DMU's Brogan wins national fashion design competition

A student from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) will see her jacket design sold around the UK after winning a national competition.

Brogan Thomson-Woods, a third year Fashion Design student, won the public vote in the contest, run by independent retailer Lakeland Leather.



Lakeland challenged designers to create an on-trend summer jacket that could form part of its summer collection. Bosses chose three finalists, of whom two were DMU students – Brogan and classmate Hazel Symons.

Then it put the vote to the public on its Facebook site to choose the final winner, and Brogan’s design came out on top.

She said: “I thought the votes were close, but I was trying to stay away from watching how many votes I had because it was getting a bit tense!
“I’m so pleased to win though. I was very happy with the design and everyone at DMU has been really excited for me.”

Brogan now gets to work with the team at Lakeland to create the jacket and get it ready for sale in outlets around the UK. “It will be a good experience for me because I have never worked with a design team before,” said Brogan. “It’s opened up a new opportunity for me because I had never thought about working with leather before.”



At the moment, Brogan is busy finishing her collection which she hopes to take to London’s Graduate Fashion Week. Her designs are based upon hand weaving, a very different process to working with leather.

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“I think what has surprised me most about this competition is that it is completely different to my normal design, using a completely different material and way of working. I’m very excited about the chance to work with the design team and see the process for myself.”

Brogan’s design was inspired by her research about the company, in particular founder Jack Standring’s spirit of adventure.

She said: “I wanted my design to capture a sense of adventure and exploration, just like the ethos behind Lakeland Leather. My stepdad is an avid climber himself so I paid close attention to his gear when I was designing my jacket.”