Stitch up for the sign-industry
John Gerrard of AE Sewing Machines in Wrexham is a man with a solution to the nation’s shortage of skilled seamstresses for the soft signage sector.
Wednesday, 26 Sep 2018 16:20 GMT
John Gerrard of AE Sewing Machines in Wrexham
With a boom in soft signage and the sale of wide format printers, demand has risen for people who could handle and stitch together large amounts of material. The once thriving rag trade had been hit by overseas imports leaving an industry short on labour.
He says: “It is very difficult to find skilled staff as the older ones as the most experienced ones are retiring and with little training available there are few people entering the industry with the right skills. So, we have developed a machine that can be used by sign-makers with minimal training.”
One of the effects of the 2008 credit crunch was the proliferation of craft courses catering for those who found themselves out to work but wanting to find a way of making a living”
Interest has been brisk on the AE stand at the Print Show, from firms who had invested in wide format printers and were producing large textile banners he says.
“Interest in the machines has come from people doing large format graphics, PVC printed banners,” he says, “and people putting printed fabric signage into aluminium frames which are in all of the big stores now and airports and places like that with large adverts and promotions. It’s a fast-growing market.
“So, we produce the machine to sew the silicon edge beading onto the fabric, so the graphic can go into the frame. The machine is a conveyorized unit that can attach the silicon bead. It’s a high-performance machine with auto functions and will give somewhere in the region of a 70 percent increase in productivity with a skilled operator.”
One of the effects of the 2008 credit crunch was the proliferation of craft courses catering for those who found themselves out to work but wanting to find a way of making a living. Sewing courses have sprung up across the country. There are also evening courses in fashion design which includes sections on professional sewing at some Further Education Colleges although no national programme of training the next generation of seamstresses.
Should there be a national set of training courses at colleges to bring in the next generation of seamstresses?
Email your thoughts to harry@linkpublishing.co.uk or call me on Tel: 0117 9805 040 – or follow me on Twitter and join in the debate.
