Barcelona Industry Visit

At the beginning of September the 22 finalists of FAD’s Fashion Futures 2 project embarked on a three day industry visit to the inspirational city of Barcelona.

NewVic 6th Form College student and finalist, Sobia Yousaf, reports on the experience which included a visit to the design headquarters of Spanish labels Armand Basi and Mango.

DAY ONE - Arriving in Barcelona

"It was the beginning of a new journey, and I wondered what was coming ahead as the plane started moving – in a click’s time we were above ground, holding our breath at the amazing views outside.

Despite the journey, no one felt tired; we were too excited by what we saw as we walked through the streets of Barcelona. Once we arrived at the hostel we had an hour to get ready before going to visit Gaudi’s Park Guell. It was a weird and strange place with a huge, mosaic fountain and stairs going up around either side. At the top of the staircase there were really good views over the city and the ocean.

From the park we walked to the restaurant. There was a lot to see along the way – boats in the water; houses built on hillsides, and a music festival, like the ones we have in London every year.

In the restaurant the walls were covered in pictures, the rooms were like a ship, and the waiters were running up and down. For a starter, we had a mixed salad with mini fishes fried in olive oil and lemon on top. For the main course we had special rice called Paella with prawns and other crispy and salty seafood."

DAY TWO - Armand Basi & Lacoste

"Early in the morning we left the hostel to catch a train to the Armand Basi and Lacoste factory. When we arrived Armand Basi's Managing Director, Lluis Llsute de Nin was there to greet us. He introduced us to three of the directors, including Jordi Arhou who gave us a grand tour. Firstly we visited the design area where Rafael, the women’s jersey designer spoke to us about his mood board and research work. Another designer, Christian, then showed how he makes designs on the computer using a system called CAD (Computer Aided Design).

Designer Sarah described how she collects her research from books, magazines, people on the street and stores. She always creates a moodboard, before working on designs and fabric ideas.

The Lacoste design rooms were separate from Armand Basi’s, but in the same building. In contrast to Basi, Lacoste was described as being more colourful and for everyday wear. When we arrived in the Lacoste studio, Clara and Nuria were working on womenswear designs for their autumn/winter 2009 collection".

"Meanwhile Rob, Armand Basi’s head designer, was busy preparing for the Armand Basi fashion show, which takes place on the same day as the 4th Junior Awards during London Fashion Week. Up next we met Anna, the pattern designer. She was creating patterns on the computer and printing them off on a huge printer, ready to use to create samples. Leaving the design studio, we headed downstairs to look at the machines which soften the fabric for Lacoste’s t-shirts, and knit the collars and cuffs for the garments.

After lunch we travelled to our next destination – The Joan Miro gallery. On the way we stopped to see the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s amazing unfinished cathedral. Everyone was so excited, although very tired after a busy morning. We went into the Miro gallery to see the paintings, before going up to the roof so see the beautiful views and take some more photos. We then headed to Las Ramblas for some free time and to visit the shops."

DAY THREE - Mango

“Today was our final industry visit, this time to Mango, which everyone was really excited about. I thought that Mango would be based in the city, but I forgot it was a factory and therefore outside Barcelona – it was massive! We were met by Blanca, who had arranged the visit for us.

Monica, who works in HR, started by giving us a presentation on the history of the company. It was founded by two Turkish brothers, Isak and Nahman Andic, who came to Spain in their teens. They started off with a market stall, before opening their first “Mango” store in 1984. The word “mango” has the advantage of being pronounced the same all over the world, in every language.

Tere, told us about the retail side of the business. He explained how retail staff are the link between the customer and the designer, passing on feedback so that designers can create products that will sell.

Tino, one of the designers, then explained where the MANGO team look for ideas and inspiration. He said that they regularly make trips abroad and London, especially East London, is the best place in the world for sourcing ideas and new trends – because of the mix of different people and all the creative things that are going on. Other things which inspire Mango’s designers are music, bands, film, books, architecture, exhibitions, graphics, what people are wearing on the street and backstage at fashion shows."

"Ainoa, who works in advertising, showed us around the two huge buildings that make up the MANGO headquarters. First we went to the distribution centre where all the folded garments go on to a huge conveyor belt, and according to their barcode they are dropped into the crate for the shop that needs them. These crates go straight into the lorries waiting outside and are transported to the stores.

The second building that we visited was the “Hangar”, Mango’s design centre. We saw the archive, where they have books and magazines, as well as an example of every garment they have ever produced.

Lastly we saw the showroom – a model Mango shop which shows how the stores should be laid out and how products should be displayed. We looked in at the designers at work – there were about 100 of them in a huge open plan room - and at the machine room, where machinists were making up samples of designs.

We finished the visit with lunch in the Mango canteen with Blanca and Natalia from Mango. They gave us each a goody bag with a CD of Mangos’ catwalk show, brochures and a leather purse. After that we headed straight to the airport for our flight home.”

Read more about the finalist's visit to MANGO by downloading the MANGO newsletter here