WICHITA, Kan. — June 23, 2016 — The CORDURA® brand team celebrated at the Professional Clothing Awards today by recognizing leading fashion and textile design students who took part in the Project 20/20 Student Design Awards 2016 competition. Four UK-based students — James Parker, Bethany Martin, Mollie Crabtree, and Lauren Jones — were named as Project 20/20 finalists as part of the special awards event at Excel, London, for their creative, futuristic professional workwear designs.
The Student Design Awards empower young designers to create their own visions of professional work clothing. This year’s program, Project 20/20, challenged student designers to conceptualize corporatewear, workwear and/or personal protective equipment (PPE) for workers in the year 2020. The Cordura brand team encouraged students to go a step further with its Cordura Durable Design Award that focused on the integration of technical fabric functionality and commercial viability within design entries.
“The CORDURA® brand is focused on pushing the boundaries of durable fabric innovation,” says Cindy McNaull, global CORDURA® brand and marketing director. “Today’s young designers are essential in bringing forward-thinking designs to life, and helping us construct the durable fabrics of tomorrow. We’re pleased to see all of the futuristic workwear garment innovations from this year’s competition, and to have the chance to celebrate the textile industry’s up and coming design leaders.”
Twelve Project 20/20 semi-finalists were selected in March to make their garment visions become a reality, and final judging took place on May 19. Winners were officially announced last night at the Professional Clothing Awards event.
Overall Winner: James Parker, 3rd year, Fashion Design and Business Studies at Brighton University
Parker’s design features specialist garments for arborists/tree surgeons.
“My Project 20/20 experience has been a fantastic learning curve,” said Parker. “I had such amazing support from the PCA Staff and Cordura brand team. They were extremely helpful in bringing my vision to life. I had to overcome a lot of technical issues whilst pattern cutting the design, and I gained new understandings of working with tech fabrics.”
Cordura Durable Design Award Winner: Bethany Martin, 2nd year, Hons in Fashion, University of Northampton
Martin created a garment range for professional outdoor landscape gardeners.
“This project has stretched my technical skills and has been thoroughly enjoyable and very rewarding,” said Martin. “I realise that competitions such as this are so important to engage students in a different aspect of the fashion industry, and it has certainly opened my eyes to what different career paths within design are available. After designing outerwear for the competition, I feel this is something I want to expand on. I definitely hope to experiment with designing outerwear and sportswear in my final year at university, with a view to create garments that are stylish, practical and exciting for active and adventurous individuals.”
First Runner Up: Mollie Crabtree, 2nd year, Fashion at University of Northampton
Crabtree created an upgraded uniform for those in customer focused roles in the banking sector.
“My Project 20/20 experience has been really enjoyable, from gathering research to then designing and sending the garments off to be judged. When I heard I had been shortlisted, I was over the moon. It felt so rewarding after working on the designs,” said Crabtree. “When I was constructing the outfit, I was really passionate about how I wanted it to look. I had some challenges that I overcame, which helped to further develop my manufacturing skills. Once the outfit was finished, I was delighted with the outcome. Overall, it has been an amazing experience, and I would definitely recommend other students apply for competitions such as this in future.”
Second Runner Up: Lauren Jones, 2nd year, Fashion Design at University of Northampton
Jones’ design was centered around forward thinking workwear for those in professional fast food environments.
“Basing the Project 20/20 brief on my current job at Domino’s Pizza helped me understand problems of the uniform that I came across or disliked; therefore, I was more passionate about the changes I made. I based my design on solving the problems at hand and this really helped develop my ideas to create the final vision,” said Jones. “All in all, this project has been extremely enjoyable. It’s been a different design experience for me and has opened my eyes up to a wider area of careers in the industry. I am so grateful for the experience.”
Special thanks to the semi-finalists:
- Megan Woodman, Bletchley College — creative printed garments for doctors and nurses working on children’s hospital wards;
- Phillipa Bradshaw, Burnley College — innovate designs for corporatewear and hotel staff;
- Sharon Mensah, University of Northampton — highly researched airline uniform inspired by Italian culture;
- Lola Odumosu, Bletchley College — upgraded uniforms for the airforce for pilots and ground support staff;
- Robyn Hughes, University of Huddersfield — the creation of next generation firefighting garments;
- Gemma Stevens, University of Northampton — unique designs for both men and women’s spa uniforms;
- Rebekah Theobald-Brown, Bletchley College — range of outfits for tomorrow’s professional chef; and
- Ethan Connolly, Burnley College — next generation h-vis protectivewear for professionals working for example in road upgrades.
Posted June 24, 2016
Source: INVISTA’s CORDURA® brand
