A collection of careers videos linked to the textiles and fashion industry
A collection of videos that showcase careers linked to the textiles and fashion industry.
This is Engineering: light painter
Pavlina is a lighting engineer who collaborates with fashion designers to create lighting effects for their shows at events, such as Paris Fashion Week, as well as working with museums and art galleries to create the perfect environments for their exhibition.
Innovation Consultant
Alan Cucknell's job consists of finding new and innovative ways to make their clients' products stand out from the crowd. Alan's company works with clients on their business and technical challenges. He has worked on a wide range of products including designing lingerie, cars, swimsuits and even nappies. In one project, his team designed a swimsuit worn by world record-breaking swimmers. Alan says, "Maths and science A-levels were great preparation for my engineering degree. Design technology allowed me to creatively apply much of what I learnt in maths and physics. It kind of linked it all together.''
Sports Technologist
Chris Holmes is a sports technologist for sports equipment manufacturer Adidas. His job is to investigate the best designs for maximum performance, including design and testing of an England football kit.
Textile Designer: Boden
Nicola is textile designer at Boden. She says "we research like the trends, the colour pallets, start looking at what sort of shapes are coming through, new designs, and we shop sort of around the world for inspiration for vintage prints" and then comes back to the studio to design.
Ethical Trade Manage: Boden
Julia works at Boden as an ethical trade manager. She makes sure people who supply Boden's are treating their workforce fairly. "it's quite difficult to define an average day because I am setting up the department." She says "textiles was what I wanted to do" so she did a placement at M&S factories at college and then worked in supply at Tesco.
Design Project Manager: Ulster Carpets
Anthony is the design project manager for Ulster Carpets in Northern Ireland. He has always had a passion for art and after finishing A levels Anthony did a degree in textile design. During his university studies he did a year long work placement with a carpet company, and found that this experience gave him the edge over other graduates when he left university to find a job.
Wardrobe Manager
Hannah Lobeson is Wardrobe Manager at The Globe Theatre. "If I could do anything job-wise it would be Costume Design, ultimately, because at the moment I'm organising and fulfilling someone else's vision, someone else's dream."
Assistant Designer: Boden
Jeni is a designer at Boden. She designs girlswear - t-shirts and sweatshirts and nightwear, swimwear and knitwear. She did art foundation, "the textiles element of the course was definitely the thing that inspired me most." She thinks the industrial placement on her degree was a huge help in getting a job.
Testing Textiles
As head technologist for shops like Blacks and Millets, it is Martin Stannard’s job to ensure that all the clothing sold in these stores meets the claims about its performance. He tests every claim about a fabric, such as whether it is waterproof or whether it really does meet a British Standard. This is particularly important in the clothing worn by explorers, where the performance of advanced textiles products can mean the difference between life and death.
Textiles: Eco Design
Tom is the Creative Director for outdoor eco-clothing brand, Finnister. Their customers not only want clothing which looks good and performs well, but also which reflects concern for the environment. In the film clip, Tom explains what eco-design means. He is always looking for new types of fabric which perform better than existing fabrics, but with a lower environmental impact.