A second-year BA Fashion Design and Technology student at Loughborough University will see her impressive design for branded workwear brought to life by one of the UK’s largest business software providers, The Access Group and be available for over 8,000 employees to wear.
Hollie Yeomans beat 10 of her classmates in the final of the competition organised between the university and The Access Group to create a capsule work wardrobe for employees and give the students experience of working with a large corporation and developing their employability skills.
Hollie’s winning designs featured an oversized red wool blazer, a statement hoodie, and wide-leg tailored trousers, which judges praised for its great use of colour, wearability and styling. Judges were also impressed by Hollie’s attention to detail, including subtle branding on a blazer pocket and trouser waistband. She also carried the brand’s colour palette through to careful stitching and finishing trims on the hoodie.
Importantly, Hollie used natural fabrics making her designs comfortable and breathable with no micro plastics, unlike synthetic fabrics. Hollie also researched local manufacturing suppliers to potentially cut down on air miles and carbon emissions in the production process.
She was announced as the winner during a runway event at The Access Group’s headquarters in Loughborough and will now see one of the t-shirts from her collection produced for over 8,000 employees at The Access Group to purchase, with all proceeds going to Young Lives vs Cancer, The Access Group’s chosen charity of the year.
Speaking on her win, Hollie said: “As a young designer, opportunities like this don’t come around often. The whole process, from sketching my initial ideas and designing the garments to finalising the lineup and sending my collection out on the runway, was an experience I’ll never forget. It’s taught me how to work alongside a company and towards a live brief, which will help me incredibly with the rest of my degree and future career.”
On her design process, and what inspired her throughout the competition, Hollie added: “I wanted the design to reflect the diverse workplace at The Access Group. Not only did I want the outfit to be unisex, but I also wanted to ensure that everybody would feel great wearing it. Some pieces are oversized, some are fully covering the body and some are adjustable, meaning the whole collection is versatile and can be worn for all work settings, whether that’s in the office, at home, or at meetings with clients.
“A main consideration when designing were the fabrics I used and I wanted the garments to be as sustainable as possible so I began looking into local wool and fabric mills in the Midlands. Not only was sustainability a big focus of mine, I also wanted the collection to be of a high quality and to promote versatility.”
The Access Wear competition launched last year with a brief asking students to take into consideration sustainability, diversity, comfort and hybrid working when creating the designs.
The final judging panel included BBC presenter and fashion aficionado Anne Davies, as well as key Access Group employees – Emma de Sousa, managing director of Access Legal and Access Recruitment, early careers lead, Ben Whitehead and senior graphic designer, Aadil Mughal.
Emma de Sousa, said: “We’re excited to see Hollie’s creation come to life, and are so thankful to all the Loughborough University students for taking part in the Access Wear competition and showcasing their incredible talent. This collaboration has been able to offer them invaluable experience ahead of embarking on their own careers in fashion, as well as forming part of their learning and development.”
