The Fashanne Programme
Fashanne partners with the Midlands-based universities providing a programme that gives invaluable insights into the workplace, a platform to showcase their students’ designs at our annual live event, mentoring and internships.
Fashanne provides a pathway for businesses to access and form long-term sustainable relationships with some of the most talented final year students, helping bridge the gap between education and employment.
Fashanne Values: Strong commitment to sustainability. Championing authenticity, diversity and inclusivity. Draws on the Midlands famous historical textile and clothing industry, whilst investing in an even greater future.
Fashanne 2025
- An annual programme supporting final year students studying fashion and textile at universities across the Midlands, providing opportunities for education, experience and gainful employment.
- Education – students are given exclusive access to workshops with leading British fashion and retails brands.
- Experience – participation in the annual awards with access to industry leaders.
- Employment – internships, mentoring and financial support for category winners.
- Since we introduced internships from 2021 onwards, we have successfully placed 24 graduate students in internships within the fashion industry.
Workshops
Our partnering universities will have access to exclusive workshops held throughout the year. Fashanne, along with our sponsors (Next, Paul Smith, ITL, Pentland, ASBCI, Stoll GB), will co-host several workshops with the aim to give the students more insight into the workplace and a chance to meet the judges prior to the live awards event.
Selection for the Awards
Participating universities select their most talented students for the Fashanne Awards. Each university may enter 2 students per award category. The criteria for each award category will be submitted to the course leaders. All students taking part are automatically entered for the 2 special awards as well, namely - The People's Choice (public vote) Award and The Daniel Hanson Award for Excellence. All the selected students will showcase their design(s) on the catwalk at the live event in June.
Award Categories 2025
There will be 10 Fashanne Award categories for 2024, which are; Womenswear Design, Designer Menswear, High Street Menswear, Textile Design, Knitwear Design, Footwear & Accessory Design, Commercial Design, Sustainability, Athleisure Design and The ASBCI Innovation Award. Also, The People’s Choice Award and The Daniel Hanson Award for Excellence.
Judging process
We are very much planning a live event for June 2025. A few weeks prior to the awards, the finalists will be asked to submit some 2D work (to include entry form, portfolio and some video footage) to Fashanne - specific details of requirements are available from the course leaders. These submissions will then be sent to our judges, who will select the winners and provide valuable feedback on each entry. The winners will be announced at the live event. Each entry will also be listed on this website and voting will be enabled for the People's Choice Award. Every student taking part will be required to have at least one complete outfit/textile piece for the fashion show or a video clip for 'non-catwalk' items. Textiles/Footwear & Accessories will also feature in the catwalk show - we will adapt where necessary!
What do the Winners win?
Each winner will receive a Fashanne Award; a certificate; prize money of £200; and, for the sponsored category awards, a paid internship with the sponsor of that particular award. For the ASBCI Innovation Award, each entry will receive free membership to the ASBCI. Every student will also receive high-res images of their designs taken by our professional photographer.
Guest Models
In 2022 we were joined by Gold Paralympian Richard Whitehead MBE, Inspirational Speaker and De Monfort University Graduate Sian Green-Lord and the fabulous Cheddar Gorgeous. In 2023, we were joined by Tayla, Lindsay and Amy all from the Richard Whitehead Foundation. They were all fantastic!
