James Parker, third-year Fashion Design with Business Studies student, won the Project 20/20 UK Student Design Awards with his specialist garments for arborists and tree surgeons.

The contest was sponsored by CORDURA® fabric and James’ winning garments were featured in a live action workwear fashion display at the Professional Clothing Show in London.

James, who collected a £1,000 prize, presented by sports personality and Olympic swimmer Sharon Davies, said: “Winning the competition provided an amazing opportunity to intern with the sponsoring company Incorporatewear which I finished in September to start my final year. They have offered so much support to complete my final year and help me with my collection so winning the competition has become priceless.

“The brief for the competition was to design your vision of workwear for the year 2020. I wanted to pick a trade that was outside of the box, that a lot of people may not think about which is why I picked tree surgeons. I designed a uniform for them which had many different aspects of function and practicality in the garment that they could utilise for their trade.”

Craig Higgins, University of Brighton Course Leader in Fashion, said: “James was one of over 200 entries – his design showed his high levels of creativity, problem solving, practical design and technical skills.

“He received top marks from all five industry panel judges. And in addition to his cash prize, he will be given internship opportunities with top professional clothing brands. Plus there was a £500 award to the University of Brighton Fashion Design Course and a trophy.”