ImagesMagUK_October_2020

www.images-magazine.com OCTOBER 2020 images 31 IS DECORATOR PROFILE I’m under no delusions that it’s going to make me a millionaire A True Vegan Tees design decorated with sequins from The Sustainable Sequin Company A True Vegan Tees design creative and a lot of their stuff is really amazing. It gives me lots of ideas too.” He says these types of courses have “really opened up the door” for embroidery innovation in British design and manufacturing, helping to fill a skills gap, from pattern-makers and cutters to sewing machinists. “Hopefully a lot of students coming through from universities will be more into this sort of work in the UK.” Pete notes that embroidery work is already coming back to the UK, with Marks & Spencer and Thomas Pink both switching back from outsourcing overseas. “At the moment, there’s a lot of manufacturing coming back to the UK so we can only be hopeful of what’s going to happen in the future.” Working with Wilcom Much of the innovation in embroidery has come through software development – something that Pete has been involved with since Digitek started, working with Wilcom, a specialist in embroidery and apparel decoration software for over 40 years. Pete has been in the industry long enough to remember the pre-digital days in the 1980s when the only option for large- scale embroidery was jacquard tapes. “They would cost £25 for 1,000 stitches. It would cost £200 to £300 to get tapes made up and people didn’t want to pay for that.” He recalls the novelty of a two- head Barudan embroidery machine in the early 1980s that had a keyboard and the option of three different fonts for lettering. There was early software such as Proel, but Pete has been a long-time fan of Wilcom. “I like its content, what you can do with it and its usability.” He provides Wilcom training and technical assistance for decorators and also works with the company’s developers in Australia to iron out bugs in updates. “I’ve been doing this for years and I’m seeing a lot of good stuff being done by students so I’m a good source for the developers,” he says. “I’m always pushing them for new stuff.” He has also been a judge in Hand & Lock’s embroidery competition for students where, as sponsor, Wilcom offers a prize of a year’s subscription to its software. Pete continues to test the capabilities of Wilcom’s software, such as recycled appliqué for Amanda Riley’s ethical Fashion Rebellion. As a keen cyclist, he has enjoyed working on projects for the Tour de France, including tops for sponsor Ineos Grenadiers and headrest covers on the competitors’ bus. During lockdown, he embroidered tops for the NHS via Arts University Bournemouth’s fashion department. “I tend to do more stuff I want to do, projects that are interesting, rather than corporate work,” he adds. True Vegan Tees True Vegan Tees has been his most extensive new project. As a vegan for the past three years, he has been looking Digitek’s ZSK Sprint machine A headrest cover on the Tour de France competitors’ bus