Dugdale Bros & Co Design Brief
About
Dugdale Bros & Co. is the last remaining independently owned cloth merchant in Huddersfield. They have been making some of Britain’s finest fabrics in this historic Yorkshire mill town since 1896. For over a century, Dugdale Bros & Co. has woven passion, pride, and integrity into everything we do.
Since 1896, Dugdale Bros & Co supported and championed generations of skilled local craftsmen and women. Their collections are designed in-house and manufactured within just ten miles of the historic headquarters on Northumberland Street — a proud tribute to their roots in Huddersfield’s rich textile heritage.
They continue to embrace many of the same tried and tested techniques that have stood the test of time. Yet, as a forward-thinking company, they are equally committed to innovation — combining time-honoured skills with modern technologies to create cloth that is as luxurious as it is enduring.
For Dugdale Bros & Co, there’s only one place to make proper cloth, the proper way — Huddersfield.
Brief
Dugdale Bros & Co & Graduate Fashion Foundation challenge you to celebrate and showcase excellence in contemporary tailoring, combining heritage craftsmanship with innovative approaches to construction, cut, and materiality. Through this competition, the Graduate Fashion Foundation & Dugdale Bros & Co recognises precision, technical mastery, and creative interpretation of tailored garments within a modern context.
We are looking for you to create a professional, digital design portfolio that communicates the research, concept and design of your outfit, showing your signature design handwriting, alongside a physical toile submission.
You must design and toile 1x full outfit with tailoring and wool fabrics at its core.
Choose to focus of either womenswear or menswear.
Showcase within your portfolio which Dugdale Bros & Co woollen fabric you would use plus trimmings.
Bring to life in sketch/illustration application.
Submit technical drawings of all garment/s in the outfit.
Criteria
Open to all final year students from Graduate Fashion Foundation member Universities in the UK.
If in doubt, please ask your tutor. Tutors, there is unlimited entries per university, please enter all relevant collections.
Download the PDF
What to submit
Research-led design development that demonstrates an understanding of traditional and contemporary tailoring principles, including silhouette, proportion, and structure
Advanced technical execution in tailored garments, including cutting, shaping, and construction techniques (e.g. canvassing, padding, internal structuring, finishing)
Exploration of fabric and material, with a focus on the informed and innovative use of tailoring cloths
Evidence of craftsmanship and attention to detail in toiling
Innovative or progressive approaches to tailoring, such as reinterpreting heritage methods, incorporating new technologies, or challenging conventions of formalwear
Entry process
Open to all second and final year (level 5 and 6) students studying a design based BA from Graduate Fashion Foundation Member Universities in the UK and Internationally.
Terms + conditions
Deadline
22/01/27 (18:00)
Prizes
Ten shortlisted students will be selected from digital entries to receive the wool fabric from Dugdale Bros & Co, to then manufacture their outfit, as well as a visit the Huddersfield head office in February 2027.
All ten outfits will be showcased within the exhibition at Graduate Fashion Week 2027.
One overall winner will be selected to receive 6 months mentoring from the Dugdale Bros & Co team, a placement in the London offices, and fabrics and trimmings support with their final collection.