Diary of a Junior Designer #1

Each month Fashion-Enter’s Junior Designer based in Leicester, Brooke Tate (pictured right), will be giving us an inside view of her role with the company and what her job entails…

First entry: Leicester Factory Visit

‘Monday the 8th of June was officially my first day working for Fashion-Enter Ltd. I had the pleasure of visiting two Factories local to me in Leicester, VM and Fashion Fabrics.

‘Since the global pandemic has hit the UK and the factories had to sadly shut for a period of time, it is great to see normality slowly coming back to life. With social distancing in place and PPE available I was able to visit two factories that Fashion-Enter works closely with. Being the ‘feet on the ground in Leicester’ for Fashion-Enter I needed to visit the factories and meet the teams that I will be working with in the future.

‘I had never been in a fabric factory first hand and to be able to see how the process works and seeing everything in action was great. I always believe making and obtaining products in the UK and close to home provides an extra touch to the design. Truly made in Britain, it makes it more personal to you as well as keeping that carbon footprint down.

‘I had the pleasure of meeting up with Salim from ‘VM’ and Daud from ‘Fashion Fabrics’ they both had great energy and were so enthusiastic to get started with designs and working alongside us. Exciting times are ahead with more meetings on the horizon to talk about all the newness they have to offer us and what fabrics we can wow the public with.

‘Following up from my introductions to the Leicester factories, I revisited them during the week to get my hands on all their newness!! It is really uplifting during this sad time to see people pull together to get jobs done and keep businesses striving!

‘In both factories they had a mix of all different newness that really sets a spark when designing, having all the swatches, cut-outs and hangers in front of you with so much potential to use and knowing down the line you would have been part of the design journey is just fab!

‘Working within the season is exciting and fast paced, so picking out relevant fabrics that will work this season is helpful. We wanted to concentrate on picking out different ribs and new fancies for this season. Looking at everyday fabrics to then pushing the boat out a bit with more of the fancies to get that contrast is great! The next step will now be selecting the perfect fabrics to get working with!’

‘More from me next time’,

Brooke.