Education for Nature-Vietnam (ENV) has teamed up with Hanoi fashion retailer, Boo Skate Shops, and the London Centre for Fashion Studies- Hanoi, to help Vietnam’s wildlife through fashion design.
Many of Vietnam’s species of wildlife are very rare and face serious threats. As part of their Professional Diploma in Fashion Design and Technology, 23 first-year LCFS students used t-shirt design to convey this message
“The aim of this project was to show that fashion is not only about stylish clothes. Fashion is a powerful tool that can be used to communicate a message and reflects current events and issues. It is important for designers to understand this, and know how to communicate with their target audience, said Ms Viviane Pearson, Director of Studies at LCFS.
“Right now, the need to protect Vietnam’s wildlife is a critical issue, and these young designers were tasked to communicate this message,” added Ms Pearson.
Students commenced this assignment by meeting with staff from ENV to gain an understanding of this issue and inspiration for their designs. They also met with Boo Skate Shops’ owner and designers to learn about their target customers.
This project set the students quite a challenge. The designs had to represent the right balance between getting the message across and meeting the expectations of Boo Skate Shops’ customers.
After weeks of research and hard work, the 23 students each produced five designs. The judges, including designers from Boo Skate Shops, an ENV Director and the class teachers, were all impressed with the students’ work. After difficult deliberation, the judges chose five designs as the winning designs. Winning students were: Nguyen Phuong Anh, Quach Thanh Hiep, Nguyen Thuy Linh, Nguyen Tra Ly, and Khuc Cam Linh.
The winning students then had the opportunity to work with Boo Skate Shops’ professional design team to finalize their designs and have them produced for sale in Boo Skate Shops.
ENV Director Dang Minh Ha believes these students are playing an important helping to promote wildlife protection.
“The students work showed that they really care about protecting Vietnam’s wildlife. Their designs highlighted many of the threats to Vietnam’s wildlife including hunting, pet trade, and the illegal bear bile industry. We hope people will wear these t-shirts and help spread the message,” said Mr. Ha.
The winning designers came up with some very creative concepts. For example, one t-shirt depicts a bear school in which the bear students are learning about the dangers of hunters.
Boo Skate Shops will donate one hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of every t-shirt to ENV to help save Vietnam’s wildlife and raise awareness about this critical issue.
ENV would like to thank Boo for their generous support and the LCFS students and staff for their excellent work.
T-shirts are available for sale in all Boo Skate Shops in Hanoi (84 Hang Dieu, 38 Le Dai Hanh, 24a Ta Hien and 92b Doi Can), online at http://www.booskateshop.com/env.html or by contacting ENV for more information.
