A Baildon charity which tailors fashionable clothes for disabled people becomes a national leader in its field tomorrow when state-of-the-art technology is unveiled.

Fashion Services for the Disabled is taking part in a £292,000 National Lottery-funded project to look at the uses of computer-aided design and manufacture of clothes for the disabled, allowing measurements to be fed directly into a computer.

Under the impetus of an organisation called awear, the Clothing Solutions Project will allow patterns to be created digitally on a computer screen and cut at high speed by another computer.

Other clothing services around the country will be able to make use of the new equipment and will eventually be linked to the Baildon centre by video conferencing. The aim is to produce tailored clothes for the disabled quickly and at reduced cost.

Dr Chris Jelley, technical co-ordinator of awear, said the project would run for a two-year trial.

"Hopefully, by the end of this time, we will be able to show the world that we can put technology into the whole process of the measurement and manufacture of clothes," he added. "The problem that clothing services have is that the methods used are traditional and labour-intensive. This process will make it faster and cheaper."

All are welcome to the open day at Fashion Services for Disabled People, Green Lane, Baildon, from 1.30pm.

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