Students from Fashion Buying and Merchandising and International Fashion Promotion visit Shanghai for week of academic and professional development.

The annual study trip to Shanghai was another amazing success. The 38 International Fashion Promotion and Fashion Buying and Merchandising students departed from Manchester Airport on 14 February for a week of academic and professional development. An array of key contacts agreed to take time out of their busy schedules, to provide the group with fantastic insight into how fashion brands operate within China. The organiser of the trip Carly Wraeg, programme leader for International Fashion Promotion, commented “this is the fullest itinerary that I have organised to date. It was a snowball effect - once key contacts knew that we were coming to the city and had discussions with their colleagues, more visits were lined up. I decided that the best way to proceed was to organise a conference, therefore the first MFI Shanghai Conference was born.” This was a huge success with eight speakers at the event including, Louis Vuitton Merchandising Manager Dominic Zhang, H&M Creative Hub Manager Jo Czutkowna, the founder of Marie-Cassandre PR & Styling Agency and Gensler Brand Director Markus Pesendorfer. All the speakers commented on what an amazing opportunity the Shanghai trip was for the students, with Michael Rosenthal (President of US Green Solutions) remarking that “you can’t be in the fashion business without knowing China. These students will be ahead of the competition.”

To further add to the learning journey, students visited an accessories factory that manufacture for many UK, European and US brands. The group visited luxury store Joyce and had an interesting presentation from the general manager and also visited a showroom that manufacture for many well know UK and international brands. The itinerary was well balanced with programme specific content and free time to immerse into the city’s vibrant and rich culture. International Fashion Promotion student Hannah Scott-Davies commented “I found the trip very useful – I believe there was a great balance between academic activity and student’s own spare time to explore the city. I found the conference particularly interesting, because there was a vast range of speakers all working in fashion, but working in completely different aspects of the industry. I would definitely recommend this study trip to future students.”