IT’S ALL ABOUT PEOPLE- and fashion. The s.Oliver Group is an international fashion and lifestyle company with headquarters in Rottendorf near Würzburg, Germany. For the second year in a row, s. Oliver is sponsor of the FRANKFURT STYLE AWARD and has even increased its involvement.
As in 2014, one finalist can look forward to winning an exclusive internship at the fashion label. An upcoming designer will receive first-hand knowledge of the work of an international fashion company for 6 months. Special Award Winner 2014, Sara Wörner, is currently doing an internship at s. Oliver and sees this as a particularly valuable experience for her career:
Sara Wörner: “Without practical experience, it is close to impossible to successfully start a career in design. While participating in the FRANKFURT STYLE AWARD, I really hoped to win this internship. I knew it would help me get a my foot in the textile industry’s door after my studies.”
During the entire internship, Sara has a mentor by her side: Riccardo Serravalle, Designer for s. Oliver Premium and 2014 junior-jury member in the FRANKFURT STYLE AWARD.
Sara Wörner: “It is a great, well-balanced internship and it is really helpful to have a personal mentor. Riccardo makes sure that I receive many different insights and I have the chance to work with other designers on a range of product groups. After hearing about so much of this in theory, it is exciting to be using it in practice!”
Discovering and supporting potential, talent and creativity – s. Oliver actively and consciously involves its interns in daily work:
Sara Wörner: “I really get to experience everything involved in design. And I am able to do many of the things that the designers working here do, such as creating styles or choosing colors. I also get to take part in decisions made by the clothing technicians and take part in diverse meetings about collection creation and selection, so that I get a great overview of the collection creation process. I’ve had time to practice and can even independently create worksheets. Of course, I also play a supporting role in collection delivery. It is very cool that my opinion is valued and my feedback is taken seriously.”
Riccardo Serravalle, Designer s.Oliver Premium, ist von der Arbeit seines Mentees begeistert. ©s.Oliver
Designer Riccardo Serravalle has an exact idea of what he wants to impart to his mentee.
Riccardo Serravalle: “First, I wanted to involve Sara in the creative process and then teach her the technical details and administrative part of our work. Other than my focus area (dresses), I wanted to expose Sara to other product areas, such as ready-made and knit, so that she understands their individual intricacies. Sara works on the organization and preparation of proto-types and samples during collection creation and selection. She needs to have an understanding of the entire process, in order to check-off all the steps. Sara also creates color and print overviews for our concept meetings. From the start, we give our employees a lot of responsibility that goes hand-in- hand with a great deal of trust. That means, you can do a lot here, if you want to.”
Independent work and an understanding for design are stressed at s. Oliver. Riccardo Serravalle explains which criteria were decisive for selecting a winner and ultimately Sara Wörner in the previous year:
“For us at s. Oliver Premium, it is particularly important to be able to recognize an understanding of high-quality design and craftsmanship – that is tailoring – in the submitted design. The Fitting (FRANKFURT STYLE AWARD FINALE 2014 in the Häusern der Mode – Frankfurt) was decisive for our assessment. On a personal level, Sara us with her open and friendly manner, and her exact vision of what she wanted to achieve during an internship at s. Oliver. From our very first meeting, we could tell that she would fit-in perfectly.”
Reinhold Werthmann, Director Human Resources Capital Management bei s.Oliver, überreicht der Gewinnerin Sara Wörner den Special Award. ©prpkronberg
Sara Wörner (vorne, 2.v.l.), hier mit Designer Riccardo Serravalle, Moderatorin Anke Seeling (3.v.r.) und Reinhold Werthmann (links), freut sich über den Gewinn des Praktikums bei s.Oliver. ©prpkronberg
Mit ihrem Design „essential“ überzeugte Sara Wörner das internationale Modeunternehmen s.Oliver. ©prpkronberg
S. Oliver sees the FRANKFURT STYLE AWARD as a great platform to meet and support international design Newcomers. As Gold-Sponsor, the s. Oliver group is an important partner for the development and profile of the international talent contest as a sustainable talent platform for the next generation of young designers.
Reinhold Werthmann | Director Human Resources Capital Management
“Nowadays it is becoming increasingly important to discover and promote talent early on. The FRANKFURT STYLE AWARD provides young upcoming fashion designers the opportunity to prove themselves before a jury of experts. For us, it is a wonderful platform where we can come into contact with national and international talents and observe their abilities. Here we can discover the potential s. Oliver Designers of tomorrow. We are happy to make a contribution to the advancement of the next generation of designers. Sustainable talent support is important!”