‘Live’ fashion platform

I was invited to the launch of Platfform Vintage last week, the latest ‘live project’ run by the students of the BA (Hons) Fashion Marketing and Retail Design course at the Uni of South Wales. I’ve lectured on various topics over the years, most often digital and social media, and the challenge in education is always to make the projects and experiences as close to ‘real work’ as possible.  Not always an easy task, but increasingly one that plays a vital role in equipping students with skills for employment.

So, I was really impressed with the launch I attended at the Capitol Shopping Centre and how professional the students attitude and approach was to the event itself and also the promotion they carried out ahead of the launch.

One of the students told me they’d purchased vintage stock for the event, and any profit would be used to help stage the end of year graduate show. By the time I arrived at the launch, about an hour and a half after opening, they’d sold a lot of the stock already and attendance had exceeded expectations.

Students are our next generation of designers, retail managers, promoters, marketers etc., and they need all of the real life experience they can get to help them join the industry when they leave education. It’s important to support them when we can, to help them achieve this.

I didn’t hear how the students at Platfform Vintage fared overall, after the three day pop-up, but I can only imagine it was a great success.