Under Armour, Inc. in collaboration with Parsons School of Design, joined forces during the Spring 2011 semester to engage an educational collaborative project “TAKE ME HOME”. Two unique project competitions resulted for students across Parsons, The School of Fashion.
The first provided fashion students a learning environment that simulates the daily activities of a merchandiser and designer collaborative within a fashion company. Students were divided into small teams, each consisting of one fashion designer and one fashion merchandiser. The teams were charged to provide creative direction and conceptualize a new lifestyle collection for Under Armour’s Fall/Winter 2012/’13 season. The “TAKE ME HOME” collection embodies an athletic customer and references elements of activewear. The winning student team is given the opportunity for a summer intensive fashion design and merchandising mentoring program at the Under Armour, Inc. headquarters in Baltimore, MD.
Winning Merchandising Group: Kerry Tham – Fashion Marketing AAS and Kathryn Pe Aguirre – Fashion Design BFA.
The second project allowed fashion accessory design students a chance to develop fashion accessories that would embody the active sportswear aesthetics in an urban setting. The collections were based on specific categories, such as young men’s basketball, men’s golf, or women’s outerwear, and women’s yoga. The two winning students selected are provided the opportunity to take part in an intensive fashion accessory mentoring internship at the Under Armour Inc. headquarters.
Winning Fashion Accessory Students: Caitlin Kneopp – Women’s Outerwear. Varalee Sangsomsap – Men’s Training.
Faculty Members: James Mendolia, Fashion Marketing and Julia Poteat, Fashion Design
Thank you to the Under Armour team. The executives in attendance for final projects included:
Noreen Naroo – Senior Creative Director, Women’s and Youth
Stephen Cleary – Director, Accessories
Kevin Wright – College Recruiting Coordinator
Nick Cienski – Creative Design Director
Jeff Dorton – Director of Materials
Gwyn Wiadro, General Merchandise Manager for Women’s Apparel