Another Winner - Villa Maria Cult Couture 2010

Last month Louina Fifita-Fa'apoi won the Westfield Style Pacifica ‘Youthtown Traditionally inspired’ category, this month we are proud to announce another of our students, Oudney Tupou, won the 'On the Streets' category in Villa Maria Cult Couture 2010. Congratulations! Oudney is currently studying the Fashion Design level 4 course.

Fashion Design level 4

In August NZQA approved our ‘National Certificate in Clothing Manufacture – Level 4’ certificate.  This course builds on the design skills students learn at level 3.  We are pleased to announce that DAS Training Solutions is the only private training provider to offer this new certificate (the only other provider being the ATITO itself).

We are limiting this class to a maximum of 14 students to enable our usual excellent tutor to student ratio (something we pride ourselves on). See images of our new Fashion Level 4 classroom below :

Our new Level 4 classroom

Tutor changes

It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Tilly Johnson, who has headed our Apparel team for the last 6 years.  She has taken up an opportunity to move to Australia to establish her own business.  We wish her all the best.  Her last day is Friday, September 24th, and she will be sadly missed.  Please feel free to pop in and say goodbye if you know her.
On brighter news, we are very happy to inform you that we have replaced Tilly with Sidath Wickremeratne.  Sidath has come to us having spent 20 years in the fashion industry, including running his own manufacturing business for the last 2 years.  Sidath specialises in men’s and women’s fashion wear.  He is enjoying the challenge of working with a group of diverse and talented students.

DAS Student wins Style Pasifika 2010 category

Congratulations to  Louina Fifita-Fa'apoi and her business partner Lindah Lepou on winning the Style Pacifica ‘Youthtown Traditionally inspired’ category.  Louina has completed Level 3 Full Garment Construction and Level 3 Fashion Design with DAS. 

Louina describes their new label ‘Lulugipani’ as “a unique NZ brand with distinctive pacific flavours” that the world has been craving for the longest time while so many other NZ fashion could easily come from anywhere else in the world.

Chloe Fitzgerald is embarking upon a baby wear business with her sister, Summer.  They plan to specialise in embroidered infant wear made out of New Zealand Merino and cotton.  Chloe completed the industrial sewing course with us and now is studying Pattern Making level 3 part time in our evening class.  She expects to be open for business in October.

FASHION CAREER OFF TO A GREAT START

Jody Hingston's career in the fashion industry is off to a great start after winning the top designer and street wear awards at the Manukau En Vogue fashion show.

Manukau En Vogue was presented by DAS Training Solutions and drew an audience of 250 people to Papatoetoe Town Hall - among them were Manukau City councillor Sylvia Taylor and National MP Kanwajit Singh Bakshi. This was the inaugural Manukau En Vogue, which is set to be an annual event showcasing the talents of Manukau City's up and coming fashion designers.

Other winners were Aiona Tongia in the creative division, Neelam Sharma in the cultural division and Natalene Burgoyne in the evening/formal wear division. The top designer award included a $1000 prize, sponsored by Walker Howley Textile Ltd, who also sponsored the evening/formal wear prize. Birch Haberdashery sponsored the street wear prize. Division winners received $250 each.

Judges for the awards were Bruce Page of Walker Howley Textile Ltd, Bruce Tollemache of the Apparel and Textile Industry Training Board, and Lindah Lepou, fashion designer and winner of the Westfield Style Pacifica Supreme Award.

Jody says his street wear is designed "for everyday guys who like to stand out in a crowd," and who want to look good when they go out on the town.

He has been a part time student at DAS Training for over two years, while working full time as an Air New Zealand flight attendant. He plans to undertake another year of study at DAS Training enrolling in their upcoming Level 4 advanced fashion design course, with the ultimate goal of launching his own label.

Jody says studying at DAS Training has been "fantastic." He is especially thankful for the flexible scheduling that enables him to fit in with his work commitments.

For anyone keen on a career in fashion, DAS Training is the ideal place to get started. Here you can learn essential skills like pattern development, garment construction, pattern re-sizing, small business studies, and how to measure the human form.

DAS Training provides a friendly, professional learning environment with high quality NZQA certified programs and supportive tutors who are New Zealand qualified and have strong industry backgrounds.

The friendly professional administration staff provide all the support you need. Student loans and allowances are available, and the free course trials help you decide if the course is right for you.

DAS Training's Papatoetoe campus is located at 127 Kolmar Rd - phone 250 1515. For further information, visit www.dastraining.co.nz where you can see the other designers and their entries to Manukau En Vogue.

LEARN TO SEW AND DESIGN YOUR OWN GARMENTS

Have you ever wanted to learn to sew or start a business from home? You can with DAS Training’s Industrial sewing course - this 19 week course is designed to give you the skills you need to do both.

This course will give you the skills to sew for your friends and family.  The garments covered within the course includes: Skirts, Vests, Shirts, Fully-lined jackets and Puletasi’s.

You can start anytime and even come in for a free trial.  This course is very flexible and can work around most peoples schedules – we offer day and night classes.

All our tutors have come from the New Zealand Apparel Industry.  Jeanette Ball is the sewing tutor based in the Papatoetoe branch. She has worked in the NZ apparel industry as a supervisor and sample machinist for the past 15 years.

After you have completed the sewing course you have the option to advance your skills by joining the Fashion Design course. The tutor for this is Tilly Johnston - she has also been in the New Zealand Apparel Industry for over 15 years and has comprehensive knowledge on “how to create the patterns for your designs”.  She will show you how to create the pattern from basic measurements and assist you in sewing the garment

.Both ex students and current students speak highly of both courses and have recommended friends and family to attend

Henrietta Fido Tovio (pictured) is a current student on the Fashion Design Course  “I want to be a fashion designer, My mum back in the islands sewed all my clothes when I was a little girl, we never bought clothes because it was too expensive.  Now I really want to design, sew and sell my own ‘Island style’ fashions, especially Puletasi’s as they are very expensive over here.  Tilly is so helpful and she is a great tutor, I understand what she is teaching me – I can work towards my goal much faster now thanks to DAS Training.”

Amber Pure - “I love it, I’m learning heaps, I didn’t even know how to use a sewing machine ‘till I came here. It is really easy once you get the hang on it, at first following the patterns was hard, but after Jeanette showed me the easy way, I got it. After the course I want to sew clothes for my kids and maybe even start my own business”

Alberta Murphy - “I recommend other people to do this course, I found the course was hard when I started but it gets easier as you go along.  I found that my tutor is an easy person to deal with and the way she teaches suits me down to the ground.”

Tiesi Liva “I like it – I’m finding it easy and easy to understand my tutor.  I want to sew my own clothes for my family.  The hours are really good they fit in with my family life.”

Call  us today, you could be one of our happy (and fashionable) students as well!