Mulberry creating excellent links with community
UK leathergoods firm Mulberry has partnered with a local college for help in training new staff to work at its specialist manufacturing premises. Bridgwater College in Somerset was recently highlighted by the UK Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) for being a provider that uses excellent links with employers in its community to build relationships between learners, hopefully securing jobs for them in the future.
Mulberry’s experienced workforce creates handbags that compete with those of other high-end luxury brands, but over recent years the average age of operational staff has been increasing, and Mulberry has found it increasingly difficult to replace retiring staff with suitably skilled new recruits.
The brand turned to nearby Bridgwater College for help in training new staff with the specialist skills it required. Although the College offered textiles to a small number of students, it had little experience of manufacturing leathergoods. Mulberry recognised that the College had excellent skills in teaching, learning and assessment and so both the employer and the College worked together to recruit suitable teaching staff and develop a successful apprenticeship training programme at Mulberry’s premises in Chilcompton.
In November 2011, Mulberry announced that it plans to open a new manufacturing facility in Bridgwater creating over 250 new jobs. The Mulberry Group was awarded a £2.5million government grant to build its second UK factory to fulfil growing international demand.
In addition to the grant, Mulberry is investing £5 milion of its own capital in the new factory. Construction of the factory is expected to commence in 2012 and would be operational by the end of 2013.
Godfrey Davis, chairman and chief executive of Mulberry Group plc said: “We are delighted that our bid for funding has been successful. As a British luxury brand we want to grow our manufacturing base in this country and ensure that our continuing success supports the broader economy.”
Once complete, the factory is expected to produce 140,000 handbags per year, mainly for export.
