Work experience at Arcadia - Dorothy Perkins department

At home for Easter – Starting Work Experience

Well I am officially now 1 week through my work experience at Arcadia, and to be honest it was completely different to how I am imagined it to be. The layout of the offices are so restricted and if you walked in not knowing where you were you would think that they were just a standard office – not somewhere that was design based or creative.
On the first day I was really nervous, sitting on the train on the way up there, I had that horrible feeling, slightly sick, nervous but excited at the same time.
When I turned up, everyone was really nice, and there is also another girl there doing work experience, so at least I am not by myself and have someone to talk to and to do tasks with.
So far I have actually been involved in quite a lot of exciting things there, Fabric sourcing, designing, trend spotting, decided themes and ideas for the spring/summer collection 2010/11. So It’s not like I am just doing the photocopying or anything, but saying that I have had to do some, but I don’t mind because I have been able to get involved with so much else.
The environment is quite relaxed, everyone pretty much wears what they want, so It’s quite comfortable and easy going.
I was quite shocked by the restrictions within the office though, and I’m sure if health and safety were to pay them an unexpected visit they would have something to say too.
The design team are literally bunched onto small desks, along with computers, folders and files, where they then have to design their collections on a tiny piece of table. They have boxes of fabrics and hundreds of theme boards floating about all over the place. You always have to move something to get to something else, which is pretty annoying, because where you moved something earlier is always where you want to get to later.
I think the designers have quite a hard job to do, they don’t just have to design the collections, they have to work with the buyers, consider the market level, consider the budget they have, whether another part of Arcadia is using the same theme, whether the print or art work has been seen before, organising sample meetings.
It seems really a strange situation with the samples, they take 4-8 weeks to get back to the office and they cost roughly about £300 to have done- which is strange because then the garment goes onto be sold at roughly £20 to £30.
So far I am enjoying It, I don’t particularly enjoy the travelling up there though, although most of the time I do get a seat on the tube, which is always a plus! I am excited to see what the next two weeks bring, hopefully it will be exciting and there will be more things that I can learn.