FASHION STUDENTS LEARN TO UNDERSTAND THE USE OF LEATHER FOR FASHION & FOOTWEAR

Vicki Dean from University of Northampton arrived at ESMOD Kuala Lumpur The One Academy with an informative treat on leather in fashion & footwear. All the way from Northamptonshire, United Kingdom, Vicki Dean is with the education team at the university’s School of Arts in fashion & textile arts. The fabric leather is a unique feature to be used in fashion designing as it uplifts a design to a level higher. However, while students are familiar with the leather that already been incorporated into an apparel, it is interesting that they get to learn further about how leather is made and used in footwear.

Fashion students sat forward attentively as Vickie Dean shared about leather-making & footwear a popular industry in Northamptonshire. With the frequent rainy season in the heart of UK, the weather helps with the soil, therefore, making it good to raise cattle. It is no wonder why Northamptonshire is famous for producing leather in its tannery, supplying to footwear brands like Church’s. Plus, the leather-focused industry allows Northampton fashion students to learn more in depth about footwear leather & textile.

ESMOD Kuala Lumpur students also learned to understand the different types of hides & skins, made by chicken feet, crocodiles, frogs, rabbits and more. Vickie also passed around samples of hides and skins for students to feel the texture. She also covered on how leather, hides and skins were made in the process, being treated by chemical and later on transformed into a finishing leather fabric soon-to-be incorporated into apparel and footwear designs.

Finally, there was a Q&A session between speaker and students, mostly asking about how to tell if a leather product is original or fake, and how to grade leather fabrics. It is certainly a unique topic of the day for students to learn, as fashion is also about learning information beyond fashion designing techniques.