Ultrasuede creations made by OIF students will debut on December 3 at the “GRAND WISH STUDENT COLLECTION”, a fashion event within the “Grand Wish Christmas 2022 – An Invitation to CHRISTMAS WIZARDING WORLD Harry Potter” holiday event, which is being organized by Grand Front Osaka. After being presented, these creations will be displayed at various locations in the Grand Front Osaka North building during the event period, from December 4 (Sun) to December 25 (Sun).
Founded in 1946, OIF is a specialist fashion school that has nurtured and produced many talented ready-to-work designers under its policy of “contributing to society through fashion”. The Institute offers an advanced curriculum including the Super Designer program, which is designed to nurture top world-class designers who are capable of launching their own private labels while still in school.
In the special class offered on October 4, Toray employees lectured sophomores enrolled in the Super Designer Department and gave them the opportunity to really feel the fabric and try on sample garments made from Ultrasuede. ™. This experience helped the students to deepen their knowledge of the fabric, at the same time that they learned the sewing methods of this fabric and the possibilities of post-treatment. After the class, the students asked many specific questions related to creating their designs, indicating that they had a high level of interest in the fabric.
From now on, students filled with the aspiration to become Super Designers will work to create their designs around the theme “WISH” in preparation for their debut during the Christmas event scheduled for December. Toray hopes that the use of Ultrasuede will further inspire these students and help expand the possibilities of creative design.
Toray’s educational activities with Ultrasuede began in 2016 with a lecture on this material given at a higher education institution in Beijing, China and the donation of the material for use in graduation papers by students of the institute. Since then, Toray has continued to provide information on Ultrasuede™ and fabric quantities to leading fashion and design-related educational institutes both within and outside of Japan, free of charge. Furthermore, with the goal of cultivating talented designers particularly in the world of fashion, we are actively involved in supporting the next generation of aspiring young designers through sponsorship and support of international fashion events and awards.
Under Ultrasuede’s vision of “Enriching society through empowered creativity and material evolution”, we will continue to take up the challenge of realizing Toray Group’s corporate philosophy, “Contributing to society through the creation of new value with innovative ideas, technologies and products. .” Supporting educational institutes by offering Ultrasuede™ is one way to make this happen.