Big W turns to new gen for design ideas
Mass market retailer Big W has teamed with University of Technology Sydney (UTS) textile design students to introduce a fresh look for its upcoming swimwear collections.
Sixty-five second year UTS students have been engaged by the discount department store to design a collection of swimwear textile prints suitable for the Australian market. The winning student, who has just six weeks to complete the project, will their textile printed overseas and developed into swimwear that will be sold in Big W stores for the spring/summer 2009/10 season.
The brief issued by Big W's merchandise design manager Chloe Gardner determined that the work submitted by the students incorporate five signature themes for the project. These included tropical/exotic flora, techno tribal, artists approach, luxury '70s cruise and holiday hot shop.
The project is worth 35 per cent of the students' total marks for the year and each student will have to complete a visual diary documenting the design development and experimentation process relating to the themes they select.
They will then produce a series of three final textiles that can be hand or digitally produced with the winning design selected by a judging panel consisting of both Big W and UTS staff.
UTS fashion and textiles lecturer Alana Clifton-Cunningham, who coordinated the project, said while the college had run industry projects before, these had tended to be more design award and sponsorship focused.
"It has definitely been a while since fashion and textile students work has been selected and utilised in a final product of this manufacturing scale. While most of our students, if asked, would say they would like to have their own business or work in the mid-to-high market areas of fashion. At the end of the day the reality is that they will be working for mass market retailers and labels so it is essential that they experience a variety of projects at all market levels."
Clifton-Cunningham said there were a number of unique challenges involved in working on such an involved project, ranging from market demographics to working with stretch fabrications.
UTS staff had created a technical workshop in an effort to assist the students to understand the design considerations and obstacles involved, she said.
"You obviously have to consider the stretch factor with the textiles, which can often change the proportion of the motifs [and/or] graphics. Plus the scale is essential as often you are working with small garment pieces."
Former UTS students who have made their mark in the Australian swimwear sector include Amelia Stanley (now head designer at Tigerlily), Katie Buxton (Seafolly) and Jessika Allen (Jets).
By Tracey Porter