Staff – Wellbeing and development

We are proud that David Nieper was the first British fashion manufacturer to be included in the ‘Best 100 Companies to Work For’ list by The Sunday Times. The company scored highly for looking after staff wellbeing, with a consistently low staff turnover and 50% of the company holding long service awards of 10+ years.  What sets us apart is the company’s commitment to giving something back and our focus on the local community.  The Sunday Times Best Companies List is the country’s leading engagement survey.  The questions asked relate to wellbeing, personal development and generally how happy you are at work.  Some of our most highly rated questions were:

“I feel proud to work for this organisation”, “I have great faith in the person leading this company” and “my manager helps me to fulfil my potential”

We are committed to quality and sustainable production, promoting the knowledge and skills of past and future generations through jobs, education and investment in our people, industry and community.  We follow a workforce development plan, so that every person can improve, learn and progress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What makes us special?

We are proud to be a British manufacturer, based in the heart of the Peak District, and making our clothing in a sustainable way is important to us. When many other fashion companies chose to move manufacturing overseas, or shut down completely, David Nieper continued to employ local people.  We offer employment to the many skilled textiles workers who have been making clothes in the East Midlands for generations. We still design and make our clothes here in Derbyshire using authentic dressmaking techniques, honed over decades.  We believe in sustainable manufacturing, not just in how we make our clothes but in how we secure a stable future for the UK fashion industry.  A recent university study we commissioned showed that buying a garment made here in the UK is 47% greener than buying clothing made overseas.  We achieved our target of zero landfill in 2019 and we now print and dye our own fabrics.  Our Managing Director, Christopher Nieper, was awarded an OBE in 2020 for services to British industry and we were recently awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise and Sustainable Development.

Employing 300 People Across 4 Sites in Alfreton

As the company has grown we have expanded our areas of expertise, so that we have brought certain key operations within the business. Since 2010, David Nieper knitwear production and catalogue printing is carried out in-house.  More recently in 2018, we set up a fabric processing unit, where we now print & dye our own fabric.

Passing on Skills to the Next Generation

We are passionate about sewing and fashion and we are fortunate that we have many highly experienced seamstresses who fully understand clothing engineering and garment construction.  To learn about all the different styles we make, and to understand how to work with a wide range of fabrics, from silk and satin, to cotton, fleece and lycra, everyone new to the Sewing team joins our Sewing Academy.  We also offer the Garment Maker Level 3 Apprenticeship (plus a £500 reward for this 2 year programme).  We are fortunate that our highly skilled and very experienced Sewing Trainers and Supervisors are experts in garment make up.  Therefore, new recruits receive high quality, wide ranging and in depth training.

We are passionate about creating luxury fashion and, as our clothing is in demand, we are expanding sewing production and are keen to hear from anyone interested in learning to sew.  Our growing business however needs many different skills, in lots of different areas of the business not just sewing, especially:- digital marketing, IT development, Web analysis, technical garment development, planning & forecasting, printing (catalogues & fabric), fabric cutting, knitwear, warehouse management, production engineering, customer service and people management.

Championing Women in the Workplace

From the sewing room to the boardroom – David Nieper has over the decades created a unique working environment which allows women to thrive.  We are a company which is 87% female; the majority of key roles are secured by women who account for almost all of the senior management team, as well as skilled production work.  Whether returning to work after a career break or looking for a career with an understanding employer, there are many reasons to recommend working at David Nieper. We recognise the importance of attracting and retaining a diverse group of people to work for us and fostering an inclusive culture.  Our success is based on benefitting from the different talents, perspectives, experiences and ideas that all these different people bring.  We are proud of our strong track record of employing bright, hard working, highly capable women and we are of course fortunate to employee equally talented men!

Our latest Gender pay gap figures show a 6.9% median average in favour of men, lower than the average of all companies of 9.6%, and lower than the industry average (manufacturing sector) of 10%.