It is housed in a factory with a history almost as rich as the company’s own, from manufacturing wagons, trams and a royal carriage after it was built in 1864, to serving as an internment camp in the first world war and making camouflage and blackout materials during the second world war. And from 1924, shortly after it was bought by Carlisle-based textile manufacturer Morton Sundour, the vast 38,445sqm site has produced some of the most sumptuous household textiles bought the world over.

Changing ownership over the decades, the formerly named Standfast Dyers & Printers became Standfast & Barracks when previous owner Courtaulds merged it with silk screen printing firm Barracks of Macclesfield in the mid 1990s. It was then bought in 2000 by expanding textile and wallcovering giant Walker Greenbank which, in 2020, changed its name to Sanderson Design Group.

The challenge

Still going strong and now celebrating its centenary year, Standfast & Barracks has always nurtured a deep engagement with the Lancashire community, employing a local workforce. The challenge it faces however, is the ageing nature of its highly skilled staff, the evolving aspirations of the younger generation and shrinking importance given to textiles and the arts in early education.

S&B produces its fabrics using highly skilled, traditional rotary and flat screen printing methods as well as modern digital techniques that require a different skill set, explains creative and commercial director, Emma Douglas.

“Our adoption of digital technology around 15 years ago really changed the business and how we manage it but it’s imperative that we retain the traditional forms of printing in rotary and particularly flat screen printing. Our top-end customers, especially our export customers, come to us specifically for that form of printing,” says Douglas.

The team at S&B, she says, recognises now more than ever that they need to be creative and consistent in their efforts to furnish the business with new blood, and they use a multi-pronged, strategic approach to keep it flowing in.

The method

“We focus on it in two different ways,” she explains. “There are the young people and the succession planning for the traditional skills, which is completely different from the digital side, or what we call the front-end of the business. Design, innovation, colouration, separating patterns, that is a different skill set and needs a different person than for the traditional factory.”

Around 10 years ago the company began to really expand its design department, now headed by Rebecca Pye, working in numerous ways to attract fresh talent.

Historically, apprenticeships have been very successful on the creative side of the business as well as factory engineering and the company chooses to recruit from Lancashire and the surrounding areas.

Graduate schemes too have played a big role in bolstering S&B’s workforce, of which Pye herself is a perfect example.

“I came here on work experience in my second year at university and then joined through the graduate placement scheme, which was a paid one year placement. I was made a permanent member of the team, progressed to supervisor and then most recently department manager and that’s all been funded by the company,” she explains.

There are numerous graduate schemes and apprenticeships running throughout the business from entry to management, with partnerships between local colleges and universities as well as funded courses with the Chartered Management Institute and Institute of Leadership management, Pye says. “It means the vast majority of our senior management team have come from within,” she adds.

“We have apprenticeships for succession planning and the next stage of people’s careers and the graduate scheme here in particular at S&B incorporates knowledge of the manufacturing side of textiles, along with the creative element. Not all businesses have that dual aspect. It is really beneficial for the industry and quite unique to our scheme.”

S&B works to a five-year business strategy, reviewed annually at group level, with manufacturing reviewed internally every six months. The number of design and factory apprentices and graduate placements form part of that process and decisions are made and budgeted for a year in advance, explains Douglas.

“Outside of those formal processes, we do everything we physically can with the time allowed to work with young people and open their eyes to the opportunities we offer,” she states.

This is done in a number of ways, such as lecturing in local universities, setting briefs for design students and highlighting alternative careers in the design sector.

“Everybody goes to university wanting to be the next designer, but we have more colourists and separation artists in this business than we do designers. We want to try and bring manufacturing to the young people doing these degrees to show them there are other careers they can explore,” Douglas explains.

Pye says a vital part of their engagement with young people is at careers fairs at secondary schools, where textiles courses are declining and being merged with art.

“We take examples of our work and promotional videos showing the processes. We let people know there are creative careers within the textile industries.”

Even the local primary schools are offered factory visits and workshops, while annual design competitions are run for local schools and college-age learners.

“We find a lot of people have no idea there is such a range of careers open to them,” Douglas notes. “We feel our work at schools and careers fairs is vital because you wouldn’t perhaps go to university to do a degree in manufacturing, so it’s about sparking interest at that young age.”

S&B also supports a number of design and textile programmes such as the annual initiative run by charity, I-Dott, with a focus on manufacturing, and CMYUK’s six-month Creatives in Residence Live placement.

Another major initiative S&B is involved in is the National Saturday Club (NSC), run by charity Quest, which facilitates masterclasses in a wide range of subjects for 13-to-16-year-olds.

S&B employees who volunteer to help at the NSC or any other outreach work are paid for their time or given days off in lieu and Pye and Douglas say there is no shortage of volunteers, themselves included.

The result

Marking its centenary this year with numerous local-centric initiatives, including competitions and open days, Douglas says pride and morale is palpable at the site, bolstered in no small way by a visit last autumn from Catherine, Princess of Wales who viewed the production facilities and took time to speak to people in all areas of the business, including its apprentices.

The sheer time and effort put into engaging, recruiting and training new talent, not to mention the cost, is phenomenal. But working out an actual ROI figure is impossible, Douglas feels.

“To understand its value we just have to look at the growth of the design team over the last 10 years. More than 50% have come through work experience, graduate placements or apprenticeships,” she notes.

Additionally she praises the company’s highly skilled factory workforce and attributes that to the ‘skills matrix’ offered to employees, where they get financial rewards for learning in different departments.

Pye and Douglas say they are extremely proud of the progress they have made with young talent, and that is supported by group chief executive Lisa Montague and shared across the group. They say that because of the strategies they have put in place with schools, colleges and universities, recruitment is not a problem.

“The success we’ve had over a number of years means we’ve built a reputation as a good place to come and learn. We’ve been really fortunate, over the last five years particularly, because we’ve been growing so fast, that most people have stayed. It’s been wonderful,” says Douglas.

She highlights the success of its graduate placement scheme, of which they run up to three annually, and that it is looking to offer a joint two-year scheme from next year, with Midlands-based sister firm Anstey Wallpaper Company. Other programmes could offer six months in manufacturing and six in brands, for example – all ideas to keep training schemes relevant and evolving.

“Attracting fresh talent is critical,” Douglas states. “It’s key to this business. You want to retain your people, keep them interested, and I genuinely believe if you’re learning something new, if you know where your career is going, if you’re fully aware there’s opportunity in the business then it engages people.

“With the speed of change in the industry, new techniques, new technology, new software, CAD systems, AI, to name a few, engaging with young people in the way we do is absolutely imperative. Young people bring fresh perspectives and we have got to be constantly evolving.”

TOP TIPS

• Pye advises other businesses to embrace apprenticeship and graduate schemes as an opportunity. “It’s a learning curve both ways - the graduates often teach us as much about new technologies, new ideas, as we offer them in training and support,” she says.
• Offering those on their schemes the chance to learn as many skills as possible is key, says Douglas. “We don’t like to specify roles, so they might do a portion of their time with the marketing department, design department, colouration or innovation. Everybody develops in a different way and something might engage them that starts them down a new path.” It also helps S&B stay flexible, she adds.
• Communication and inclusivity is an imperative part of operations. Douglas explains that weekly ‘all-hands’ open meetings keep every member of staff involved and informed about all aspects of the business.
• A ‘middle leadership team’ based on succession planning meets every week with more senior leaders to discuss ideas in an open forum, Douglas explains. “Hopefully they’ll be the ones running the factory in a few years time,” she says, pointing out that this way they hope to produce a senior team that has evolved together and keeps training and succession planning at the top of their agenda.

Standfast & Barracks

Business location Lancaster

Inspection hosts Emma Douglas, commercial and creative director; and Rebecca Pye, head of design

Size Turnover: £19.1m (2023/24); Staff: 160

Established date 1924

Products and services Textile printing & design

Kit A huge range of specialist traditional and digital textile printing, dying and finishing equipment including four Durst digital devices, two flatbed and two rotary printing machines, a Zimmer rotary sample table and flatbed and rotary laser engravers and screen coating machines

Focus Encouraging a younger generation to consider print as a potential career