News Release For Immediate Release AATCC Announces J. Crew is Sponsoring the 2021 Concept 2 Consumer Student Merchandising Competition RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., USA, March 8, 2021—AATCC is excited to announce J.Crew is now sponsoring the 2021 Concept 2 Consumer® Student Merchandising Competition. The 2021 AATCC Concept 2 Consumer® Student Merchandising Competition is a poster competition that will allow students the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in business, marketing, and merchandising. The first-place winning entry will be awarded a monogrammed J. Crew signature tote and a prestigious mentorship/apprenticeship with a J.Crew merchant team member. This year’s theme, Fashion Evolution, showcases AATCC’s Centennial—the Association’s 100th Birthday! The theme for AATCC’s Centennial celebrations is “Celebrating a Century—Focused on the Future!” Fashion Evolution will mirror that theme. From the 1920s, when AATCC was founded, to the present day, students will be asked to choose a decade from the last 100 years and market reinvented fashions for the 2020 decade focusing on one or more of the following:
- fit/sizing for various body types
- sustainable fashion
- personal protection
- new textile materials/technology
- Develop and describe the marketing plan and merchandising plan and products for an integrated apparel line.
- Research one chosen decade and related apparel products from that time period.
- Describe a reinvented fashion for the 2020 decade, incorporate a focus area that creates a modern approach.
- Consider how the selected focus area makes the apparel line more relevant or marketable today.
- Explain how the product line is unique.
- Describe what aspects from the selected decade were chosen and what in your product line makes them reinvented for the future.
- 1st place: US$1000 from AATCC, J.Crew monogrammed tote and mentorship/apprenticeship with a J.Crew merchant team member, and US$300 from Farhan Patel
- 2nd place: US$750 from AATCC
- 3rd place: US$250 from AATCC