A FASHION student from Huddersfield will see her designs hot-footing it on to the high street.
Jennifer Brook is celebrating her win in a national design competition.
Second year footwear design student, Jennifer, 22, has now got a taste for success after winning a competition to see her designs turned into a collection for internationally-renowned fashion brand Gola footwear.
Jennifer, who is currently studying at De Montfort University, Leicester, used innovative designs which take inspiration from sports activities such as running, swimming and the long jump.
Jennifer, who is from Lepton, said: “I used to be quite sporty when I was younger and took my inspiration for the collection from sports competitions and the equipment athletes use.
“I designed six shoes, six bags and six T-shirts for the collection in about eight weeks, so it was pretty intense getting everything sorted alongside our other projects.
“Our course tutors narrowed our entries down from 36 to 20 and we then went to London to meet the marketing team at Gola to pitch our collections.
“It was tremendous when I heard I had won the competition.
“I still can’t believe it. The catalogue came back from Gola the other day with my designs in.
“It is a fantastic start to my career.”
Jennifer’s designs incorporate the layout of running tracks and prints of the words ‘hop’, ‘skip’, and ‘jump’ which are echoed across all items of the collection. Jennifer, a former King James School student, said: “I really enjoyed the whole experience of this challenge, from working on the brief to interacting with designers and visiting the head offices in London.
“It’s exciting to know that the designs I created will be available to buy in the shops.
Gola’s PR and marketing manager Donna Hill said: “We wanted to set a brief for a capsule collection that would get people excited about athletics and sport. We were really impressed by the thought process behind Jenny’s designs and were excited to see how she would progress with her idea.
“From start to finish, Jenny executed her ideas very well and produced something that would work commercially for our target market.”
Jennifer was also awarded £500 for creating the collection, which Gola has named Next Generation to celebrate and represent young and upcoming design talent.
Kevin Guildford, head of footwear design at the university in Leicester, said: “Gola set an exciting and challenging brief to our footwear design students which was to create a fresh and vibrant collection of shoes and accessories.
“The outcome is a fantastic example of how industry and universities can work together to produce an exciting new product.”
Jenny is now taking a welcome break for the summer before commencing the final year of her course.
