I’m sure I’m not the only supplier of niche, high quality British yarns and fibres who gets inundated with requests from students doing their Final Year Collections.It’s a regular annual event.
Just occasionally I get one who asks for specific things relevant to my range ie Bowmont Merino yarn, Cashmere yarn or the raw material of both. They will tell me WHY they want MY stuff and what its value will be within their collection.
These students I will bend over backwards to help, offering them what I have and often at a discount even though I can not really afford to do so. But students are the future and the bright, innovative ones who have thought about WHAT and WHY they want certain fibres and yarns and have done their research properly are to be encouraged at every turn. They are glimmers of hope for the future.
All too often however I get generic emails from students -
“Dear Sir, Does your company sell wool? Please send me samples of your whole range, dyed and undyed so I can choose what I want. As I am a penniless student I would love you to send me all this free but if there is a charge (a small one) I will somehow scrape the money together to pay it.” This is a compilation of several I have received recently!
Students, if you want help then please have the commonsense and courtesy to do your research first and ask properly! Grovelling is NOT required, just some evidence that you really understand what you want. Oh and it would be nice to be addressed by my name.
These sentences below show the APPALLING ignorance of fashion students.
“Can you send me samples of your wool cloth please? On cones?”
“How much do I want? Oh, I don’t know. I haven’t a clue and there’s no one at College I could ask.”
”What type of yarn? Are there different types then?”
All absolutely genuine!!!
I despair. It’s VERY clear that students are not always taught the basics of type and production of natural fibres and the yarns they make. Nor are they being taught cutting skills apparently – all that is left to an ageing band of Technicians taught in the Old Days while the students spend time on designing round their computer screens.
To my mind, designing ANYTHING without a fundamental grasp of the raw material you will make it with is a nonsense and does nobody any good. The student, who may be an amazing talent, will be working blind, not knowing what he could technically do with the material, and the supplier may be blamed for supplying yarns/fibres/cloth which don’t do the job they are being asked to do.
It’s a serious problem and I really don’t know what the answer is.
I whole heartedly agree: I studied Fashion at a prestigious London college, and after a year realised it was not going to teach me construction, pattern cutting, or properties of materials to the level I thought I needed in order to be able to realise the full potential of design. There are places beginning to address the skills shortage in those areas (I’m now studying tailoring on a course which puts those skills as top priority), but far too many of the most renowned colleges don’t seem to impress the importance of knowledge of materials and cutting, and research, on their students. The most awful thing is that most places I have approached for work experience have asked with a certain scepticism whether I’m doing a degree, and have expressed relief that I’m not. So if its not even producing students with the skills the industry needs then the teaching REALLY needs an overhaul!
On the otherhand, some people won’t do things right despite good teaching and guidance!
By: Sewn by Whim Wham (@SewnbyWhimWham) on January 30, 2013
at 6:54 am
How very depressing! Here’s my idea: send today’s blog post to the Heads of Department of all of the colleges with fashion/textiles programmes. Include (with her permission) Sewn by Whim Wham’s comment that “… most places I have approached for work experience have asked … whether I’m doing a degree, and have expressed relief that I’m not.”
Of course, the law of unintended consequence might lead to a second career as a guest lecturer at some of these places!
By: sarahcmknits on January 30, 2013
at 1:25 pm
Yes, I do understand totally. I receive similar enquiries, frequently from students working on their dissertations. Many have not taken the trouble read through my website, others don’t really understand the questions they are asking, usually about dyes. The very worst offence, however, is when I take the trouble to write at some length and receive not one word of thanks.
By: whitworth2012 on February 3, 2013
at 9:50 am
Sad to read your letter about students. I had a thought about this. In my land guild – Mid Essex, we have many members who can pass on skills,educate and a table overflowing sometimes with yarns,fleece and fibre and even redundant equipment – much of it to give away.
This is where students could find free samples and quite an education in textiles.
I hope the Association committee have received a copy of your email.- if they wrote to all colleges offering textile and fashion courses and let their students know the treasure trove to be found at their local land guilds,they wouldn’t need to beg from busy people. It could mean future members too. Just an idea…..
Chris A
By: Chris Applebee on February 5, 2013
at 8:05 am
Hi Chris, I wholeheartedly agree with what you say because the guilds are valuable sources of knowledge – but it’s fostering those suggested contacts with colleges that’s the problem. It takes considerable energy and commitment to forge useful links. The recent bursary offered by the Journal WSD to guilds for the purpose of linking guilds and textiles courses / colleges attracted only one (but absolutely excellent) response from the entire country….
By: isabellawhitworth.com on February 5, 2013
at 2:50 pm
Hi,
I would like to buy some yarn/fleece from you. Will you be at the Selvedge Spring Fair March 22 & 23? I think we’ll be in London the 23rd til 30th.
By: Elaine on February 5, 2013
at 11:09 pm
No sorry we don’t do shows.
By: devonfinefibres on February 6, 2013
at 7:16 am
As I deal with students in a pastoral role at night, only 1,000 of the little darlings, I am sorry to say that the intelligence levels have seriously dropped in the last 15 years! However, I have said once before that future students do need to research what they actually want, what the college/university can offer them especially in terms of employment and awards, before they decide where and what they are going to study. Many do not do this research and expect via begging letters such as you have had the misfortunate to get, to boast their marks up. The comments “typically weak” I hear and see often, a great shame for those that have real talent but whose determination lets them win through. One does raise one’s eyes to the heavens when I have mention great fashion designers of the past such as Mary Quant, or Vivien Westwood and get the reply “who are they” does make you wonder, if they do not know designers how on earth are they going to know fibres, etc.
By: Suei on February 8, 2013
at 5:36 am
Yeah. My ceramics degree, graduating 13 years ago, was just as bad. I spent a lot of time absorbing information from the technicians and from books as the lecturers didn’t have a clue. I dread to think how bad it would be now – then we were at least next door to the Ceramic Technology specialists who actually understood the science. I think that department has now been closed. It’s not just textiles that have suffered a severe dumbing-down in recent years
By: Helen on February 11, 2013
at 12:42 pm