Fashion Students Fly to London
From Topshop to Burberry to WGSN Trend Forecasting and Analytics to Selfridges & Co., The Business School’s Fashion Management degree students went behind the scenes in London England’s most famous fashion stores.
“It was eye opening” says Bruce Sinclair, program faculty, “they exposed us to tips and tricks on how they service high end, highly valued clients. Seeing everything involved in the customer service industry exposed our students to career opportunities that they may not have not have known existed. This really got them excited about their future in the fashion industry”.
The trip to London, England was spearheaded by Alvina Cassiani, Dean of The Business School and Bruce Sinclair, Fashion Degree faculty, who chose this particular destination as it is a mecca in the fashion industry. Gaining insight from Pauline Ashworth, Fashion Arts faculty, who takes students on an annual trip to New York City was invaluable in the planning process. Help from the Advisory Committee was also close at hand, with a member making a connection with Topshop in London to start the pieces falling into place.
Students from each of the four years in the program took advantage of this unique opportunity. They were able to see concepts put into practice, as well as understanding how branding follows through the architecture of the store right through to customer service. Beyond the iconic brands was a trip to WGSN, a trend forecasting company that shared a lot of their knowledge with the students on how trend forecasting is used in the fashion industry and beyond. Topshop invited the group into their manager training program where they were able to tour their flagship store right through to logistics and security. “These are all things we talk about in class, but to be able to see them in action on such a large scale was an incredible learning experience,” says Sinclair.
“The trip really signified what working in the fashion industry is all about - customer service. Being able to speak to this experience in an interview will be a huge advantage for our students. The breadth of knowledge that they have gained across our four-year program along with everything they learned in London really rounds out their educational experience.” Sinclair says.