The EU TCLF Skills Strategy has been launched, presenting a renewed vision for the textile, clothing, leather and footwear industries in Europe. Developed within the AEQUALIS4TCLF project, the strategy builds on the Skills4Smart TCLF Blueprint and the commitments of the TCLF Pact for Skills, updating and extending the shared roadmap first established under the Blueprint initiative.
The strategy provides a coherent framework to ensure that Europe’s 1.5 million TCLF workers and more than 220,000 enterprises can adapt, innovate and thrive in a transforming industrial landscape. It identifies three strategic pillars for action: developing relevant skills, using skills effectively, and strengthening skills governance.
It emphasises the integration of digitalisation, circularity and sustainability into all levels of education and training, and calls for stronger links between industry and education, more flexible lifelong learning pathways, and targeted measures to support SMEs and regions facing structural adjustment. It also proposes the creation of a TCLF Skills Observatory to provide real-time intelligence on evolving labour market needs, supported by a coordinated European framework to guide implementation, foster partnerships and align actions across countries and regions.
Across seven strategic priorities, the strategy outlines concrete actions to align curricula with industry needs, promote inclusion and gender equality, modernise apprenticeships and work-based learning, expand lifelong learning systems, and mobilise both public and private funding through European and national instruments.
The EU TCLF Skills Strategy positions skills as the foundation of competitiveness, sustainability and social fairness in Europe’s industrial transition. It aims to build a workforce that combines technological competence, environmental awareness and creativity, ensuring that Europe’s TCLF ecosystem remains a global reference for quality, innovation and responsible production.
Read the full strategy here: DOWNLOAD