University of Westminster fashion students first to produce collections for ASOS Marketplace

May 21, 2012 - PRLog -- University of Westminster students of the BA (Hons) Fashion Design and BA (Hons) Fashion Buying Management courses have created ten High Summer 2012 collections for ASOS Marketplace, which buys and sells new, pre-owned and vintage fashion online.

The project, which is an industry first, offered second year students the opportunity to produce ten new capsule branded collections for High Summer 2012 which will be available to buy on ASOS Marketplace from 1 June 2012.

Each group’s final branded collection is an on-line product offer of eight to 12 boutique items, with an associated marketing plan, including a look book, fashion shoot and branded packaging.

Following a briefing from ASOS Marketplace in December 2011, students were asked to choose womenswear, menswear or accessories. The ten student groups then worked on their concept, the business plan and brand positioning which included producing inspiration mood boards, a customer profile or muse, an outline of their range plan and the final collection of eight to ten garments.

Each of the buying students was asked to take a specific role, typical of a business set up and a product development team, and conduct market research prior to working with designers; while fashion design students came together to build and develop their concepts and collections.

Andrew Groves, course director of the University of Westminster's BA (Hons) Fashion Design, said: “In the highly competitive fashion industry, our collaboration with ASOS Marketplace is a fantastic opportunity for our students to gain real life experience of having to marry the dynamic creative process with professional, business and commercial decision making. We are the first to have developed such a project which has been, without doubt, an invaluable learning experience for our students.”

Katie Oldham, senior marketplace manager at ASOS Marketplace, said “We’ve been astounded by the quality and creativity of the collections created by the students. The design talent we’ve seen has been first rate, and combined with well-thought customer-centric business and marketing plans we are excited to see the 10 unique collections launch & sell on the site.”

High Summer 2012 collections produced by the HAUS group, which was made up of Andrew Groves, Georgina Atkinson, Emma Charles, Rachel Raheja and Anjini Maxwell, for ASOS Marketplace. Model Amy McDonald. Photography by Daniel Fraser. Copyright © 2012 University of Westminster.

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For further information, please contact:
Sarah Evans-Toyne, Lianne Robinson or Chiara Barreca
Broadgate Mainland
Email: westminster@broadgatemainland.com
Telephone: +44(0) 20 7726 6111

Notes to Editors:
The University of Westminster boasts a vibrant learning environment attracting more than 20,000 students from over 150 nations and we continue to invest in our future with new developments, research projects and new ideas. We offer highly attractive practice-based courses which are independently rated as excellent, many with international recognition. Our distinguished 170-year history has meant we lead the way in many areas of research, particularly politics, media, music, art and design, architecture and biomedical sciences, and our position in the city of London allows us to continue to build on our close connections with leading figures and organisations in these areas as well as in the worlds of business, information technology, politics and law. Our commitment to educating graduates for the needs of professional life attracts high quality students from within the UK and around the globe. Internationalism, employability and sustainability are key elements in the University of Westminster’s vision for the future and we strive to ensure the very highest standards are met and maintained.