Last month, we had the privilege of organising and overseeing a truly unique 2-day residential training programme for the Cut, Sew & Trim apprentices at Bentley Motors, alongside members of the Bentley management team.
Bringing together 20 colleagues, including 10 apprentices on the Advanced Upholstery course, the programme – designed by our tutors was aimed to deepen the apprentices’ understanding of the leather and textile production behind Bentley’s luxury automotive interiors.
A huge thank you to the CapitB Trust for agreeing to support the training programme – without their commitment to our sector, programmes like this would not be possible. As this specialist training sits outside mainstream apprenticeship delivery, it required forward-thinking to make it happen, demonstrating a real commitment to developing industry leather specialists of the future.
During the residential, the group visited the Charles F. Stead tannery in Leeds to see first-hand how premium leather is processed, as well as visiting Arville Textiles to understand how high-performance automotive fabrics are engineered and manufactured.
These visits were complemented by bespoke knowledge and theorertical study to complement the practical visits and site tours. The key learning outcomes of the programme included:
- Establish stronger links between UK automotive manufacturers and UK textile producers
- Understand the full leather journey from raw hide through to finished, luxury hand-stitched products
- Recognise the complexities of leather manipulation, techniques, quality standards and environmental expectations
- Gaining insight into the leather supply chain and value chain, and how these directly impact business performance and sector sustainability
- Understand the process of textile production and textile usage across the automotive sector
Our Director of Training, Martin Jenkins said “Programmes like this go to show how successful a positive collaboration can be across the sector. We look forward to working alongside UKFT, CapitB, and other industry partners to continue to promote fantastic collaborations between educators and industry”.
If you are an automotive, textile or manufacturing business looking to elevate your team’s technical knowledge, strengthen supply chain understanding, and invest in specialist skills that go beyond standard training routes, we would love to talk. Programmes like this demonstrate what is possible when industry collaborates and invests strategically in its people.
Let’s work together to build the next generation of leather and textile specialists.
