University of Leeds and Bombyx PLM Announce PLM Curriculum Partnership

Fashion students at the University of Leeds will have new opportunities to gain industrial skills with the introduction of product lifecycle management (PLM) to the curriculum.

Bombyx PLM, a Future Fashion Factory industry partner which won the Tech Startup of the Year Award at the Hull and Humber Tech Awards last week, has partnered with the University to implement its PLM technology.

The platform will be available to students across BA and MA fashion courses in the School of Design from November 2019, giving students hands-on experience of PLM to prepare them for a variety of roles in the fashion and textile industry.

PLM manages the complete lifecycle of a product from design and manufacture to the finished product, and eventually to the end of a product’s life. It is used widely by businesses at each stage of the supply chain and by professionals including creative designers, merchanders, buyers and technologists.

“Bombyx PLM provides fantastic training with a fully functional PLM that our students can experience,” says Dr Pammi Sinha, Associate Professor in Fashion Management at the University of Leeds.

“The system is intuitive and user friendly for students and tutors alike. This experience of PLM will be invaluable for our students as they search for careers within the fashion and textile industry.”

Dr Muriel Rigout, Associate Professor in Textile Printing and Design, added, “Students will fully understand the contexts for how the business of fashion product development happens in the way that it does.

Education and skills is one of Future Fashion Factory’s core research themes, aimed at both meeting existing skills gaps and preparing tomorrow’s designers to make the most of emerging technologies.

Through new apprenticeship and Fashion Design degree programme modules, the Programme will enable the next generation of designers to use traditional tools alongside new digital and advanced textile technologies to support and enhance the creative design process.