Salford Fashion Students big win for global fashion brand

Brendan Arekhi won the S Oliver 50th anniversary challenge, where he had the task of designing a male, female or genderless casualwear collection for the brand based around his muse and 24 hours in their life. 

“I chose Abigail Cowen as I feel she has a strong identity and she stands out from the crowd with her exceptional beauty! This project was very much about identity and based on the research I did I felt she would fit the brief really well." 

The second year Fashion student will spend two months in Germany, where S Oliver are based. Here, he’ll be working alongside talented fashion gurus bringing his ideas to the S Oliver brand- gaining fantastic experience just before his final year of studying.  

“This is a fantastic opportunity for Brendan and I am sure he will flourish at S Oliver. It’s brilliant to see so many of our students as finalists for such a huge competition at a global brand, especially as they put so much hard work into their studies.” 

This isn’t the first big fashion win for Salford’s fashion students either, with talented students C’era Wolffe and Val Kristopher Galbo winning competitions for fashion giants Levi’s Strauss in both 2017 and 2018. 

Originally from Switzerland, Brendan has said that it’s “amazing” to have won such a prestigious competition. He said: 

Since I started studying at Salford the support has been never ending. I think the main reason so many students from The University of Salford were shortlisted is down to the great encouragement from our lecturers who always push us to do our best.” 

He hopes that his experience at S Oliver will contribute to his final collection before he graduates, and in the future would like to dive straight into the industry as a designer.