11 february 2026, ATP

The textile, clothing, leather and footwear (TCLF) industries are currently navigating one of the most demanding periods of transformation in recent decades. Digitalisation, the green transition, increasing regulatory requirements and changing expectations from brands and consumers are reshaping business models, production processes and value chains at an unprecedented pace.

While technology and regulation often dominate the public debate, there is a growing consensus that the success of these transitions will depend less on tools and frameworks, and more on people. In this context, skills have become a critical, and sometimes underestimated, factor for industrial resilience and competitiveness.

Across Europe, TCLF companies are required to adapt quickly to new production technologies, sustainability requirements, data-driven processes and more complex compliance frameworks. However, the systems responsible for developing and updating skills — education, vocational training and lifelong learning — are structurally slower and often fragmented. This creates a growing mismatch between the speed of industrial transformation and the capacity of the skills ecosystem to respond in a timely and coordinated way. This gap represents a real challenge for the sector. Without the right skills, digital transformation risks remaining superficial, sustainability efforts may be reduced to compliance-driven responses, and innovation potential can be significantly constrained. Moreover, the absence of adequate upskilling and reskilling pathways may increase the risk of workforce exclusion, at a time when attracting and retaining talent is already one of the sector’s major concerns.

The challenge, therefore, is not merely educational. It is systemic. It concerns how industry, education and public policy interact, how future needs are anticipated, and how collective solutions are built to support companies and workers through complex transitions.

It is within this context that initiatives such as METASKILLS4TCLF play a particularly relevant role. The project builds on previous European efforts to address skills gaps in the TCLF industries, while recognising that current transitions demand renewed approaches, stronger cooperation and a clearer alignment between industrial realities and skills development strategies.

METASKILLS4TCLF adopts a collaborative and forward-looking perspective, bringing together industry representatives, associations, education and training providers, research and technology organisations, and policy stakeholders. Its focus goes beyond identifying individual skills needs. Instead, it seeks to contribute to a more coherent governance of skills at European level, capable of supporting both short-term adaptation and long-term industrial transformation.

By mapping emerging skills requirements linked to digitalisation, sustainability and new organisational models, and by promoting innovative learning approaches, the project aims to help reduce the disconnect between what the industry increasingly requires and what education and training systems are able to deliver. Equally important, it acknowledges that skills development must be inclusive, accessible and adaptable, supporting workers throughout their professional lives and enabling companies of different sizes and profiles to participate in the transition.

As a representative association of the textile and clothing value chain, ATP’s involvement in METASKILLS4TCLF reflects a strong commitment to ensuring that skills strategies remain closely connected to the realities of the industrial ecosystem. The diversity of business models, company sizes and territorial contexts within the TCLF sector means that one-size-fits-all solutions are rarely effective. Associations play a key role in conveying this diversity to European initiatives, helping to ensure that proposed frameworks and tools are relevant, applicable and aligned with real operational challenges.

From ATP’s perspective, skills must be understood as a strategic asset for the sector. They are central to productivity, innovation capacity and value creation, but also to social sustainability and employment quality. Strengthening skills ecosystems is therefore not an abstract or academic exercise; it is a necessary condition for maintaining industrial capacity, supporting competitive supply chains and reinforcing Europe’s position in global markets.

Aligning the pace of skills development with the speed of ongoing transitions is undoubtedly complex. It requires long-term vision, coordinated action and sustained dialogue between stakeholders who do not always operate within the same timelines or priorities. Projects such as METASKILLS4TCLF do not offer instant solutions, but they represent an essential step towards recognising the scale of the challenge and building collective responses that are proportionate to it.

Ensuring that transitions are successful, fair and economically viable will ultimately depend on our ability to place skills at the centre of industrial strategy. In this sense, cooperation at European level, grounded in the realities of industry and supported by strong partnerships, remains one of the most effective paths forward for the TCLF sector.