Textile students at Auckland University of Technology will be unstoppable now they've got state-of-the-art gear to help produce their designs Innovation in wearables just got a boost. AUT's newly opened textile and design laboratory has acquired the latest design and print machines for the benefit of anyone working in the
textile industry. Spearheaded by Mandy Smith and Desna Jury, head of fashion and head of art and design respectively, the textile lab's new acquisition is not found elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere. Ms Smith says knitwear textiles have always been a strength at AUT. ``The equipment we were working with was getting dated and, being an educational provider, it's very difficult to find the kind of money you need to keep up-to-date equipment.'' AUT wrote a proposal and received $1.5 million from the Government. The equipment that money helped buy includes a digital inkjet textile printer which is extremely versatile and ideally suited to short production runs. Ms Smith hopes to offer training workshops to staff and students from other tertiary institutes. Laboratory manager Peter Heslop hopes the lab will become the centre of design development and research in the textile industry in New Zealand. ``One of the main areas we hope to support is young, emerging designers,'' he says. ``If they want to produce a knitwear design collection, because they are not established, they cannot get the production run numbers the industry needs to make it viable. ``So often they find it very difficult to get their garment knit. What the lab hopes to do is support those younger emerging designers by being able to provide sampling help for them and do a few small production runs.'' by AUT journalism student Froilan Gomes
