The King's Foundation is celebrating ten years of pioneering work in textile education, inspired by the Foundation's Founding Royal President, His Majesty The King, with a new exhibition at Garrison Chapel in London. The Chapel is the Foundation's exhibition space and regularly hosts exhibitions of work by King's Foundation students and alumni, as well as other special events.

The Foundation's esteemed Future Textiles programme was launched by His Majesty The King at Dumfries House in 2014 to help address the skills shortage in the UK fashion and textiles industry through education and training.

As part of Future Textiles, the King's Foundation offers a wide range of education and training programs for people of all ages, ranging from one-day sewing workshops that encourage young people to develop an awareness of the industry, to international conferences that bring industry leaders together with emerging talent, to intensive full-time training programs that give students the opportunity to handcraft garments for the luxury fashion industry.

This year, the Fashion Council Germany, in collaboration with the Swarovski Foundation and The King's Foundation, launched the third round of the FASHION x CRAFT funding program. In February 2024, the six winners of the third year were announced and their designs exhibited at the Berlin Fashion Week in Der Berliner Salon. The aim of the initiative is to support young fashion and textile designers by providing them with tailor-made workshops in the areas of sustainability, craftsmanship and innovation. The six design talents have now traveled to Highgrove in England, an educational institution of The King's Foundation, as part of the project.

To date, more than 7,000 people have benefitted from Future Textiles at The King's Foundation sites including Dumfries House in Ayrshire, Highgrove Gardens in Gloucestershire and Trinity Buoy Wharf in London. The courses are delivered in partnership with some of the industry's best-known brands, retailers and organisations including CHANEL, YOOX, Net-a-Porter, Tencel, Fashion Council Germany, The Joseph Ettedgui Foundation and The Worshipful Company of Weavers.

Last month, members of the charity's Knitwise programme presented The King with a hand-knitted cake to celebrate Future Textiles' tenth anniversary at the charity's annual graduation event at Dumfries House. The cake will go on public display as part of the exhibition, along with a range of garments made by students and graduates over the past decade. The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of James Sugden OBE, the well-known champion of British textiles who played a key role in launching the initiative through his role as Chair of the Future Textiles Steering Group from 2014 to 2018.

About The King's Foundation

The King's Foundation is a charity founded in 1990 by King Charles III, as Prince of Wales.

Inspired by His Majesty's vision and values, the Foundation builds and supports communities where people, places and the planet can live together in harmony. The Foundation delivers educational courses, health and wellbeing programmes and runs placemaking and regeneration projects in the UK and overseas to revitalise communities and historic buildings. Every year we support over 15,000 students through our hands-on education programmes and over 200,000 people visit our sites every year.

The King's Foundation is headquartered at its flagship Dumfries House in Ayrshire, Scotland, and acts as custodian of other historic royal sites such as the Castle of Mey in Caithness, Scotland, and Highgrove Gardens in Gloucestershire.

The Foundation also operates at educational and cultural centres in London, including the King's Foundation School for Traditional Arts in Shoreditch, Trinity Buoy Wharf on the Thames, and Garrison Chapel in Chelsea. In addition to its presence in the UK, the Foundation runs programmes and projects in over a dozen locations worldwide.

(Photo Credit: Stefan Oboski)