Apprentice winner will benefit from her degree course in Hudds

University of Huddersfield fashion graduate Sian Gabbidon won Lord Sugar’s 2018 The Apprentice and the £250,000 investment will go towards growing her successful swimwear business Sian Marie Fashion.

SWIMWEAR designer Sian Gabbidon starred on television when six million viewers saw her win the 2018 series of The Apprentice.  Four years ago, she was a star student at the University of Huddersfield earning first class honours for a degree course that gave her the marketing skills she needs to succeed in the highly competitive world of fashion.

Now, she has a partner in the shape of TV show host Lord Sugar, who will invest £250,000 into the Leeds-born 26-year-old’s business, named Sian Marie Fashion.  At the climax of the TV contest, the famous entrepreneur told Sian that she had a great aptitude and talent for design, naming her as the winner of the series, after a final showdown with nut milk maker Camilla Ainsworth.

After the programme was broadcast on BBC 1, viewers tweeted their admiration for Sian’s calm professionalism throughout the series.

At the University of Huddersfield, she studied for a BA in Fashion Design with Marketing and Production.  Senior Lecturer Claire Evans remembers well the impact made by Sian’s final-year collection of womenswear, which used bold colours and strong geometrical designs.

“It was a very creative, cutting-edge collection,” said Claire, but she also remembers how Sian displayed excellence at the marketing component of her course, and ran a very impressive campaign to promote her collection.

Claire Evans has first-hand experience of the challenges ahead.  Before moving into lecturing she ran her own fashion label, named Doyenne, selling womenswear around the world, with an outlet in London and a shop in Huddersfield, the town where her designs were made into garments.

“It will be exciting for Sian.  She will meet a lot of amazing people.  But when you are running your own business you are working hard for seven days a week.  Knowing the sort of student, she was, I think she will take it in her stride.”

Claire is confident that Sian’s Huddersfield degree course will give her an edge.

“When I set up my company, I hadn’t had the same grounding.  I had come from a pure fashion course, so Sian has the advantage of having studied the marketing side.  I think that will have helped her a lot on The Apprentice and in her business career.”