Working in partnership with local start-up Loopster

Our Employer partnerships are a key part of what we do at Coleg Gwent. By working with local businesses, we find a variety of ways to benefit both their organisation and our students. One recent example is a collaboration between Coleg Gwent and Loopster, an up and coming second hand clothing company.

So, who is Loopster?

Loopster is start-up company designed to make buying and selling second-hand women’s and children’s clothes quick and convenient. With the shocking statistic of 350,000 million tonnes of discarded garments go to landfill in the UK, the company is on a mission to extend the life of fashion and make the industry more sustainable.

Loopster is backed by the Welsh Development Bank, a government funded initiative which aims to unlock potential in the economy of Wales by increasing the provision of sustainable, effective finance. With the help of the scheme, Loopster now has a team in Newport as well as further staff in London and Lisbon.

But as a young start-up business, budget is limited. So, Loopster are always looking for opportunities to work with partners who can help them to scale up and bring them the skills they need to grow and develop the business. Working with Coleg Gwent has allowed them to do exactly that.

How did Coleg Gwent help?

The creative photography department at Coleg Gwent helped Loopster by providing two student photographers and the use of their fully equipped studio, to shoot promotional images for Loopster’s Christmas Social Media campaign. With popular full time and part time photography courses available at the college, we weren’t short of talented photographers willing to gain some on-the-job experience with Loopster to boost their CVs.

The students produced a whole portfolio of high-quality images for the social media campaign, which resulted in more traffic being driven to Loopster’s website and converting to sales. In return, the learners had the opportunity to practice their skills on a professional photo shoot, providing them with valuable experience for their future careers.

Photography learner, Andrew Breading, was delighted to have the opportunity to work with Loopster, as it gave him the chance to do his first fashion photoshoot. He thought it was great fun working with both the client and the models, and he learnt a lot about lighting and the pressure of shooting in front of the customer. Following the insightful experience, Andrew now can’t wait for the next chance to do another fashion shoot.

Robyn Taylor, Marketing Manager at Loopster, explained that the partnership with Coleg Gwent has been extremely helpful. The staff and students were very easy to work with and they were both empathetic and professional. The College’s Employer Engagement Advisor Claire was also very supportive and made the whole process easy for Loopster. So, Robyn is sure that Loopster’s collaboration with Coleg Gwent has only just begun and we look forward to more exciting future projects yet to come.

As a college that’s central to our local communities, we’re always looking for new ways to help and partner with local businesses like Loopster. These mutually beneficial partnerships are full of opportunities and they help us to recognise what local employers need in their future workforce. So, if you know a business that could benefit from working with us, read more about partnering with Coleg Gwent here. Or why not check out how we recently helped another local company, Tin Can Kitchen, too?