WAWWA's £120,000 Shift From Cardboard Patterns to CAD

Manchester-based clothing manufacturer WAWWA has tripled its turnover and workforce after a digital overhaul supported by Made Smarter North West, the UK government-backed manufacturing programme. Founded in 2015 to prove that high-quality clothing can be made responsibly in the UK, the company had modernised other parts of the business while its factory still relied on cardboard patterns, whiteboards, Post-it notes and hand-marked fabric.

The change began with a 2024 Digital Transformation Workshop with Made Smarter, which produced a roadmap for people, processes and technology. WAWWA then made two grant-backed investments totalling £120,000, with £60,000 coming from the programme. The first was a £20,000 Vetigraph CAD/CAM system, supported by a £10,000 grant, which replaced manual pattern drafting, grading and fabric marker planning.

WAWWA says the design-stage investment reduced pattern storage by 90%, cut grading time by 75%, improved fabric utilisation by 5% and created capacity for around 25% more styles without extra production staff. A second project, a £100,000 Assyst Bullmer fabric spreading and cutting system backed by a £50,000 grant and advice from the University of Salford’s NERIC centre, is now being integrated with the Vetigraph software to complete the digital workflow from design to finished cut pieces.

The new cutting line is forecast to save more than 90% of laying and cutting time and almost halve fabric waste. With about 35% of cutting currently outsourced, the company plans to bring more manufacturing in-house while it continues to grow at around 30% a year and expands its Manchester retail presence.

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What WAWWA's Automation Means for UK Clothing Manufacturing

Why the design-stage investment came first

WAWWA’s pattern and grading work was heavily manual, so the £20,000 Vetigraph CAD/CAM system addressed a bottleneck before the company automated cutting. The reported 75% reduction in grading time and 90% cut in pattern storage are meaningful because they free design capacity without adding staff. The claim of a 5% improvement in fabric utilisation also matters directly to margin in a garments business, where fabric is a major input cost.

The insourcing logic behind the Assyst Bullmer cutting line

The £100,000 Assyst Bullmer investment is not simply about speed. WAWWA says about 35% of its cutting is currently outsourced, and the new equipment is forecast to save more than 90% of laying and cutting time while almost halving fabric waste. If those figures are realised, bringing that work in-house should improve control, lead times and unit economics at a time when the company is already growing at around 30% a year.

Made Smarter’s non-financial support may be the deciding factor

The £60,000 in grant funding is only one part of the support. WAWWA’s operations coordinator completed the programme’s Leading Digital Transformation course, and Made Smarter connected the company with fellow manufacturer Lusso to trial automated cutting and with NERIC at the University of Salford for technical advice. That mix of funding, leadership development and peer learning helps explain why WAWWA is not stopping after the first two investments: its roadmap now includes MRP and ERP systems, RFID stock management and further development of its Airtable production platform. The performance figures in this case are company- and programme-reported and have not been independently verified.

Steps Other SME Manufacturers Can Take From WAWWA's Playbook

  • Calculate the make-versus-buy case for cutting if outsourcing is as high as WAWWA’s 35%; WAWWA expects its £100,000 Assyst Bullmer system to save more than 90% of laying and cutting time and nearly halve fabric waste.
  • Start with a design-stage fix rather than an all-at-once automation project: WAWWA’s £20,000 Vetigraph CAD/CAM investment cut grading time by 75%, reduced pattern storage by 90% and improved fabric utilisation by 5% before the cutting hardware was added.
  • Use available SME manufacturing support; Made Smarter North West has engaged more than 2,500 manufacturers and gave WAWWA £60,000 in grants plus a digital roadmap, leadership training and access to NERIC and peer visits with Lusso.
  • Sequence the next systems around the new capacity; WAWWA’s roadmap points to MRP/ERP, RFID-enabled stock management and Airtable production tools, so other manufacturers should plan inventory and order systems as they insource cutting.

Risk & Opportunity Assessment

Commercial RiskLowThe company is growing at around 30% a year and has secured £60,000 in grant backing against £120,000 of investment, so immediate financial exposure is modest; the main risk is delivering the forecast in-house cutting savings.
Competitive RiskMediumDigital design and cutting capacity lets WAWWA add 25% more styles and bring outsourced cutting in-house, but other UK clothing manufacturers can access the same Made Smarter programme, so the advantage may narrow.
Regulatory RiskLowThe funding came from a government-backed programme that has already paid out to WAWWA; no adverse regulatory change is signalled, though future grant availability depends on continued programme funding.
Reputation RiskMediumThe 90% time saving, 75% grading reduction and 5% fabric utilisation figures are company-reported and not independently verified; if they are not repeated in later trading results, the case study could be questioned.
Technology DisruptionHighThe Vetigraph CAD/CAM system and Assyst Bullmer cutting line replace manual pattern drafting, grading, fabric marking and cutting, creating a complete digital workflow and setting up further MRP, ERP and RFID projects.
Commercial OpportunityHighWAWWA has tripled turnover and headcount, plans to bring the roughly 35% of cutting currently outsourced back in-house and is expanding its Manchester retail presence as a blueprint for future locations.