Clever sew-and-sews plan factory for ethical goods funded by Metro mayor
A SEWING collective based in Runcorn is planning to open a factory for producing ‘ethical’ goods.
Sew Halton, based at The Old Police Station on Bridge Street, is a social enterprise and its proposal was revealed in a funding bulletin from the office of Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram.
The group is one of the many non-profit enterprises to have benefited from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s (LCR) backing for the sector.
Others have included the Future Yard music hub in Birkenhead and the Homegrown Collective brewing and horticulture club in Liverpool.
Now the combined authority has pledged £5.5m to be topped up by £1m from the Power To Change trust to establish the Kindred organisation for supporting the sector.
Sew Halton said its ethical production venture will be called ‘social manufacturing’ and will have a factory employing residents.
The group’s mission is to use machine sewing and clothing design to reduce unemployment, isolation, poor wellbeing and fabric waste.
Before lockdown it tan activities such as a confidence sewing course at the long-term out of work, an upcycling project that distributed more than 500 coats to children and a poppy-making project with veterans.
An LCR spokesman said its participants face many barriers – in recent courses 26% had a mental health challenge and 64% had a physical disability.
Halton itself has high levels of deprivation which the spokesman said has been compounded by years of austerity, leaving residents feeling isolated and disconnected.
Covid-19 has heaped a layer of complexity on the challenges.
The Kindred team has worked with Sew Halton since early lockdown.
Victoria Begg, Sew Halton founder, said: “Kindred’s support has been vital to Sew Halton – lockdown and social distancing could easily have made us unsustainable.
“With their support we’ve been able to offer a range of Zoom sewing classes, aimed at those that may be particularly at risk of isolation.
“These have included craft lessons for young carers, sewing classes for local veterans, making masks for local charities and scrubs for our NHS heroes.
“Lockdown became a very productive time for Sew Halton and our community of sewers.”