UK : ASBCI Annual Student Dissertation Award 2007

The clothing and textile forum, ASBCI, is delighted to announce that the winner of its coveted Annual Student Dissertation Award 2007 is Nicola Clay from Nottingham Trent University, NTU.
Some 300 students from fashion and textile colleges around the UK watched as Paschal Little, head of technology for lingerie, women’s and girls’ wear from the 2007 award’s sponsor, Marks & Spencer plc, presented Nicola Clay with a £500 cheque and a year’s free membership to the ASBCI.
It is the second year running a student from NTU has scooped the top dissertation prize. The joint runners’ up, Katie Giddons from the London College of Fashion, LCF, and Amy Taylor from De Montfort University, both received cheques for £250 and a year’s ASBCI membership.
The award ceremony was held at Leeds University during the ASBCI annual student conference, which in addition to the student membership, was attended by such eminent industry names as Christopher Bailey, creative director of Burberry, Jo Toulmin, technical manager at Dorothy Perkins, Tony Scott, divisional head at Per Una, Craig Ferriday, divisional director, of BMB group’s Apparel International and Joerg Hartmann, head of fashion and technology at advanced knitting technology company, Stoll GmbH & Co KG.
Nicola Clay’s winning dissertation entitled: ‘The impact of visual merchandising on consumer perception’ was described by the judges as an extremely comprehensive and well presented dissertation with a good grasp of VM issues and the challenges retailers face. After graduating from NTU with a 2.1 BA honours degree in fashion and textile management, Nicola Clay joined travel clothing retailer, Craghoppers, as junior design product developer.
In Katie Giddons’ thesis entitled: ‘An investigation into the importance of human interaction experienced within the physical store’ judges were impressed with the level of academic analysis. After graduating from LCF with a 2.1 BA honours degree in fashion management Katie Giddons joined an Essex-based fashion jewellery company supplying designs to high street names within the Arcadia group.