A REISS SURPRISE FOR LOCAL GCSE STUDENTS

And they came to the school hiding one very big surprise within the range of garments presented during the second in a series of creative workshops at the school, delivered at the school by Jenny Holloway, Director of Fashion Enter. The Eastbury project is part of a wider borough initiative which has already started to uncover young fashion designer talent, in which their minds are exposed to the hard-edged and practical business issues that surround the fashion industry.

Holly Hilton fronted the presentation from Reiss, accompanied by her Technical Manager colleague and Barking resident, Sid Choudhury. And, as if the presentation from wasn’t inspiration enough, there was the chance to discuss garment quality and price and then; the surprise?  

Well, alongside the curriculum work already being undertaken to make a garment from a yard of fabric, all the students have now been invited to apply the 5 P’s of Marketing in Design to create a skirt or a pair of trousers that would be suitable for use as school uniform for Eastbury School. The students have been divided up into teams, and will each create a brand name under which their product will be marketed.

By the end of October, Holly and the Reiss team will return to barking to pick a winner. That winner will receive two guest tickets to the launch of the Reiss Spring/Summer 2008 collection in November, but more than that – reiss will arrange to have the winning design manufactured into a unique product, which the winner can then wear in the school to highlight the achievement.  

Eastbury technical head, Helen Fergey, said; “The competition came to us as a bolt out of the blue, but we are delighted, and not surprised given its connection with Jenny Holloway. The exciting thing about the way Jenny works is how her enthusiasm grips our students by bringing so much of what we teach through the curriculum to life. Having such big names as Reiss coming into our school is just one part of this. Because of this, and the opportunity being presented, all our students can be counted as winners.”

Returning the compliment, Jenny Holloway has after only two weeks been able to point out that, “there is an amazing amount of talent here in the school, and I just love the initiative the many students have already displayed by coming into the boutique at Vicarage Fields, and spending time talking our in-house designers.”

One unnamed student has so impressed Jenny and her Fashion Enter colleagues with her art portfolio her work will be uploaded on to the leading fashion industry website, Fashion Capital, as an independent illustrator, in the genuine belief that her work will capture the imagination of seasoned industry professionals possibly David Reiss himself, who fronts up one of the few retail chains still in the direct hands of its founder

A spokesperson for Barking and Dagenham Council, which works very closely with Fashion Enter, reinforces this view by saying: “We have long had faith in the capacity of our young people to fulfil their potential in so many ways. Our recent motif connected with the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative promotes the concept of Inspire to Aspire.”

“In the case of this 15 year old, we have encountered someone, amongst so many others, who carries and champions our hopes for a more economically secure future based and supported locally here in Barking.”

The Fashion-Enter project is generously supported and sponsored by the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation; and the programme is managed by the Skills, Learning, and Enterprise Division within the Council’s Regeneration Department