Invista’s Cordura brand continues its commitment to inspiring the designs of tomorrow through sponsorship of the Professional Clothing Awards’ (PCA) Vision 2018 international student design competition. At last night’s gala event in London, UK, the award winners were announced including the overall winner, Summer Gill from Bedford College and the recipient of the Cordura Durable Design Award, Thomas Davidson from Manchester Fashion Institute.

The PCA Vision 2018 awards exist to inspire and honour best-in-class innovative, stylish and functional workwear, corporate clothing and PPE designs of the future from textile and fashion students.

First ever pan-European contest

This year, the contest was opened to students from participating universities and colleges across Europe for the first ever pan-European contest. Students were challenged to develop unique designs that not only help meet the needs of the workers but enhance their ability to perform the job as well.

The overall winning design from Summer Gill was created with airport personnel in mind and demonstrated creativity, versatility, professionalism and technical understanding of the job requirements. “I was inspired by streetwear fashion and wanted to create a garment that was both practical for work and fashionable enough to wear off the job,” said Gill. “The detailed shapes on both my outer jacket and trousers were inspired by airport runway markings, a direct link to my chosen job of airport ground staff.”

Cordura Durable Design Award

The Cordura Durable Design Award is a special designation to acknowledge the student designer who best demonstrates a 360-degree approach to functional workwear. The design had to reflect a thorough understanding of the challenges faced on the jobsite, and present innovative durable solutions to meet the needs of the worker. Thomas Davidson’s design was creative, commercial and practical for professional tradesman.

“I decided to take on the PCA Vision brief to challenge myself within my design work to create garments with a functional purpose,” said Davidson. “Being quite a denim-head and using the theme of vintage versus modern workwear, I was ecstatic to find out that CORDURA brand had created a denim specially for workwear purposes.”

PCA Vision 2018 YKK Award

Filipe Santana, of the University of Lisbon, Portugal, and recipient of the PCA Vision 2018 YKK Award presented a design intended to be worn by sports coaches or personal trainers in a health club chain with functionality and versatility for employee roles both indoors and outdoors. He joined the competition for the opportunity to expand his limitations as a designer and to “have a close, direct relationship with the industry and international brands.”

“It’s been an honour to once again collaborate with the well-renowned Professional Clothing Awards during its 10th anniversary year. Through student design competitions, we often discover that it’s the students who teach us the most, giving us the opportunity to see our technologies come to life in new and innovative ways because of their unique and fresh perspectives,” said Cindy McNaull, Global Cordura brand and Marketing Director.

“We know how important it is to not only believe in the future, but to invest in it as well, by inspiring the next generation of designers who are committed to helping workers Live Durable.” 

www.cordura.com