Fashion-Enter Ltd’s Tailoring Academy, situated at Unit 4, Crusader Estate in Haringey, London, has been buzzing with selected final year students undergoing the Graduate Fashion Foundation (GFF) and TikTok Residency. 70 students in total over the course of two weeks have been taking part in the initiative that aims to educate, mentor and showcase the design talent of tomorrow.
The students selected from GFF member universities across the UK, have been learning all about design for manufacturing, grading, commercial patterns, production lines and quality control from Fashion-Enter’s Production Director Caroline Ash and her team. The students have also been mentored by leading industry designers, GFF patrons and TikTok Creators. The collaboration highlights the benefits of on-site production learning alongside the creative design process, the team were able to provide hands-on tuition in processes such as Optitex, patterns and stitching.
Fashion-Enter Production Director, Caroline Ash comments: “We thoroughly enjoyed last week with the graduates and are mid-way with the second group now. We worked with them on their designs, helping them to speed up the process, teaching them new techniques and working with them on tricky aspects of their designs. Everyone was really pleased and proud of the end results.”
Lucy Moore, a fashion design graduate from Leeds Arts University, told the GFF: “It’s been a really good week, I think we’ve all learnt so many things, from how to use different machines to simple tips and tricks that the seamstresses have learnt on the job for many years that you don’t pick up at uni. I want my own business eventually so this has given me an indication about how much work goes into each garment.”
By the end of the 5-day residency each emerging designer will have produced four garments inspired by their chosen winning design which will be produced for TikTok to gift to their Creator and VIP community.
Cassandra Russell, from brand partnerships in Fashion & Retail at TikTok said: “I’m blown away by how well they have been executed, having seen the mood boards and the reality it’s unbelievable, they should be so proud of themselves. We’re sending these out to a combination of influencers and our most VIP clients, so it’ll be the head of marketing for Burberry getting one of these items, and lots of other fashion houses as well.”
The GFF / TikTok Residency at Fashion-Enter will conclude this Friday 17th July 2020. More on this exciting project soon.