N17 Creative Callings: Careers Event for Year 10 Students
22-10-2021
On 21st October Year 10 students from Heartlands High School in Haringey attended the N17 Creative Callings: Creative Careers Event with Fashion-Enter Ltd, supported by the Mayor of London and the European Social Fund.
The aim of the two-hour event and tour of the factory was to teach the students about the business of fashion and careers within the industry.
The workshop commenced with Production Direction Caroline Ash taking the students on a tour of the Factory, Fashion Studio and Fashion Technology Academy so they could see first-hand the different operations of the business and all the skills required to produce a garment.
Caroline explained the complete garment life cycle and discussed the 132 touch points of creating a garment from the initial idea right through to delivery. She also relayed how we are compliant and what policies and procedures we have in place as an ethical social enterprise.
The students were then taken to the Fashion Studio for sampling and short production runs and Caroline discussed the clients we worked with and the process of sampling, grading and production.
The tour then took the students into the Fashion Technology Academy where they could see learners training within stitching, patterns, tailoring and those on the apprenticeship programme. Caroline talked about the training opportunities and skills required to work in fashion including a machinist, pattern cutter, bespoke tailor, garment technologist, merchandiser and more.
Following the tour we sat down with the students and discussed the business side of the fashion industry and what it really takes to set up and run a business successfully. Topics covered included entrepreneurship, spotting a business opportunity, putting an idea into practice, understanding external influences on business, and growing the business. We related these topics to experiences of Fashion-Enter and gave the students real examples of the realities of not only creative careers in industry but also setting up and running a business.
Feedback from the Year 10 students included:
“I found the demonstrations on the different machines really useful. It was an overall enjoyable experience.”
“It was all really helpful. I enjoyed the tour of the factory.”
“It was useful to find out the skills required to recruit a worker into a specific type of business.”
“I found it useful to learn about the different career paths and that some people do care about community and ethics.”
