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Fashion Design lecturers Debbie Allsop and Kathryn Brennand were proud to host a special event as part of WOVEN 2025.
Held at Heritage Quay at The University of Huddersfield, home to over 200 archive collections dedicated to local history, the tailoring event showcased the creative work of second-year Fashion Design BA (Hons) students, with the project exploring Huddersfield’s rich textile legacy alongside its celebrated sporting history, drawing inspiration from the iconography and memorabilia of Huddersfield Town Football Club. Students were challenged to reflect these local influences within their jacket designs through techniques such as digital embroidery and bespoke digitally printed linings, creating garments that responded to the town’s dual heritage in tailoring and football.
A key element was to work with fine worsted cloth donated from esteemed cloth merchants Dugdale Bros & Co of Huddersfield. The iconic ‘Made in Huddersfield’ selvedge mark is a globally recognised symbol of the highest quality luxury in cloth and the Fashion and Textiles department at the University of Huddersfield are privileged to be located at the heart of the UK’s wool industry, working with locally made, fine cloth.
The exhibition explored traditional tailoring techniques and processes, with a focus on the intricate manufacture and design stages involved in crafting high-quality tailored garments.
This drop-in event invited visitors to engage with student projects and speak with staff, offering a unique insight into the inner workings of tailored garments. Attendees had the opportunity to inspect sample jackets, used as teaching tools, and gain hands-on understanding of traditional chest padding methods, including pad-stitching with canvas and felt, a technique famously used on Savile Row. The insights revealed the detailed structures inside finely tailored single-breasted menswear jackets.
Visitors explored the design aspects of tailoring, learning about various jacket components such as pockets, collars, darts, vents, and styling features like seam placement and panel shaping. The session also encouraged hands-on interaction with design resources, allowing participants to experiment and understand how key elements influence both fit and style.
This event celebrated the craftsmanship in designing and making clothing – something that can often be overlooked when we buy clothes, without fully considering the work behind the process. It offered attendees a valuable opportunity to gain insight into the skill, talent, and expertise that goes into creating the clothing we wear.
The event also highlighted the key differences between high-end bespoke garments and high-street fashion, illustrating the contrasting approaches to design and manufacturing. It shed light on how garment pricing is influenced by the level of craftsmanship and labour involved.
In addition, the event showcased the wide range of roles and career opportunities within the diverse and evolving fashion and textiles industry.
A digital exhibition ran alongside the event on #TheBigCurvyScreen, a motion-sensor display at Heritage Quay, featuring work-in-progress visuals that documented students’ design and their construction journeys. This innovative display had the ability to connect to wider highlights from the university’s archive collections.
The event was co-hosted by lecturers Debbie Allsop and Kathryn Brennand, alongside technical support from Nicola Gearing, Fashion Technician. Together, they facilitated a welcoming and informative experience that celebrated the precision, creativity, and craftsmanship at the heart of tailoring.
Free and open to all, the event offered the public an opportunity to explore the artistry of tailored jacket construction, appreciate the value of archival knowledge, and engage with the future of tailoring education at the University of Huddersfield.
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