This March, Hyderabad-based Creative Bee will conduct three ‘Finishing Boot Camps - in fashion and textiles’ to help fashion and design school graduates fine-tune their skills.

Bina Rao, the founder of Creative Bee, speaks from experience when she points out that in the last 25 years that the organisation has been recruiting designers and technical staff, she’s noticed a wide gap between what’s taught in fashion schools and the industry skill sets that fresh graduates need.

This gap, she observes, is prevalent even among students who emerge from reputed design schools, and hands-on training is required to make them industry ready. “There’s so much to be covered in academic curriculum in fashion institutes that there’s not enough time to impart practical knowledge. Once you step into the industry either as an entrepreneur or begin working with a company that has international clients, these graduates are a loss for the first few years without knowing the basics — how to source different types of yarns for small, medium and large scale companies, or how to analyse dyes sold in the market,” says Bina.

Bina Rao  

Having used both natural dyes and chemical azo-free dyes, Bina explains that there’s rampant adulteration in the dyes supplied in the market. Most dyes are sold without labels and it’s tough for beginners to test and identify the adulterated dyes from the good ones. Wrong selection of dyes can mar a collection.

Creative Bee’s boot camps or crash courses will be conducted in collaboration with fashion, textile and design industry experts. The first one is a four-day programme focusing on the technicalities of mainstream production and will go into the details of working with dyes, yarn and looms; pre and post-processing techniques such as sourcing and supply, and inventory management.

A model sports an ikat outfit by Creative Bee   | Photo Credit: By arrangement

The second one is a three-day boot camp to help first-time entrepreneurs how to set up of an enterprise, taxation, finance, recruitment, marketing, exports, and intellectual property protection. Bina emphasises how crucial it is for designers with a creative bent of mind to also know finance and taxes, “It’s very important to learn these aspects, or you end up paying a penalty at some point.”

The third is a four-day boot camp for those interested in tapping into the emerging area of slow fashion. At a time when eco-friendly, sustainable or slow fashion have become the buzzwords, emerging designers have a lot to gain by mastering the know-hows. “There’s a lot of attention on slow fashion internationally. Graduates need to know everything that goes into making a collection sustainable — where to source alternative fibres and dyes, and what truly is sustainable fashion,” sums ups Bina.

To register for the fashion boot camps, check www.creativebee.in or call 9849004035