The £1.5 million Government-backed project to breathe new life into the UK's clothing and textile industry has got off to a flying start. Heads from many of the UK's top retailing and clothing manufacturers met together in London for the first meeting of the steering group of the Clothing and Textile Industry Forum. Project director, Ken Watson, said it was a excellent meeting with a positive reaction and a very good turn out: "The project is up and running and we are now starting to think about which parts we will tackle first. It was a very positive meeting." A meeting has also been held with the DTI to discuss the possibility of running a pilot project for e-commerce. The Government hopes the three-year programme will help create industry champions and find a long-term solution to global competitive pressures. It wants to create excellence in the supply chain and improve its efficiency and effectiveness. This will include the use of IT. The objective is to carry out practical work in participating companies, to deliver best practice improvements in supply chain and manufacturing performance, and to support changes to current business practices. The results are expected to be seen in increased product availability, flexibility, innovation, time to market, stock turn and work in progress, as well as reduced lead times.