ILM Content Director Martin Ricker reports on a tour of the new campus facilities at the University of Northampton.

There are several generations of men and women working across the global leather industry today that have studied long or short courses at what is now known as the Institute for Creative Leather Technologies (ICLT), which is part of the University of Northampton. Former students will know it better as the Leathersellers’ School, its former name.

Now, the newly built ICLT facilities located at the University’s Waterside Campus are arguably the world’s most modern education, training and research centre dedicated to the leather industry. It was formally opened in September 2019 and has been designed to educate and inspire future generations to fall in love with leather as a material and provide a long-lasting career path for its graduates.

On an overcast day in mid-May, Vicki Dean, the new Subject Leader for Fashion & Leather, provided ILM with a tour of the ICLT and nearby fashion school facilities on the modern Waterside Campus, which sits among wide green spaces on the banks of the River Nene that passes through the centre of Northampton. Dean is keen to set out the University’s vision to educate the next generation of tanners, designers, stylists and leather technologists.