Jashaan Gill’s Vision For A New Midlands Fashion Week

For Jashaan Gill, Founder & Creative Director of JHEEZ | Midlands Fashion Week, fashion has never simply been about clothes. It has been about identity, self-belief, opportunity and proving that where you come from does not have to determine where you can go.

The West Midlands-born designer and creative director, founder of luxury streetwear brand JHEEZ, has taken his work from Oldbury to some of the world’s most recognised fashion platforms, including New York, London and Paris. Now, however, his sights are firmly set on home.

Jashaan is working towards launching Midlands Fashion Week – What Winners Wear, an ambitious platform designed to put the Midlands’ creative talent, fashion businesses and wider creative industries firmly on the map. 

He recently met with Jenny Holloway, CEO of Fashion-Enter Ltd and the conversation revealed a striking alignment between Jashaan’s vision for a Midlands creative collective and a much wider movement already gathering momentum across the UK.

Jashaan’s story began in 2014. A self-taught artist from Oldbury, Sandwell, he launched JHEEZ after being rejected from studying textiles. Rather than allowing that rejection to define his future, he created his own route into the fashion industry. More than a decade later, that route has taken him to international fashion weeks, including New York Fashion Week, where he became the first British Punjabi designer to be featured.

(Jashaan Gill)

His collections have also been showcased in London, Paris and Los Angeles, while his creative work has extended into film and production. He served as Head of Wardrobe on La Pandora’s Box, a production that received Emmy consideration.

For Jashaan, international recognition has never meant forgetting where the journey started. “The dream was always bigger than the postcode — now I want to help build the platform that allows the next generation to dream bigger too.” However, he does not simply want to create another fashion event. His ambition is to build infrastructure around talent, a place where designers, models, photographers, stylists, filmmakers, makeup artists, students and other creatives can meet established professionals, brands and organisations. His vision is to create an international-standard fashion platform in the Midlands, giving emerging creatives access to the industry, education, networks and opportunities required to build sustainable careers.

JHEEZ is rooted in luxury streetwear, but Jashaan’s ambitions stretch far beyond his own label. His approach to fashion combines culture, heritage and storytelling with a strong emphasis on self-expression and self-belief. That philosophy was particularly visible in his work for New York Fashion Week, where his collection explored the idea of not losing your spark and not changing your character simply to fit in. The pieces were deliberately eye-catching, incorporating crystals and rhinestones for people prepared to be “the main attraction in the room”.

(JHEEZ designs)

But behind the glamour is a deeper message. Jashaan has repeatedly spoken about the pressure involved in sustaining a career in fashion. As he told BBC Radio West Midlands, even after 12 or 13 years in the industry, “the hustle is real” and there remains a continual need to prove yourself.

(JHEEZ designs)

That experience has shaped his thinking about the next generation. He wants young creatives from the Midlands to be able to see a genuine pathway into fashion and the wider creative industries, and importantly, he wants that pathway to exist without young people feeling they have to leave the region to find it.

Jashaan has previously described the lack of a developed fashion sector in the West Midlands as one of the region’s challenges. He stated that there is enormous creative diversity across Birmingham and the wider Midlands, but the infrastructure connecting that talent to the commercial fashion industry isn’t clear.

For Jashaan, that represents both a challenge and an opportunity that sparks the thinking behind Midlands Fashion Week. The proposed platform is intended to extend beyond the traditional runway format, creating a regional hub encompassing fashion, music, film, photography and other creative disciplines. Bringing people together.

(Jashaan left, Jenny Holloway far right, at the FEL Factory in Haringey London)

This is where Jashaan’s conversation with Jenny Holloway becomes particularly relevant. His recent visit to Fashion-Enter Ltd brought together two complementary visions. On one side is Gill’s ambition to create a Midlands-based platform where creative talent can find opportunity, education, networks and industry connections. On the other is the work being developed by Fashion-Enter Ltd, Source Fashion and the Apparel & Textile Manufacturers Federation (ATMF) to reconnect the UK’s fashion and textile supply chains at regional level.

Fashion-Enter Ltd, Source Fashion and ATMF have devised a roadshow programme of regional events designed to bring manufacturers, textile mills, brands, retailers, buyers and industry stakeholders together, with the aim of strengthening regional sourcing networks and creating new commercial opportunities. 

The first event in the new programme is Manchester Made & Regions, taking place at Manchester Hall on 4th November 2026. It follows the success of Leicester Made & Regions and forms part of a wider programme intended to spotlight UK manufacturing capability and build stronger regional connections. 

The philosophy is simple: the capability already exists across the UK but businesses need to be connected. This principle resonates strongly with Jashaan. The fashion industry cannot thrive on designers alone. It needs pattern cutters, machinists, manufacturers, textile specialists, photographers, models, stylists, educators, buyers, investors, retailers, production teams and creative producers. Jashaan’s proposed platform could create a much-needed bridge between talent and industry. 

His international journey has given him contacts, experience and an understanding of how fashion operates beyond the Midlands.“Having taken my own work from the West Midlands onto international platforms, I want to bring that experience and those connections back home.”

That is not about limiting Midlands talent to the Midlands. In fact, it is the opposite. Jashaan has already demonstrated that it is possible to build an international career while proudly retaining a strong connection to the West Midlands. His ambition is to make that journey easier for those coming behind him. The objective is to make Birmingham and the wider Midlands not simply a place where creative people live but somewhere the industry actively comes to find them.

Jashaan is now organising his first Midlands Fashion Week event for 2027, more on this will be announced in due course!