When it comes to Centennial College’s programs, we do everything we can to make sure students learn the practical means to make their careers happen, and Fashion Business and Management (FBMT) is no exception. Instead of just teaching students the theory behind developing new products, this program teaches how new products get designed, developed, sourced, manufactured and distributed, through practical projects like this Sourcing Project.
Here’s how it worked
Over the course of eight weeks, five groups of Fashion Business and Management students were tasked with creating a real, tangible product: Lapel pins promoting The Business School. They collaborated with students from our Graphic Design program to come up with possible designs for the lapel pins, and then negotiated with real, outside-the-college companies to secure manufacturing.
And in March of 2022, students in each of the five groups presented these pitches to a team of judges (via Zoom), who included Pamela Richards, FBMT Program Coordinator, Barry O’Brien, Dean of The Business School, and Steven Khan, Acting Chair of Marketing, Retail and Project Management. The winning team would get the chance to see their lapel pins manufactured. Each student group did such exceptional work, but only one winner could be selected. First place went to Leondra Hibbert’s group, who worked with Artik to manufacture this design by Daniela Rojas:
The runner-up was Melissa Juarez’s group, who negotiated with King Pins on these designs by Ryan Fogarty and Lena Morrison:
Here’s what both students had to say about the program, the project, winning the competition, and their futures.
Entering the Business of Fashion
“What led me to take fashion business as a career was growing up in a primarily business-oriented family,” Leondra says. “I had family members going into business, so I wanted to find an aspect of business that personally suited me. I found fashion.”
“My mom also has a history with Centennial,” she continues. “She went when she first came to Canada, so my mom gave me good reviews of the college, and she thought it would be adorable if I followed in her footsteps. I decided to choose Centennial College because I'd like to keep that in the family.”
“My family's also very business oriented,” Melissa says. “But I shied away from that. I have a bachelor's degree in psychology, but I've always been interested in fashion, ever since I was young. This program was really interesting for me because it incorporated business and fashion.”
The Project
“My team’s company, Artik, is a Toronto based company,” Leondra explains. “It started out really small, from two students who decided to come together to create this company. The reason why we decided to go with Artik was because it was so convenient and local, so the shipping and lead time was amazing. That, and they were so professional, it was really easy to contact them and talk to them as well.”
“When it comes to the pins,” she says, discussing the designs her Graphic Design collaborators put forward, “we really don't see much about people talking about the sustainable aspects of business, the green aspects, especially with climate change issues becoming more evident. We wanted to bring light to sustainability and green fashion.”
“And for our social justice one,” she continues, “we wanted to shed light on the feminist movement and how women kind of get mistreated and not seen as equal in businesses in a predominantly male-run industry.”
“We chose King Pins for similar reasons,” Melissa says. “They're based in Kingston, so very nearby. Their shipping was very convenient and accessible. And we also wanted to support the fact that they work with Tree Canada, and they're trying to help the environment.”
“For our designs, the designers were pretty much free to do what they liked,” she says about her collaboration with the Graphic Design team. “When it comes to Law, there’s not much that they can pull from, but we were very excited with their results. They each also came up with a social cause, and our favorite for the group was Ryan's design, which was social inclusion, a design where you could tell that he was referencing people with disabilities.”
Their challenges
“The communication with Artik was perfect,” Leondra explains, mentioning the fact that each team had to source their company themselves. “Before them, I’d say the hardest part was finding and getting in touch with different vendors. We had a vendor at first, which unfortunately didn't work out, because they did not get back in time. We actually had success with Artik and another company, and Artik communicated back right away.”
“I think the most challenging part was probably, finding a vendor, because we were sending emails everywhere,” Melissa says, agreeing. “We were very, very lucky that from the get-go, King Pins pulled through.”
Thoughts on their wins
“It felt like a perfect ending to the hard work that we put in,” Leondra says, about her team winning first place, after the judges deliberated on their presentations. “At the same time, it was nice to see everyone else's presentations. During the whole discussion process that Pamela and the team were having, I can tell you that we thought that we had a good presentation, but maybe our designs weren't as wonderful as everybody else's, and we were expecting Melissa's group to win. So, when we heard that they were the runner-up, we were really shocked. But winning, it just felt like a nice ending to a perfect story.”
“We really struggled throughout the project,” Melissa says about her team’s runner-up victory, “even though we had a great vendor. I think there was a lot of communication issues with us. So, to be runner up, it was a perfect ending for us. And we were, of course, very happy for the winners.”
What’s Next?
“What's next in terms of the project is that we have to get in contact with our vendor and go on with the production process, send in our final designs, and just getting everything cleared,” Leondra says. “In terms of education and career, after I'm finished with this program, I do want to bridge to another fashion-oriented program. I'm not exactly sure where, but I do have an option of going to the New York Fashion Institute. I really like that school.”
“I'm currently working as a recruiter for a Property Services Company,” Melissa says, “a very different thing. But I want to pivot into recruitment in fashion. And I got this idea because, as I was applying to different jobs, I saw that Gucci was looking for a talent acquisition specialist.”
Words of Wisdom
“Don't stress about it too much,” Leondra says as advice about the program. “Because the program is actually really accessible. I remember when I first was getting into this program, I was scared that it was going to be really hefty, with no free time, or downtime. But everyone's really nice, and the teachers are really understanding, really easy to talk to, if you do end up having an issue where you can't handle an assignment.”
“I think my best advice is try to interact and engage with your classmates,” Melissa adds. “Get to know them, because it's really important. We have a lot of group projects, so that really helped both of us in our success with this project. Don't be scared, engage, and go for it.”
Written by: Anthony Geremia