Denim Runway Design Contest Winners
Announced at Kansas State University

Three fashion design students took top honors last night in Kansas State University's (KSU) Denim Runway Design Contest. The winners were announced during the Apparel Textiles and Interior Design Department's "Cotton, the Fabric of our Future; Today" fashion show.

The fashion show was the culmination of an educational project at KSU funded by the Cotton Board's Importer Support Program and conducted by Cotton Incorporated. The project included a three-unit special topics class for junior and senior design students to teach them more about cotton.

L-R: Tom and Patty Lahey, Northwest Cotton Growers (NWCG) gin; Jerry Stuckey, NWCG; Collin Campion, winner of the Men’s Jeans category; Roger Sewell, High-Tech gin; Tara Killingsworth, winner of the Women’s Jeans and Casual categories; Lauren Schoneman, winner of the Trend Board category; and Peggy and Gary Feist, Southern Kansas Cotton Growers gin.

An outgrowth of the educational project, the Denim Runway Design Contest was sponsored by the Kansas Cotton Association (KCA) and Plains Cotton Cooperative Association (PCCA), and it consisted of four categories: Women's Fashion Jeans; Men's Fashion Jeans; Casual; and Trend Board. Each winner received a framed certificate and cash prize from PCCA.

The Women's Fashion Jeans category was won by Tara Killingsworth, a senior from Geneseo, Kan. "It was so great to learn there are cotton farmers in Kansas and get to visit a cotton farm and gin," Killingsworth said. "It was an awesome experience, and winning was the cherry on top of it all."

"Denim Runway was a great experience," said Collin Campion, a junior from Overland Park, Kan., and winner of the Men's Fashion Jeans category. "I really learned a lot about denim, cotton and farming. I'd never been to a farm, and it was amazing to get out of my comfort zone to see where cotton was grown and find out where fabric comes from," he continued.

In the Casual category, contestants could design and create products other than jeans made from denim fabric, and it was won by Killingsworth. Lauren Schoneman, a sophomore from Manhattan, Kan., won the Trend Board category.

Tara Killingsworth, a senior from Geneseo, Kan., designed the winning garment in the Women’s Fashion Jeans category (seen above). She also won the Casual category.

"It was very exciting," Schoneman said. "We actually got to experience what it's like to work in the business and have deadlines. Meanwhile, we had so much free range to do whatever we wanted for our trend board that our creativity really expanded," she explained.

"Denim Runway was an excellent opportunity to teach future apparel designers about the importance of denim made from cotton in the worldwide apparel industry," said KCA President Bob Miller, a cotton farmer from Wellington, Kansas. "It also gave us a chance to showcase the Kansas cotton industry and benefit KSU," Miller said.

Prior to the contest, KSU students received classroom presentations from Dick Cooper, PCCA's director of business development for Kansas and Northern Oklahoma, and Gary Feist, manager of the Southern Kansas Cotton Growers gins in Anthony and Winfield. The contestants also participated in tours of the gin at Winfield and nearby cotton farms to see first-hand how cotton is grown and processed.

Contestants in the Men's and Women's Fashion Jeans categories then traveled to PCCA's denim mill, American Cotton Growers (ACG), at Littlefield, Texas, to tour the facility and finish their garments with the assistance of the mill's personnel. ACG provided the denim fabrics for the design contest.

Collin Campion, a junior from Overland Park, Kan., designed the winning garment in the Men’s Fashion Jeans category.

"Denim Runway provided a great opportunity to see first-hand how the financial resources of Cotton Incorporated, the Kansas Cotton Association and PCCA can produce both immediate and long-term results," Cooper said.

Another outgrowth of the Cotton Board-funded project at KSU was the "Lee Jeans 125 Design Challenge" which honored 125 years of Lee Jeans' heritage. Representatives from the Merriam, Kansas-based company travelled to KSU at the beginning of the Fall semester to launch the challenge.

"The fashion show was magnificent," said Virginia Moxley, PhD, Kansas State University. Moxley also is Dean and Professor in the College of Human Ecology and Co-Director of the Institute for Academic Alliances. "As I watched them compete for the prizes donated by various industries, I realized the students could produce at a professional level. I'm so proud of our students, and this partnership is fabulous," she concluded.

KCA is a 100 percent producer-based organization whose primary purpose is the promotion of Kansas cotton production and use through education and research. PCCA is a Lubbock, Texas-based, farmer-owned, cotton marketing cooperative with the only fully vertically integrated supply chain for denim apparel in the Western Hemisphere.

The Cotton Board is a quasi-governmental, non-profit entity that serves as the administrator of the Cotton Research & Promotion Program which is funded by America's cotton producers and importers through the cotton check-off. The Program's research and promotion activities are conducted worldwide by Cotton Incorporated to increase the demand for and improve the market position of cotton.

Posted: 12/02/2011 17:07pm