Chelsey Crossland, 23 and Estella Nevinskaite, 21 were both runners up of the 2013 FAD Competition. At the FAD catwalk show in February London Fashion Week, they were both spotted by David and Peter from Hunza who, after an interview, offered two fantastic course placements at Hunza, a clothing suppliers located in the heart of London.
Meeting the girls at the Hunza HQ just off Oxford Circus I was delighted to see that having only started two weeks prior both Estela and Chelsey, seemed settled and happy. ‘It’s great!’ Chelsey exclaimed ‘We learned a lot from being in the FAD Competition- time keeping is such an important skill to have as we are no longer working for ourselves, we have real customers and we have no excuses, you just have to get things done.’
Estela agreed adding ‘We’ve really enjoyed being given independent projects and we can get on with work on researching and comparing different companies’ They went on to explain how every day at the office has been exciting and different, they’ve worked both as a team and individually and sometimes spending time at the desk researching and other days running around London going to meetings and sourcing information or new clients.
‘We’ve also enjoyed being part of the office team and being able to attend the group meetings’ Chelsey explained. ‘Yes, it’s been nice to feel like we can make a contribution and have our ideas listened to.’ Estella agreed ‘but we also have to learn to compromise.’
‘That’s the thing about working in a team though’ Chelsey continued, ‘Sometimes you don’t agree with what other people might want but actually they know what works and you have to listen to them. ‘
Chelsea and Estela both agreed that their time at Hunza’s not only given them new skills but also a wider knowledge about working in the fashion industry.
‘It’s only through internships like this one that we can really get a feel for what it takes to work in fashion and gain fundamental contacts for the future.’
Peter Meadows, director of Hunza was pleased with the girls input and hard work saying that ‘I saw in two weeks how both the girls became much more commercial and confident, at the start they had no idea, but by the end were valuable contributors… it just shows how important it is to get real experience!’
It was a lovely afternoon seeing how both of them have grown and developed since being part of the 2013 FAD Competition and we wish the girls the best of luck for their future endeavours.