MADE IT (UKFT

“We are delighted to be able to offer these opportunities to fashion and textile students across the UK. Graduates with a strong understanding of the production side of the industry are highly valued. The chance to work within some of the UK’s brilliant mills and manufacturers is invaluable.”

Adam Mansell, CEO of UKFT

Left and facing page: Scenes from MADE IT II, which launched in 2020. The programme will work with UK university partners to provide enriched opportunities for fashion and textile graduates.

MADE IT: THE UKFT UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP Five UK Universities Sign Up for MADE IT II

The MADE IT programme, which UKFT first launched in 2017, is back. It has been developed to enrich the production and sourcing knowledge of fashion and textile graduates and to illustrate the wealth of technical and creative roles available throughout the UK supply chain. The universities selected to take part this academic year (2020-21) are Plymouth College of Art, Winchester School of Art, De Montfort University, University of Salford, and Bucks New University.

Bashir Aswat, Programme Leader for MA & BA Fashion Design at University of Salford, said, ‘We are proud once more to be working with UKFT as part of the MADE IT project. It’s a great opportunity for our students to learn more about UK manufacturing for the apparel sector, and there is no better time given the current circumstances and changes within the fashion industry. In particular, it’s a tremendous opening for one student to gain hands-on experience of production processes working with some of the best companies [in] the UK.’

The programme is made up of the following three elements:

PRODUCTION AND SOURCING MASTERCLASS

The masterclass will be delivered to each participating university, with the aim of promoting the importance of production and sourcing within a rounded fashion education and to highlight the breadth of job opportunities across the supply chain.

PRODUCTION INTERNSHIP

The MADE IT Production Internship was developed after observing the impact of immersing students in the production environment. One student from each participating university will be offered a fully financiallysupported internship opportunity within a fashion or textile production environment in the UK.

QUALITY INTERNSHIP MATERIAL

UKFT will work with students and employers to develop two sets of publicly-available collateral that aim to raise the quality and expectations of internships across the industry: (1) Quality Internship Collateral for students and (2) Quality Internship Collateral for employers.

This round of the MADE IT programme will run for the next three academic years and is supported by The Clothworkers’ Company and CapitB Trust.