UK footwear industry gets new apprenticeship scheme

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jun 22, 2018

The British Footwear Association, Northampton College and leading UK shoe companies have partnered to develop a new national apprenticeship standard for footwear manufacturing.

The new standard, launched to train the next generation of shoemakers, will come into effect this autumn. It hopes to support the British footwear industry, which manufactures around six million pairs of shoes, worth £400 million, per year.

Companies including Loake, Church’s, Dr Martens, Tricker’s and Crocket & Jones participated in the development of the new standard. The scheme will offer high quality entry-level training and experience, and has been designed to be flexible and work for everyone from small, specialist makers to large multi-national manufacturers.

“International interest in British brands is always incredibly healthy, particularly so for the premium hand-made shoes, of the type made in Northamptonshire, alongside numerous smaller businesses nationwide,” said British Footwear Association chief executive John Saunders.

“It is economically imperative, that the skills are protected and developed. Additionally there are firms wishing to expand production, so this collective effort on training will ensure that all manufacturing businesses are able to offer the kind of nationally approved and formal training we haven’t seen for some time in the UK.”

Northampton College said it will develop a fully-functioning ‘shoe room’ to enable students to gain off-site machine and equipment experience throughout their apprenticeship. There are also plans for a ‘technical academy’ for apprentices in the next few years.

Pat Brennan-Barrett, principal of Northampton College, said: “Northampton has been synonymous with footwear for hundreds of years and we look forward to helping the next generation learn the skills they will need to ensure the industry not only survives but thrives both locally and nationally for years to come."

In the UK, there are around 30 larger footwear factories and up to 100 smaller specialist manufacturers, employing in total over 4,000 people. More than half of the footwear produced in the UK is exported.