Tanya graduated from the Textiles Practice course in 2018. She has completed an Apprentership at Dr. Martens
“Dr. Martens run a yearly apprentice to get younger people into shoe manufacturing, I got to learn all stages of the process over the year. Cutting and inspection of the leather, closing of the uppers, lasting the boots/shoes and attaching the sole and inspecting, cleaning and boxing the boots in the shoe room. After finishing my apprentice I have specialised as a Lasting Operative and have learnt many of jobs within the Lasting Room! My favourite is side lasting, which is attaching the side of the leather upper to the insole of the shoe with a machine that staples the two together. I feel like learning the process from start to finish over the year really helped me in my role now and I feel like an important part of the production line.”
“I love seeing a product that I’m passionate about and worn my entire life being carefully crafted by my friends around me. I’m glad to be part of the shoe industry in UK as there isn’t many factories left. My degree helped me realise that I wanted to work with my hands in a making environment and this role fits perfectly”
It is wonderful to see the diversity in careers which our students progress into and we look forward to sharing more stories from our textiles Alumni family.
You can follow Tanya on instagram @tanyastextiles_
You can also see Tanya on BBC’s Inside the Factory here
hud textiles 