Jack Dennington, a Fashion Design and Marketing Student at Northumbria University, tells us all about their six month placement with Smart Works Newcastle.
“It has been an utter joy to work with Smart Works. I have been here for six incredible months and I can’t believe it has come to an end already. I came to Smart Works as a shy fashion student and from the moment I stepped through that shiny grey door I was welcomed with open arms, smiles and intelligence. The team are always say they aim to uplift and help women across the UK, but what they don’t know is that they’ve done the same to me. I leave Smart Works Newcastle as a confident, educated and proud person, ready to face my final two years at University.
Now onto the fun stuff.
When I started at Smart Works the team were getting ready for their big sale at MEA House, so my main task was sorting stock to be sold to raise money for the service. We spent the whole day preparing for the early bird shopping evening, making sure everything was in category and size order (I wore the wrong shoes that day!). Need I say the sale went amazingly and everyone had such a lovely time.
Smart Works is constantly inundated with fabulous donations whether that’s from the public or their retail partners. It is always exciting to see what has been donated for our clients and I oversaw ensuring that the dressing room was always fully stocked and looking it’s best, ready for our clients the next day. It was great to be part of the Smart Set launch and to see the impact these pieces had on our client’s confidence.
The highlight of my placement was quite recent. Our huge fashion sale and event at Newcastle University, where we raised £6,500. The event consisted of an amazing amount of women’s clothing, a fashion show of Smart Works clothing and local brands Catcall Clothing and Melanie Kyles attended to sell their products, which for me (a fashion student) was really cool- I also came away with some nice pieces for myself.
I will really miss the Smart Works team, but I look forward to seeing everything they do in the future and will hopefully volunteer at some events soon. This really was The Smart Placement.”