Top fashion brand joins deafness campaign
A deaf Lanarkshire pupil has collaborated with a leading fashion brand to celebrate Deaf Awareness Week.
Kara Gillespie, an S4 pupil at Dalziel High school, teamed up with Glasgow-based Forty clothing to create some unique pieces.
The teenager is a deaf advocate on social media and is also the youngest mentor for Advanced Bionics, a global cochlear implant company.
After Kara got in touch with Forty, she was delighted they agreed to the collaboration.
The 16-year-old then put together some basic designs and worked with the graphic design team to come up with the final product.
Kara said:“I reached out in January with the idea for collaboration in time for Deaf Awareness Week on May 2. It was a long wait but we made it all work and I was so pleased.
“I am a huge fan of Forty and have so many t-shirts, bags and hoodies from the brand. It was a no-brainer to choose my favourite brand and they were so supportive and helpful.
“We settled on a design that featured cochlear implants. Cochlear implants are a device that helps deaf people hear.”
As part of the project, Kara also delivered deaf awareness training and also offered basic British Sign Language lessons to Forty staff.
There are two t-shirt designs and a canvas bag that features the Forty logo alongside colourful and abstract designs of cochlear implants.
Kara added:“It was really good to teach the staff at Forty some basic training about how to treat deaf people.
“I showed them some basic sign language and also taught them the best ways to make deaf people feel more welcome in shops such as theirs.”
All proceeds from the collaboration are being donated to the West of Scotland Deaf Children’s Society which supports deaf children and their families.
To see Kara’s designs, you can visit the Forty website. You can find Kara on Instagram.