Empowering youth through fashion

Thirty young people from various No More Red charity partners recently engaged in a transformative four-part fashion workshop series – and one of their designs has now made its way to Arsenal stores.

A collaboration by Arsenal, adidas and the local social enterprise Fashion Enter, this initiative aimed to ignite creativity and foster empowerment among its participants. 

The workshop series kicked off with sessions hosted by adidas at its flagship London store, where attendees from Arsenal in the Community, Octopus Community Network, Copenhagen Youth Project and Steel Warriors delved into the art of football jersey styling. 

They also explored the intricacies of Arsenal-branded product lifecycle and T-shirt design under the guidance of Senior Category Manager Callum Burman, followed by a celebrity styling session led by renowned stylist and Elle Magazine contributor Georgia Medley at The Arsenal Hub. 

The culmination of the project was a two-day T-shirt-making and design workshop during the half-term break facilitated by Fashion-Enter, a local leader in ethical garment production. Here, participants learned the craft of hand-stitching and witnessed their designs come to life through digitalisation and printing on state-of-the-art sustainable printers. 

As part of the series, attendees had the opportunity to showcase their creativity in a T-shirt design competition. The winning design, by Nellie Rose from Arsenal in the Community, encapsulated the spirit of London, community and Arsenal. This design will be brought to life and made available for purchase at the Armoury and arsenaldirect.com from April 15. 

Notably, 100 per cent of the retail price from each T-shirt will be distributed equally among the No More Red charity partners, including The Arsenal Foundation, Abianda, Octopus Community Network Limited, Box Up Crime, The Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, The Ben Kinsella Trust, Steel Warriors, Copenhagen Youth Project and St Giles Trust. 

And in line with our commitment to nurturing talent, Nellie Rose will receive an industry-standard fee for her design – we are dedicated to providing paid opportunities for young creatives in the industry. 

You can buy the No More Red community T-shirt today on Arsenal Direct.

The impact of the fashion workshop series has been profound: 

• 86.6% of respondents reported feeling significantly more confident. 
• 100% expressed heightened creativity and confidence in expressing themselves. 
• 100% gained insights into potential career paths and further education opportunities in the fashion industry. 
• 100% developed a deeper understanding of environmental and social sustainability within the fashion sector. 

Through initiatives such as this, we continue to empower and inspire the next generation of creative minds and strive towards a brighter and more inclusive future.