Bowker Sadler were commissioned to design the UK’s first fashion manufacturing and research lab for the Manchester Fashion Institute at Manchester Metropolitan University. The facility helps support micro-scale fashion businesses using robotic technologies for more sustainable production.

The Robotics Living Lab (RoLL), was awarded funding by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to build and equip the new facility, enabling innovative research into highly responsive sustainable approaches for UK garment manufacturers. RoLL will challenge the way fashion is traditionally made and lead the way in helping to transform a sustainable future for the fashion manufacturing industry. Fashion researchers, designers and manufacturers will be able to collaborate and make use of robotic technologies with a focus on creating high-value, low-volume fashion production in the UK and help address the industry’s skills shortage.

Images: Kat Thiel, MMU

The lab will support new forms of research partnerships, enable fashion research to inform policy on carbon neutral manufacturing, and support Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s 2038 target for net zero manufacturing.

The lab is equipped with ‘cobots’ – collaborative robots which have potential to stitch, draw, knit, and even 3D scan a mannequin or human body before prototyping a garment design.

Susan Postlethwaite Professor of Fashion Technologies at MFI and Director of RoLL, said:
“This launch is the culmination of years of planning, collaboration and research, and I’m delighted to showcase the important work of the lab…The fashion industry makes a huge contribution to the UK economy, however most of that comes from imported garments. RoLL will play a vital role in attracting the workforce back to the UK, upskilling human workers and offering world-class fashion design products that are locally manufactured.”

“The lab will support new research in collaboration with small businesses to bring back fashion manufacturing to the UK, using new technologies to develop innovative, new, carbon neutral and sustainable fashion technologies.”