From field to fabric to furniture, a skilled textiles, clothing and footwear industry with local producers and manufacturers, is a crucial part of the value chain, supporting the Australian economy and producing essential items used every day.

Click across the tabs to view active and completed project stages. Consultation takes place at every stage of the project.

The Textile Clothing and Footwear (TCF) industry is undergoing a significant post-pandemic transformation, changing the nature of workforce occupations and skills.

The 2024 Skills Insight Workforce Plan revealed opportunities and challenges impacting the TCF industry. Increasing consumer interest in locally made, ethical and sustainable products is providing opportunities for businesses to focus on quality craftsmanship and strong technical skills, which may shift the skills needed of the current and future workforce. The growth in textile repair, reuse and recycling is also predicted to have a significant impact on the industry, including the development of new skills in eco-friendly production and design.

This research project will seek to collect further information about the current TCF workforce and whether the qualifications in the national Textiles, Clothing and Footwear Training Package meet workforce needs.

We will consult with industry stakeholders, training and education providers, and unions to make connections and gather insights. The project team will also undertake analysis and mapping of existing industry resources and strategies for skilling, upskilling and re-skilling opportunities.

A subject matter expert working group of key stakeholders will be established to help guide the research.

The insights gained from this research project will be used to identify future JSC activities and projects, to support the industry in meeting its workforce needs.

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Get involved

Stakeholder participation from all sectors within the textiles, clothing and footwear industry across Australia is encouraged.

Contact Rob or Belinda at [email protected] or 1800 177 001 to share your insights or find out more about the project.

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3.885 billion

Industry Value Added (IVA)

31.467 billion

Domestic Value

Project Scope

The project will include desktop research, surveys, written feedback, forums, focus groups and one-on-one interviews with stakeholders as appropriate.

Stakeholder participation from the Australian TCF industry across all states and territories is encouraged.

These include areas such as:

  • Australian textiles, clothing and footwear production (including specialised textiles)
  • New technologies and materials
  • Fashion design for production settings
  • Laundry and Dry Cleaning
  • Repairs and alterations
  • The circular economy (textiles recycling, sustainability etc.)

This research project will:

  • inform the creation of further workforce development initiatives
  • identify labour shortages, barriers to entry and obstacles to career development
  • identify skills and knowledge required by the industry
  • identify future skills and training needs
  • provide industry demographics including age, gender, income, ethnicity, qualifications, education, employment types, and segmentation
  • identify gaps in qualifications and areas for improvement to align with the skills needed by the industry and the goals of the qualification reform program.


Project Timeline

Project Team

Belinda Tierney
General Manager
[email protected]

Rob Stowell
Project Manager
[email protected]



Throughout this project we have consulted with stakeholders to identify the opportunities and challenges facing the textiles, clothing and footwear workforce and to assess if the national qualifications meet their needs. The textiles, clothing and footwear industry is diverse with many sub-sectors, including new and emerging ones. Real-world insights from industry, training providers and other stakeholders are essential to gaining a full picture of the workforce challenges and opportunities.

Stakeholder consultations including face-to-face and online meetings, online forums and surveys, have resulted in ten proposed recommendations. These recommendations have been shared with the Subject Matter Expert Working Group (SMEWG) and those stakeholders who participated in the consultation processes for their feedback.

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The proposed recommendations (outlined below) are available for your feedback from 7 March to 23 March 2025. Please email your feedback to [email protected]

  • Click on the accordions below to view more information on each proposed recommendation.

Conduct an industry-wide skills and occupational mapping project to identify current and future skills needed by the textiles, clothing and footwear industry. This proposed mapping project should: 

  • present a national industry training profile
  • provide a framework of current and emerging job roles and associated skills
  • map vertical and lateral career pathways in the industry
  • identify gaps in training provision
  • identify industry skills that are transferrable across job roles and sectors.

Ongoing developments in the textiles, clothing and footwear industry drive the need for updates and improvements to the content and design of the training package.  The results of the proposed skills and occupational mapping project will guide the development of the training package, taking into account industry demand for more flexible and accessible qualifications and the VET Qualification Reform design principles. The flexibility and accessibility of the package could be enhanced by reassessing the volume/complexity of existing qualifications and providing skill sets and micro-credentials that deliver in-demand skills.

  1. Design a high integrity, cost and time-effective Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) process to enable existing workers to gain national recognition for their skills.
  2. Pilot the new RPL process across a range of the industry sectors, occupations and work settings.
  3. Roll out the RPL process across the industry workforce.
  1. Consistent with the National Workforce Strategy 2022-2027, Principle 3 Remove Barriers and Disincentives to Work, design and roll out short, intensive and nationally recognised training programs, including any required training and assessment materials, for women, migrants, First Nations people and those located in regional, rural and remote communities to ensure that they have the foundation and technical skills to access employment in the industry.
  2. Design and roll out short, flexible, nationally recognised skills upgrading programs for existing workers. These programs, including any necessary training and assessment materials, will equip existing workers with new in-demand skills focused on emerging technologies, updated materials, new work practices and industrial processes, and strengthened environmental regulations in the industry.
  3. Examine the current and potential use of alternative training delivery methods, including workplace training, work-integrated learning, customisable enterprise-based training, multi-industry/sector qualifications, adult apprenticeships/traineeships, and online learning, to facilitate the rollout of nationally recognised training to existing workers and new entrants in the industry.
  1. Develop and support the rollout of an industry-specific apprenticeship/traineeship model that incorporates pre-apprenticeship programs focused on the production and construction job roles needed to sustain Australian textiles, clothing and footwear manufacturing capabilities.
  2. Pilot a range of group training initiatives to support the expansion of apprenticeship/traineeship programs.

Due to human capital deficiencies, shortages of skilled people in critical occupations can threaten organisational goals, strategic programs, supply chains, and businesses. The research will focus on defining critical occupations, identifying critical occupations in the industry, and designing ways to build sustainable capability in critical occupations rapidly.

Use the outcomes of the proposed skills and occupational mapping project to inform future discussions about the classification of textiles, clothing and footwear occupations under the Occupational Standard Classification of Australia.

  1. Pilot a research project on attracting and retaining high-quality industry trainers and assessors.
  2. Develop an industry trainer and assessor capability-building strategy.

Establish pilot programs for industry-led Hubs as a strategic initiative to enhance the uptake and completion of qualifications, micro credentials and skill sets in key regions. The industry-led Hubs will engage with industry, government entities, RTOs, schools, community organisations and other key stakeholders to promote networking and support partnerships between industry and RTOs. The Hubs will focus on introducing innovative approaches to improve the uptake of the training package and provide new training initiatives for new entrants and existing workers across the industry.

  1. Develop pathways linking VET in School, pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship/traineeship programs aligned with industry skill needs.
  2. Develop a campaign to drive awareness of the breadth of jobs in textiles, clothing and footwear manufacturing and increase the uptake of nationally recognised manufacturing qualifications amongst school leavers and other young people.

Next steps

Once stakeholder feedback has been received and considered a project report including the recommendations will be submitted to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations at the end of April 2025. The project report will be available on the ‘Finalisation’ tab of this project page following submission.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the consultation processes to date including site visits, online and phone meetings and industry and RTO surveys. Your input is helping to:

  • paint a clearer picture of the industry’s activities, structure, size, sub sectors, employer types and locations
  • identify urgent or priority workforce shortages, challenges and opportunities
  • determine future skills priorities by understanding trends in the workplace and job needs
  • inform recommendations that will be presented to the Australian Government, helping to prioritise potential projects that will benefit your sector.

Insights gathered through this project will be used to identify future JSC activities and projects, to support the industry in meeting its workforce needs.

Consultation Summary

A Subject Matter Expert Working Group (SMEWG) was formed to help guide the project and extensive desktop research undertaken. Findings from the desktop research can be found in the Preliminary Desktop Research Report.

Initially, the project team conducted extensive desktop research to understand the current industry landscape and included the available data in a Preliminary Desktop Research Report. To add to this research, qualitative data was gathered through consultation meetings and surveys.

The project team consulted with more than 120 stakeholders including industry, training providers and the union involving 52 face-to-face meetings and 12 online meetings. They also hosted an RTO forum that was attended by 25 people representing 13 training providers. Qualitative surveys were conducted for industry and RTOs with 30 responses. Many valuable insights have been gathered which highlight common industry challenges and discussions also revealed emerging opportunities within the circular economy. The draft project report includes these findings along with industry case studies.

Nina and Paul with Sarah Brown, General Manager at Loop Upcycling in Perth, WA.
Paul and Nina with Rio Christyanto a Humphrey Law & Co.
Rio Christyanto showing Paul the fibre winding machine.
Hellweg Managing Director Shannon Ley showing Paul one of the bullet proof vests they manufacture
Silver Fleece General Manager Sophie Oates showing Paul one of their knitting machines
Nina and Paul with Nina Ergic and Dan Romanin Co-Designers of womenswear label One Fell Swoop
Toni Partricia Stalls at Integral-t showing Paul Cavicchia one of the Alvaform fit tools they use
Carbonised and scoured wool samples at Michell Wool in SA
Boot making at R.M. Williams
SupaFit seat cover manufacturing
Wilderness Wear Operations Manager John Pote showing the team one of their knitting machines

Scroll through and hover over the above images for a glimpse into some of the site visits that have taken place across the country as part of the project research.

TextileWorks, a part of ForestWorks, is providing support for the management of this JSC project as part of their collaborative partnership with Skills Insight. ForestWorks has an enduring and strong connection working with the forestry, timber, paper, fibre and furnishing industries and have been engaged by Skills Insight to deliver this project in partnership.