Net-A-Porter reveals education fund winners, launches Vanguard campaign

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 8, 2022

Net-A-Porter has named the winners of its inaugural Vanguard Education Fund for final-year university students. It has linked up with the British Fashion Council (BFC) further its long-term commitment to nurturing emerging talent and the fund is an extension of the retailer’s Vanguard mentorship and business-support programme for womenswear designers.

The new Education Fund provides both financial support and dedicated mentoring to final-year students.

The winners include Ben Davis of Kingston School of Art, who will be mentored by designer Connor Ives and musician, actor and businesswoman Jessica Jung; Renato Bras of Central Saint Martins, whose mentors are designer Christopher John Rogers and Net-A-Porter content director Alice Casely-Hayford; Finlay Roberts of Falmouth University, who’s being mentored by Khaite founder and designer Cate Holstein and Net-A-Porter market director Libby Page; Maissane Zinai of Central Saint Martins, with director of fashion partnerships at Instagram Eva Chen and fashion director at British Vogue Julia Sarr Jamois as mentors.

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The students will also benefit from 3D garment-design training to create technically advanced, digitised products using true-to-life garment visualisation, “thereby reducing waste and improving time efficiency when creating samples”.

Net-A-Porter has invested in the specialised training and access to the cutting-edge 3D software CLO, covering all associated costs for the designers for year, “equipping them with skills to design for the metaverse”. 

The e-tailer is also celebrating its Vanguard programme this month through a standalone campaign featuring the latest Vanguard brands for 2022, Miss Sohee and Grace Ling, the latter of whom also guest features in Net-A-Porter's fifth Incredible Women podcast series, The Rule Breakers. 

In the campaign, Miss Sohee and Grace Ling are joined by alumni brands including Peter Do, Commission, Gauchere, Christopher John Rogers, Jia Jia, Sindiso Khumalo, Conner Ives, Lukhanyo Mdingi, Interior.NYC and Renaissance Renaissance.