UAL Central Saint Martins Denim Project Gives Students Materials and Mentorship

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UAL Central Saint Martins Denim Project Gives Students Materials and Mentorship

How do you better prepare students to work in the denim industry? Give them access to experts and resources while they are in school.

This is the thought process behind the University of the Arts London Central Saint Martins Year 2 – Menswear Denim Industry project, which recently wrapped its third edition. The initiative gives 25 second year students studying menswear design the chance to create a denim brand and garments from scratch in just four weeks.

Helping them in this journey were denim design consultants Mohsin Sajid, Miles Johnson and Sue Barrett. Industry figures Katie Doherty from YKK, Bayza Baykan from HMS and graphic designer Matt Duckett—who was previously director of graphics at Levi Strauss—also attended as guest lecturers.

TENCEL™ and Carved in Blue were among the sponsors that supported the project, along with Advance Denim, Bossa Denim, Tusa Denim, Pioneer Denim, Indigo Textiles, HMS (Hand Made Stone), Circulose and YKK.

Students had access to fabrics from the sponsor denim mills, including some textiles with TENCEL™. The focus of this year’s project was sustainability and construction, so the mills supplied their most sustainable materials.

The resulting collections were presented on June 14, with Johan Van Den Heede of Advance Denim, Doug Gun from the Vintage Showroom and Katie Doherty and Burcu Surer from YKK joining to review the designs.

“I’ve personally now been teaching denim history and denim construction for 20 years,” said Mohsin. “Each year, each student project is different and very exciting each time. It’s a real honor to teach and link the denim industry to these denim educational projects.”

Click through the slideshow to see some of the student designs and behind-the-scenes shots.