OSU student wins grand prize in outdoor garment design competition

Monday, February 7, 2011

Melaney Stevens, a senior in design, housing and merchandising at Oklahoma State University, won the grand prize for the women’s ice climbing pants she designed for Project OR, a design competition taking place during the Winter Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City, Utah in January.

Project OR is a design competition that celebrates the functionality, originality and design of outdoor recreation clothing.  Each year, Project OR selects five design students from top programs around the country and gives them 48 hours to create an original garment prototype using eco-friendly materials.

Stevens created clean, feminine pants that were stretchable and water resistant to meet the flexibility, protection and versatility requirements set by Project OR.  She combined a modern look into her design by using targeted incorporation of color.

“My focus is in custom bridal wear so coming to Project OR was a new challenge,” Stevens said. “I like being exposed to new apparel and new fabrics. It’s changed my perception and I’m going to really look in this industry for opportunities in the future.”

Once the initial garment designs were completed on the first day of the competition, Stevens and the other contestants turned their drawings into products using the latest fabrics, zippers and other clothing components provided by participating supplier exhibitors.

Stevens’ climbing pants featured water resistant, stretch fabric from Schoeller, reflective piping from JRC Reflex, padding for knees and shins from Poron, YKK zippers, and buckles and zipper pulls from ITW Nexus.

“Pants were a whole new category we’d never approached before, which was a great change of pace that brought out a lot of creativity from the designers,” said Kenji Haroutunian, Outdoor Retailer show director. “I saw really diverse designs that showed a very new way of approaching a highly technical piece of apparel.”

As the winner of Project OR, Stevens receives an all-expenses-paid return trip to Outdoor Retailer Summer Market ‘11 and a profile in Textile Insight.  Also due to Stevens’ win, another DHM student will be invited to participate in the Project OR Cycle 7 in Salt Lake City on August 4-7, 2011.

For more information on Project OR and to view reality-competition type videos showing the conception, sourcing, production and final presentation stages of the competition go to www.outdoorretailer.com and follow the Project OR link.