PHOTOGRAPHY Celine Witon
WORDS Rebecca Jane Hill
You might be wondering — why does the Fashion Council Germany (FCG) host an annual conference in Scotland? Fashion Zukunft (translating to Fashion Future) began in 2022 and is held in partnership with The King’s Foundation (formerly The Prince’s Foundation). Dumfries House in Cumnock is the main education centre of the latter, and the aim of the partnership is to bring the fashion and textile industry closer to underprivileged students.
On 29th October, the third conference took place, with 150 students aged 14-17 in attendance from both Scotland and Germany. The morning kicked off with a speech from CEO of the FCG, Scott Lipinksi. He told the pupils: “Maybe a few of you can hear that I’m not really German — I was born in Scotland and moved to Germany when I was 7,” which likely explains the connection between the two organisations.
Speakers included Rosie Gaunt, responsibility manager at Manolo Blahnik, Tamara Cincik, founder of Fashion Roundtable, Jenny Holloway, CEO of Fashion Enter and Mark Hogarth, brand ambassador at Harris Tweed.
It’s no secret that in the UK, there is a major shortage of skilled workers in the fashion and textile industry. Brexit, the pandemic and the ongoing cost of living crisis have all made day-to-day operations a challenge, and for the next generation – without sewing and making skills being taught in schools as part of the curriculum, and apprenticeships lacking in government funding – it may not be the most appealing of industries to enter. In July, the UKFT (UK Fashion & Textile Association) calculated that the removal of such skills barriers could see the industry support another 98,000 jobs.
This is something being tackled by The King’s Foundation (TKF), which launched The Future Textiles programme at Dumfries House in 2014. Jacqueline Farrell, education director for TKF, heads up the initiative (which celebrated its ten year anniversary with an exhibition opening earlier this month at the Garrison Chapel in London) and led the conference along with Lipinski.
She said: “Initially, Future Textiles benefitted secondary school age pupils by introducing them to the beauty of making and ensuring they understood the technical sewing and craft processes that are so vital to responsible fashion design and manufacturing. Due to the incredible support of the industry and our partners, the programme grew rapidly and now offers a huge range of courses ranging from day workshops and weekly community groups, to full-time courses which provide students with the skills needed to start their own businesses and gain employment in the industry.”
These courses take place at the Dumfries House atelier, which the German students had been using to customise and upcycle garments provided by eBay, an ongoing sponsor of the conference. 24 students were selected by the FCG to spend a week in Scotland at the event, but also to visit local manufacturers and gain a greater understanding of what it means to work within the sector.
Daniela Eichhorn from the FCG visited a total of 25 schools across Germany, but made contact with over 800. “In this edition, we had a conversion rate of about 3%,” she explains. It seems Germany faces similar problems to the UK — fashion isn’t often considered academic, nor a viable enough career-route to pursue.
Nonetheless, the FCG has big plans for next year. “We want to reach at least 30 schools and thanks to the PVH Foundation [PVH owns brands Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger], with whom we have been working on this project since 2022, we will be able to increase the number of children attending the conference and the trip to Scotland next year. Instead of 24 students, we will be able to invite 48 students in 2025. We will also be increasing the radius of the towns and cities we visit to reach more remote and underprivileged places.”
After spending time with this year’s cohorts, it was clear that this industry exposure was already taking effect. Sentiments such as “I’ll buy a sewing machine” and “I’ll buy more second-hand [clothes] than before” were shared by the animated group of young people.
Naturally, there is a huge focus on sustainability from both the FCG and TKF. As announced earlier this year, Berlin Fashion Week (operated by FCG) adopted Copenhagen Fashion Week’s sustainability requirements after Lipinski met Cecilie Thorsmark (CEO of Copenhagen Fashion Week) through the European Fashion Alliance (EFA) where they are both board members. Berlin Fashion Week designers such as Marie Lueder, Mario Keine of Marke and FCG Vogue Fashion Fund winner Kasia Kucharska were present at the conference.
Topics discussed between industry experts and the students were: Craft vs Tech: Building Future Brands; Breaking Stereotypes: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; and Pushing Reflection: Transitioning To Circular Fashion. While Q&A sessions happened in the room, with many impressive and challenging thoughts from the students, their feedback was captured digitally through an online form throughout the morning. This was then taken to industry round table discussions in the afternoon to agree on shared tangible actions to work towards by next year’s conference. The results of these will be published in early December, and distributed to attendees as well as TFK’s wider network across education, manufacturing and design, policy and more.
It’s worth noting that TKF’s Future Textiles initiative came about as a result of an industry roundtable at Dumfries House. To date, more than 7,000 people have benefitted from the program and courses are run in collaboration with brands, retailers and organisations including Chanel, Yoox Net-a-Porter, Tencel, The Joseph Ettedgui Foundation, and The Worshipful Company of Weavers.
Lipinski shares Farrell’s and the Foundation’s ethos of results-driven action. He told BRICKS: “We are more than happy with the way the conference went this year — for me it was the best yet, with the focus more on intergenerational exchange than on the industry itself. Listening to the feedback the students gave us really made me think. Not only did they give us valuable insights into their perspectives, but also what issues they see as relevant in the future. I’m really looking forward to next year where we will bring 48 instead of 24 students from Germany.”
It can be all too easy to talk about the many problems the industry faces at these types of events, only to then leave the room and never act upon what was discussed. These types of events also tend to consist of those already working in the industry — rarely do they directly involve young people, whom industry leaders’ decisions affect and impact. By holding attendees accountable, and listening to a generation who are keen to break into what often feels like an impenetrable industry, what the Fashion Council Germany and The King’s Foundation’s partnership goes on to achieve will be an exciting thing to watch indeed.
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