multinationals such as ASOS, Tesco F&F and N Brown). Also their visions and some of the innovation technology that Fashion studio adopted.
The Factory is the only UK company that has a leading status in the ethical and technical Fast Forward audit and is also SMETA audited (SMETA is an audit, which helps you to understand standards of labour, health and safety, environmental performance, and ethics within your own operations or at a supplier site). The core production centres on ladieswear soft separates in both jersey and woven being manufactured by a team of highly experienced machinists that are from 12 different countries. A selection of semi-tailored garments is also produced.
The factory’s primary focus is to swiftly produce high-quality fashion items in bulk, with a process that spans from concept to delivery within two to three weeks, using available stock fabrics and their internal system, Galaxius. (Galaxius Management Information System ensures transparency in tracking production details and real-time data on work minutes and earnings.)
In November 2020, they opened a new factory in Wales, hiring over 75 experienced Welsh machinists after Laura Ashley Texplan’s closure, boosting their weekly garment production to 40,000 units.
I can feel that the factory is concerned about sustainability. They have introduced the latest technology to ensure that every garment production process is ethical and environmentally friendly, and the working environment looks very comfortable and non-stressful. I believe that they have put a lot of effort into caring staff’s well-being.
About the Fashion Studio:
Established in 2008, the Fashion Studio provides pattern creation, toiling, grading, and short-run production services for quantities ranging from 1 to 300 units. They also offer pattern-less sampling, charged hourly compared to the Factory’s garment unit rate. Their clients include new startups like Beanie & Bear and Tanya Elizabeth, as well as established London Fashion Week designers (e.g., PPQ, Richard Nicholl, Sophia Webster, Peter Pilotto, Thomas Tait), and brands like Jaeger.
The Fashion Studio specializes in creating various garments, from tailoring to wedding dresses, lingerie, and more. They also had a substantial role in producing over a third of the Opening Ceremony attire for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Sample Development Process:
– Strategic meeting
– Initial Design development
– Sample specifications
– Place order for patterns/Samples
Takeaway: What I find particularly noteworthy is that the Fashion Studio bills by the hour rather than by the quantity of items, making it accommodating for small orders. While it may be pricier than mass production, the Fashion Studio’s services align well with the needs of emerging brands and quality-driven haute couture labels. During our visit, we observed their stringent quality standards, where even minor wrinkles could be considered as defects, underscoring the factory’s commitment to high-quality production.