College student’s kit design for hinckley cycling club brought to life

A fashion and textiles student from North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College (NWSLC) who won a competition to design new kit for Hinckley Cycle Racing Club (HCRC) has seen the final designs brought to life. Second year student Gracie Birch from Nuneaton picked up a prize of £100 after her design for the club’s new shirts was selected by its members.

The club had briefed students at the college’s creative arts campus in Hinckley to design the new kit and club members voted overwhelming for Gracie’s designs in a poll.

Guy Mellor from HCRC said, “It has been great to be able to return to the college with our fully developed kit based on Gracie’s design. Everyone at the club is very happy with their new kit which is now in use for social rides and in cycle cross, road racing and mountain-biking competitions. We were extremely impressed by all the students’ response to our brief and have enjoyed working with the college on this project.”

Joanne Hall, fashion and textiles lecturer at NWSLC said, “We were delighted to work with HCRC on this unique brief which provided our students with a live commercial project to test their skills. They were all provided with the same template block for the kit and required to design bright and highly visible concepts for health and safety reasons. Seven Year 1 students on our fashion and textiles course responded and it was great experience for them. It has been rewarding to be able to help a local community organisation, and fantastic to see the finished articles that have been produced.”

Marion Plant, OBE FCGI, Principal and Chief Executive of NWSLC said, “This collaboration is a fantastic example of how the college works in its local community to support organisations while also providing opportunities for students to develop their employability skills. Well done to all those students who rose to the challenge and congratulations to Gracie on being selected as the winner.”

Prospective students who are interested in the creative arts can find out more at the college’s Hinckley Campus open event on Monday 27 November from 5pm – 8pm. Visit the college website nwslc.ac.uk to register and see times of other campus open events during the week.