CREDIT: FANSHAWE COLLEGE
Loving Local will feature a fashion show, giveaways, and a marketplace with a wide range of vendors.

Fanshawe’s fashion marketing and management program will be hosting a fashion show and marketplace at Fanshawe’s downtown campus on April 5. The event, called Loving Local, will feature local vendors and a fashion show.

The show is put together by the fashion marketing and management students as part of their capstone project. This is the first year of Loving Local running physically, having run virtually the past two years. Linda Jenkin, a professor of the program, explained how students have been given free reign over the project.

“They’re the actual producers of the event itself, and they’re really enjoying it. [We] have done virtual events but this is kind of a new event where we’re combining a marketplace and fashion show,” she said. “So it’s not only a learning curve for me in the planning, but the students have really worked hard and are very dedicated.”


Fashion marketing and management isn’t the only program working on the show either. Five other programs are involved, the film and broadcasting program, the event planning program, the culinary program, hospitality, and the hospitality and tourism operations management program. The event is also in collaboration with See the Worth and Goodwill Industries.

See the Worth takes old garments and materials and creates new garments to sell out of them.

“One of their most popular pieces is a cocoon jacket, made out of bed quilts and comforters. They’re all one of a kind,” Jenkin explained. The fashion marketing and management program store, Live Chic, also sells See the Worth’s products.

See the Worth also employs people from outside of Canada for a fair wage at their facility in London, along with a social benefits program that focuses on skills training, functional language education, and meaningful work for newcomers and individuals struggling to find employment.

Loving Local was started during the pandemic, as a way to showcase struggling local retailers. Students would go into the stores to interview owners and showcase what the store had to offer. Jenkin said the virtual shows went well, but she’s excited to be in person for the first time.

“It was a form of promotion for [the stores,] but also for our students to get used to putting events together. At the event, we showed the videos and had some local trivia in between with giveaways.”

Fashion design students have created their own items to sell, so as Jenkin put it, “what you see on the runway, you can also purchase in the vendor marketplace.” The vendors at the marketplace won’t be just fashion based either, with vendors such as the Hot Sauce Company, as well as other, less fashion focused vendors.

Jenkin added that students should come check out Loving Local not only to support fellow students but to also see what local London vendors have to offer.

“This is an opportunity to see several vendors under one roof. For those that are on the main campus, it’s being held at the downtown campus. So it’s an opportunity to also see what’s happening downtown London.”

The event will be held on April 5 at Fanshawe Downtown campus, in the Good Foundation Theatre from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is free, but proceeds from the event will go to the Sharing Shop. You can register for the event at tinyurl.com/loving-local.