Kirklees’ biennial textile festival WOVEN is set to return in June with more than 100 events. The programme includes exhibitions, workshops, live performances, a behind-the-scenes tour of a working textile mill and more.
It is a celebration of the culture and innovation of the Kirklees region, an area with a rich textile heritage dating back to the Industrial Revolution. This year’s theme is ‘Connecting Culture’, putting a focus on the collaborative nature of the textile industry.
The curator of the WOVEN festival Natalie Walton says the festival aims to shine “a spotlight on Kirklees as a hub for textiles”, putting its textile heritage at the “forefront”.
What’s on at WOVEN?
First on the agenda is yarnbombing at Roberttown Village, led by the local craft and chatter community group. Working together they have created many masterpieces including twelve yarn bollard toppers made with materials donated to the group or from repurposed samples.
The Red Dress is a collaborative, global embroidery project by Kirstie Macleod and will be on view at the historic Oakwell Hall in Birstall. Since 2009, the dress has travelled to 51 countries and been worked on by 380 embroiderers, speaking to WOVEN 2025’s theme.
To close the festival, there will be an event that will encourage members of the community to share their making and mending textile skills.
People can learn easy and handy textile skills, such as buttoning, adding zippers, ruching, patching and more. This event is at the Shaw Cross Sharks’ ARLFC in Dewsbury on 30 June between 1pm and 2:30pm.
During the festival, local universities will also offer careers days to give textiles students from all over Kirklees opportunities to get experience of the industry. In 2023, Textile Futures Talk were held with the Department of Fashion and Textiles at the University of Huddersfield.
The festival, which started in 2019, is sponsored by Kirklees Council and is designed to bring everyone in the local community together around this shared past.
All events are open to the public and many are free to attend.
More details can be found at the WOVEN Kirklees website.