Fashion industry courses available for local people

Tottenham Hotspur Foundation is working with Fashion Enter, a Haringey-based not for profit social enterprise, to help local people gain training and employment opportunities within the fashion industry.

The Foundation is signposting people to Fashion Enter’s Fashion Tailoring Academy, a new clothing manufacturing and training facility in the borough which has been funded by Haringey Council and the Mayor of London’s Good Growth Fund. Here, students can learn the skills required to be a professional tailor such as pattern making, fabric inspection, cutting, laying, stitching and machine maintenance.

Through the Fashion Tailoring Academy, students can also study for vocational qualifications such as Level 2, 3 and ABC Level 5 Diploma in Bespoke Tailoring, and apply for apprenticeships in major clothing companies such as ASOS and Kilgour Savile Row Tailors.

This week, to launch the programme, Fashion Enter hosted an open morning at their workshop, attended by Sarah Ebanja, Chief Executive of Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, Alex Lamb, General Manager at Kilgour Savile Row Tailors, and Simon Platts, Sourcing Director at ASOS.com, who talked about the importance of giving the next generation the skills and training required to have a career in the fashion industry.

This latest initiative will run in conjunction with the service the Foundation currently provides for local people out of Percy House, a major community enterprise, employment and skills hub located on Tottenham High Road. As well as giving local people one-stop access to vocational training and job opportunities from a range of employers connected to the Club, it delivers over 95,000 hours of community development, health, enterprise, education and sports programmes every year to those living in the Club’s local area.

Jenny Holloway, CEO of Fashion Enter, said: “The reshoring of UK production back to London has created a 136 per cent increase in fashion jobs in Haringey – now it's vital that this momentum continues. It’s fantastic to work with organisations such as the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation to help us identify people who have an interest in fashion, train them up and help them go onto successful careers within the industry.”

Sarah Ebanja, Chief Executive Officer of Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, said: “It’s fantastic to have a training facility such as the Fashion Tailoring Academy on our doorstep for local people to access. This latest collaboration is another example of the work the Foundation does with like-minded employers, to give local people access to vocational training and meaningful job opportunities.”