What was meant to be a way to fund ski adventures rapidly became a popular high street brand appealing to all. FatFace was born in 1988 when 2 friends started selling t-shirts out of the back of a caravan, fast forward to today, they are now selling casual clothing for men, women and children.

It’s no wonder that this quintessentially British brand was chosen to partner with Graduate Fashion Week who strive in promoting the future members of the British Fashion Industry. FatFace launched a competition open to all BA students from Graduate Fashion Week member Universities with the chance to win £500 for yourself and £250 for your university, which enticed many.

The requirement was that the graduate designed a t-shirt for FatFace that was in line with their brand. These t-shirts could have been fashion inspired or inspired by FatFace’s heritage.  The pressure was on for the graduates who had applied because FatFace collaborated with four industry icons who were required to choose their favourite design. These included the journalist, Hilary Alexander OBE and Fashion Designers Holly Fulton, Christopher Raeburn and Henry Holland.

Four finalists’ t-shirts were chosen and these were produced by the FatFace team and are being sold instore. The four chosen will be appearing at the Best of Catwalk Show at Graduate Fashion Week on Wednesday 6th June where the T-Shirts will be revealed on the catwalk. The four finalists are Hannah Morley, of the University of Central Lancashire, Harriet Bornemann from Norwich University of the Arts, Kirsty Walmsley of UCA Rochester and Lauren Smith from Leeds Art University. Their work is now being shown to thousands of shoppers nationwide. 

Words by Rosie Smith 

Photography by Stefan Jakobowski