AW Hainsworth hosts Future Fashion Factory visit

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jan 30, 2020

Leaders from government, business, universities, finance and entrepreneurs from countries including Australia, the US, Denmark, China and Norway visited AW Hainsworth’s textile mill in Yorkshire this week as part of a university programme.

Led by the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in collaboration with Future Fashion Factory, the visit explored how the region’s long-established textile industry continues to perform among the world’s best through innovation, connectivity, and inclusive support for entrepreneurs.

Run by the 7th generation of the Hainsworth family, the textile company gave visitors a tour of the facilities and explained the role of innovative products and processes at the heart of a contemporary vertical textile mill.

Delegates also had the opportunity to learn more about the Hainsworth Creative Hub, an on-site centre providing support for local fashion entrepreneurs. 

Future Fashion Factory, the research project funded by the Creative Industries Clusters programme, offered attendees insight into the way it’s supporting fashion and textile businesses to access collaborative research and development.

And designers from the Future Fashion Factory network across Yorkshire and the Royal College shared their experiences of using Yorkshire cloth and exporting worldwide.

The visit was part of the MIT’s Regional Entrepreneurship Accelerator Program, which provides expert guidance to support regions to accelerate economic growth.

Professor Stephen Russell, director of Future Fashion Factory, said: “Yorkshire’s textile industry remains at the forefront of the sector worldwide, driven by innovative solutions to produce high-quality cloth for the world’s biggest brands.”

Adam Hainsworth, Director at AW Hainsworth, added: “We are fully committed to ensuring continued support for entrepreneurs and students, both through Future Fashion Factory and as an independent business, and believe the opportunity to shed light on the importance of this through the REAP visit will be beneficial to many businesses.”