This week we are introducing Fashion Enter, a UK based company which facilitates garment production in its state of the art factory in London as well as aims to drive ethical and sustainable business practices across the country.
Established in 2010 and based in London the Fashion Enter factory makes approximately 15,000 garments a week for an array of clients, including ASOS.com and M&S to name a few.
The Factory
We were privileged to take part in the tour of the Fashion Enter factory in North London to experience what makes this business unique. After the health and safety presentation, we went onto the production line where highly skilled seamstresses moved quickly and accurately through their workloads. We witnessed all the processes in the manufacturing of garments from fabric cutting to quality control procedures and item pressing.
As well as seeing the mass-production aspect of the factory, we were also shown the bespoke production of garments for high-end clients, who require a different style of manufacturing with high-quality fabrics. We finished the tour with a walk into the CAD (computer automated design) room that plans the garment cutting to reduce wastage and maximise quality.
Sustainable Manufacturing
This wonderful tour gave us insight into how a UK based fashion manufacturing can be suitable. Generally, as the fashion industry operates on very tight margins, sustainability may be neglected in the long run. The more ethical a company within the sector is, the higher its costs of production will be.
Fashion Enter has solved that by minimising inefficiencies and thus reducing the cost of manufacturing, by providing employees in their factory with a phone to digitise production. Meaning that they can track each employee’s productivity and the amount of work that has been done in a single day to identify where the inefficiencies occur.
The Tailoring Academy
Digitisation in the fashion industry is being implemented where it can be. However, the nature of garment production makes it difficult to do so, due to the complexity of some attire when considering the automation of manufacturing, and the skill gap with an ageing employee scope within the industry.
To bridge the skill gap Fashion Enter has created the Fashion Technology Academy and the Tailoring Academy, which is also a college, giving back to the community by providing courses in garment production, and boosting local creativity.
Insider London is proud to partner with Fashion Enter. For Company Visit with Fashion Enter to see for yourself the whole production process in the factory, as well as other pioneering social enterprises, get in touch via contact@insiderlondon.com to book your visit today.