Industry leaders to discuss future of manufacturing at Pure Origin

A line-up of leading industry speakers will be discussing issues from innovation, sustainability and fabrics of the future to reshoring and the impact of Brexit on the fashion supply chain at the inaugural Pure Origin event next month.

Pure Origin will take place alongside contemporary fashion trade show Pure London and Pure Man from 11-13 February at London Olympia and will feature more than 40 manufacturers from around the world, including a strong contingent from the UK such as Oxford Blue, LS Manufacturing, Gil Design Studio, Kalopsia Collective and BeFab Be Creative UK.

A seminar programme, targeting heads of sourcing, supply chain managers, heads of buying, technical managers, directors of supply chain, quality assurance and global product compliance from brands, retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers and start-ups, has been devised to support the exhibition.

Speakers include Dr Alistair Knox chairman of ASBCI (Association of Suppliers to the British Clothing Industry) who will join a panel discussion on re-evaluating the proposition of reshoring manufacturing while Simon Middleton of British coastal clothing brand Blackshore will deliver a seminar on sustainable sourcing and manufacturing in the UK.

Stephen Taylor, Industry Principal Director at Kurt Salmon will lead discussions on the impacts of Brexit on the fashion supply chain, as well as industry best practice in product development and sourcing. Future trends forecaster Geraldine Wharry and Maeve Wadge founder of Sourcing Sustainably will discuss sustainability issues.

Further speakers include: managing director of The Reassurance Network Malcolm Guy; Offset Warehouse director Charlie Ross; co-founder of the UK Textile Forum Linda Laderman; co-founder of Unmade Ben Alun-Jones; CEO of Sedex Global Jonathan Ivelaw-Chapman; WRAP's David Rogers; and Douwe Jan Joustra from C&A Foundation.

For start-ups and entrepreneurs, a series of lectures and workshops will offer guidance on working with manufacturers, launching your own label collection, how to source the right manufacturer, the step by step process of garment manufacturing, negotiating prices, quantities and delivery scales.

Pure Origin takes place in collaboration with WGSN and Coloro. Trend forecaster WGSN will deliver a presentation of the key manufacturing future trends for AW18-AW19 while Coloro will demonstrate its universal colour system.