Student competition offers development of winner's range

Encouraging young designers to showcase their work, Hip Hop has launched a corporate social responsibility campaign called the Cape Town Design School final year student competition. This competition will see final year fashion students being given the opportunity to display their designs in order to win the opportunity to develop a womenswear range that will be sold to Hip Hop wholesale customers and nationwide stores.

The company sees this as essential in an industry where textile workers could soon face unemployment, caused by the breakdown in communication between the South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) and local employers surrounding wage agreements.

"We need to focus on creating jobs where we can and providing up and coming local designers, with a platform on which they can grow and develop their skills," says Dennis Hamer, owner of Hip Hop Fashion.

"The industry is going through a tough time in terms of employment; however we need to remain passionate about supporting local talent and job creation. We encourage all final year students and South African consumers to get involved in this initiative and help us give young designers that much needed step-up into the industry.

For more information on the competition, email Hamer on az.oc.noihsafpohpih@remahsinned.