On 6 and 7 November, representatives of public and private bodies from 11 European countries met in Iasi, Romania, to drive forward the innovative Erasmus+ Blueprint project MetaSkills4TCLF. A3 Leather Innovation Center – UdL and Leather Cluster Barcelona are taking part in the project.

This initiative, co-funded by the European Union, addresses a critical challenge: equipping the textile, clothing, leather and footwear (TCLF) industries with the skills needed to excel in a world driven by green innovation and digital transformation. By developing an EU TCLF skills strategy, the international consortium aims to overcome vital skills gaps and build dynamic, future-ready education systems across Europe.

At the prestigious 19th Romanian Conference on Textiles and Leather (CORTEP 2024), where the latest developments were presented, scientific research in the TCLF industries was showcased and the MetaSkills4TCLF consortium presented its initiatives designed to strengthen vocational education and training and higher education in the field of the textile, clothing, leather and footwear industries across Europe. The project aims to provide vocational training and higher education centres with six innovative curricula focused on the Circular Economy and the Digitalisation of the Fashion Industry, accompanied by immersive educational resources. These resources include immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences, which allow students to explore TCLF factories virtually, and the creation of a European virtual fashion campus, which will serve as an information and education hub for the TCLF industries.

To address the challenges posed by the ageing of the TCLF workforce, the project includes a dynamic promotional campaign aimed at attracting young people to careers in the TCLF sectors. The activities range from school careers guidance events, holiday courses and open days at companies to an international fashion competition for TCLF students and interactive promotional events for secondary and upper-secondary school pupils.

Public authorities play an essential role in shaping education systems, particularly in regions with devolved responsibilities for education. To strengthen these systems and guarantee a skilled workforce, the project partners are working to establish public-private partnership pacts on skills, at both national and regional level. Throughout the project, public authorities, social partners and educational institutions across Europe will be guided in developing their respective pacts, and will be invited to take part in webinars and workshops to explore the project’s activities, share best practices and work together and learn from one another.

In this regard, Carmen Arias, Secretary General of the European Footwear Confederation (CEC), explained: “The supply of and demand for skills must be based on local/regional experience and must guarantee greater resilience and growth for companies in the TCLF sector, but also for the regions. To this end, regular dialogue between public authorities, social partners and educational centres within the framework of a regional pact for skills can make the difference in strengthening regional competitiveness.”

You can follow the progress of and news about the Metaskills4TCLF project on its website, on Linkedin and on Instagram.

Leather Cluster Barcelona is a competitive cooperation environment for promoting cross-cutting, transformative strategic projects with the aim of driving forward the ecosystem of the Catalan leather sector within the framework of Shared Value policies. The cluster is an accredited body within the Catalonia Clusters programme and has the support of Acció.