Another Success for Harringay's Fast Developing Fashion Training Hub

Harringay has taken another step in securing a toehold in the fast developing ‘London Fashion District’ with the securing of £430,000 of funding to develop a tailoring academy on the Crusader Estate in Hermitage Road.

Mainly based in East London, the London Fashion District is an ambitious project which aims to strengthen London’s position as a global centre for fashion tech. It seeks to encourage the collaboration of fashion, tech, business and education to develop new products and processes, and nurture talent.

Harringay took its first steps to be part of the initiative when not-for-profit organisation settled in Harringay in 2008. In 2013 Fashion Enter set up the Stitching Academy on the Crusader Estate with funding from Asos, Haringey Council and Jobcentre Plus. 

As the Guardian newspaper explained at the time Asos's aim was to support a rebuilding of skills in the UK clothing manufacturing industry amid hopes that retailers are "reshoring" more orders.

Two years later in 2015, Fashion Enter's Fashion Technology Academy, was launched. It combines training with a live factory environment that produces 10,000 garments a week.

With the new funding from Sadiq Khan’s £70m regeneration programme, the organisation aims to develop an 11,500 sq ft academy on the Crusader Estate on Hermitage Road. It will be equipped with the latest tailoring machinery to train and develop new skills in more than 600 people a year.

The news comes after Fashion Enter was appointed last year as the preferred training provider for the Savile Row Bespoke Association, which includes Alexander McQueen, Gieves & Hawkes, Kilgour and Richard Anderson.

Fashion Enter has already provided apprenticeships for more than 30 retailers including Marks & Spencer, Jigsaw, Hobbs and Asos.

The opening date of the new academy has not been announced.

Website: www.fashion-enter.com