Glen Raven Custom Fabrics, Sunbury Textile Mills Ask Students 'What's Next?'

Fibres, Yarns, Fabrics

Glen Raven Custom Fabrics, Sunbury Textile Mills Ask Students 'What's Next?'

For the second time in three years, Glen Raven Custom Fabrics and Sunbury Textile Mills have joined forces in the search for the next generation of talent in textile design. Hosting a competition with the Textile Design programme at Philadelphia University, the two companies asked students to imagine the future of Sunbrella® fabrics, answering the question, 'What's next?' "What's great about this partnership with Sunbury and the university is that we are exposed to a group of students that have completely different perspectives," said Tracy Greene, style/ design manager at Glen Raven Custom Fabrics. "It's interesting to see a new take on our materials, where students are allowed to weave and finish textiles creating art rather than designing for a specific commercial market. We are here to help educate the students, but really they are educating and inspiring us." The competition, which launched in 2014, quickly proved to be a way for Glen Raven to interact with prospective employees. Emily Weiss, whose design featured a blue/green colour palette ideal for a beach home, took second place in the inaugural textile design and went on to intern with Glen Raven Custom Fabrics. She has since been hired on to the design team.

In this year's competition, graduate student Samantha Fletcher was awarded first place in a unanimous decision for her innovative, limit-pushing approach which featured melted PVC yarn. "My process is to play with the materials, push the limits of the yarn and change it in a really unique way," said Fletcher, whose design reminiscent of lace was based on the concept of collective memories. Second place was awarded to graduate student Valerie Gibbins for her design influenced by street art. Third-place winner Jessica Newman, a junior, was noted for her design based on bone cell patterns. Honorable mentions were presented to Becky Flax, Nyasha Chivaura and Yi-Chun Liu, all using materials in new ways, predicting the future of Sunbrella fabrics. "It's really joyous to be recognized, especially by judges from within the industry," said Gibbins, who is studying industrial design but has delayed her master's thesis to study textile design. "I have been sewing my whole life, but I've really immersed myself in textile design this past year. I hope to combine my interest in industrial design with my passion for textiles, and winning second place in this competition validates my efforts." Jessica Newman hopes her third-place win keeps her on track to one day pursue her dream of product development for sportswear. "I'm really surprised and honored to have won third place," Newman said. "I did a lot of experimenting with PVC yarns to get to my final product. I'm fascinated by how technology can change the products we use every day, so this was a really fun project to work on." The students' designs were judged on a number of criteria: colour, pattern, appropriate scale, creative materials, appropriate hand, technical execution, appropriate end use, originality and innovation.

Continuing in its tradition of recruiting competition entrants, Glen Raven will bring on honorable mention winner Nyasha Chivaura as a design intern this summer. "Emily and Nyasha are fantastic success stories exemplifying how we connect our students with industry leaders," said Marcia Weiss, director of the Fashion and Textiles Futures Center at Philadelphia University, no relation to Emily Weiss. "By bringing in judges from within the industry, we further widen the circle of connections our students can make. We couldn't be more pleased with this partnership and are so proud of the talent we are producing."