In an attempt to shift the scales and ramp up South African fashion education, a landmark partnership driven by leading South African retailer, Woolworths, and two international fashion schools, is fostering global experience in the fashion sector and yielding significant results.

An exchange programme between Kingston University in London and Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in Cape Town is putting young designers on the map and exposing them to unique design approaches in both South African and the British contexts. 

Some of the outcomes include improved curriculums, development of worldly views, shared experiences and an opportunity to work for Woolworths for the South African designers. 

The programme is in its third year and essentially nurtures the skills of soon-to-be fashion design graduates. Already two lecturers and six students have taken part in the exchange, which starts during September 2014 in England and in January 2015 in South Africa to coincide with the university year. 

“As international fashion brands are landing here in South Africa it is also important to be abreast of global teaching methods and this programme has been a real boost for both universities,” said Tracey Hodgson, design head at Woolworths. 

“The students benefit on both sides – especially to see how things are done on the other side of each hemisphere. The CPUT student winners particularly benefit from attending the UK graduate fashion week to see really diverse fashion collections. It’s a wonderful sharing initiative.”

The programme offers second and third year fashion students an exclusive opportunity to gain theoretical and practical experience from academics, retail design professionals and industry leaders.

Currently Caela Viviers and Kelli Botha recently left South Africa for Kingston and enjoyed 10 days in London. 

The scheme is divided into three parts. Firstly, participating fashion lecturers – one from each university – trade places teaching each other’s classes for one or two weeks, where they can share their unique perspectives and technical expertise. 

Also two winners from each university swop places for just under two weeks to study and experience the vibrant, creative buzz of both London and Cape Town, and the programmes are aligned with major cultural events such as Design Indaba and London Graduate Fashion Week. 

The winning students also have the opportunity to intern at Woolworths for five days, where they experience the design process, commercial fittings as well as range builds and reviews.

Talking participation

Maryna Bergh, a fashion design lecturer at CPUT, was the exchange lecturer at Kingston University for the third consecutive year in 2014 during January. On each of her returns Bergh implemented many of the Kingston University lessons into her curriculum.

“It is a privilege to have experienced an international design education approach to the discipline of fashion design,” said Bergh.

The changes to the curriculum have resulted in improved quality of work submitted by the CPUT student’s portfolios, as observed by the experts here and in London. 

Hodgson sees major value in the experience. “CPUT’s design curriculum has benefitted a great deal. There has been a marked improvement in the quality of the portfolios submitted to us by students from CPUT. We are so impressed with these that we asked the winning students from each campus to design windows for our iconic V&A Waterfront store to coincide with ‘Cape Town City of Design 2014’.”

A number of the learners who have participated in the program have also been recruited by Woolworths.

Hodgson says this initiative is an example of how the industry can help to nurture young talent. “This programme is a really exciting project to be involved in. The industry and other educational institutes should support programmes such as this one to ensure that the industry continues to grow and the young design talent in this country is nurtured.” 

Woolworths continues to support and employ many young designers, including the likes of top emergent Cape Town designer, David West.