Meet the Accrington fashion student behind Converse's latest ad campaign

Hinna Kazi, 20, is currently in the third year of her fashion promotion degree at the Lancashire university and joined a virtual team of fellow students from across the UK to work on the campaign.

All of the students had a week to style and customise Converse clothing for the ‘Size?’ ad campaign.

They were provided with a brief that emphasised practical, comfortable styles that would be worn by people like themselves, at work or during studies.

Fashionista Hinna said: “Live brief opportunities like this are so important.

"The project gave me a great insight into the fashion industry, working alongside fellow creatives to produce something to deadline and within budget.

“It’s great for the CV and to know my work is now being used as part of a national campaign.

“It’s also confirmed that a career in the fashion styling industry is what I’d really like to pursue once I graduate next year.”

The 20-year-old says that her contribution to the campaign aims to ‘give a voice to underrepresented people’ from ethnic minority backgrounds.

“Coming from an ethic minority background, I’m very keen to give a voice to underrepresented people and for this campaign I based my ideas around interests in street style and sports, incorporating a late 1990s/ early 2000 feel,” Hinna said.

“The Converse brand is so versatile it gave us lots of scope for creative ideas.

“The whole project was completed virtually, and in a week.

“I even organised a Facetime call to help direct the photography shoot."

Hinna says that the brand has given her ‘great feedback’ and was ‘really impressed’ with the students’ work.

“It just goes to show that even in a pandemic, technology and creativity can combine to produce something special,” she said.

Tom Rand, Converse retail brand manager, said: “Hinna’s progressive styling and creative mindset was something we admired in her application and wanted to bring her expertise to the project.

“The project in itself was a blank canvas as the brief was open to interpretation.

“With this in mind, Hinna drew together key looks which were imperative to the campaign’s overall look and feel.

The manager agreed with Hinna that the students thrived and delivered on brief despite the challenges of lockdown and remote working.

Course leader for UCLan’s Fashion Promotion programme, Eve Astle, said: “I’m very proud that Hinna was selected for this challenge.

“She worked so hard to represent our course and the University in such a positive way.

“The agency that dealt with the brief was very impressed with her creative content.”

Thanks to the success of the project and Hinna’s hard work, ‘Size?’ has agreed to provide UCLan students with guest lectures, competitions, work experience and more live briefs.

“It’s a very competitive industry but this exciting initiative gives our students the opportunity to stand out by working alongside one of the world’s leading streetwear retailers,” Eve said.

Size? Syllabus will see the brand working with more universities in the future to help students in the industry.

Hinna worked with three other students during the brief: Kwame Agyepong worked as a set designer and is currently studying Illustration at Arts University Bournemouth; Quinn, the set photographer, studied Photography at Nottingham Trent University; and Hollie Mae Homan, the graphic designer, is a Fashion Communication and Marketing student at Arts University Bournemouth.