Urban Outfitters teams up with Arts Thread

Fashion retailer Urban Outfitters has started

a new partnership with Arts Thread, an international network for graduated creatives in the industry, to launch a series of design competitions across the globe. The competitions will be open to design graduates and provide them the opportunity to showcase their work. Urban Outfitters and Arts Thread hope to bring the step between education and the industry closer, one competition by one.

“Urban Outfitters has partnered with Arts Thread as part of our ongoing commitment to discovering and fostering young talent,” said Chad Kessler, chief merchandising officer at Urban Outfitters North America in a press release. He adds, “Arts Thread is the largest online community of young designers, and through our Make It competitions we can provide opportunities to anyone within the Arts Thread network, no matter what country they live in or what school that designer attended.”

Urban Outfitters launched its Make It competitions through each sector of the brand, to help the budding careers of design graduates. For the first edition, the company requested fashion graduates around the world to design the 'perfect party outfit' for the brands winter 2013 collection. Urban Outfitters selected five winning designs to be manufactured and sold at the company stores, therefore providing exposure as well as a cash prize to the winning designers.

Arts Thread founder, Alex Brownless, thinks that it is 'fantastic' how Urban Outfitters believes in their vision of aiding emerging design talents. He adds, “Together Urban Outfitters and Arts Thread have a common goal, which is democratic and based solely upon design talent. It really doesn't matter whom you are, where you are from or, for that matter, which university or school you have studied at, as genuine talent will never go unnoticed!”

Together the two companies will continue the Make It competition in the coming year, which is open to recent graduate students in the US and the UK, as well as graduates within the Arts Thread network.