On Tuesday, June 4th 2024, we were back with one of our favorite events of the year - the annual FATE Student Showcase! Our 9th graders developed marketing and advertising campaigns for Merit and our 10th graders designed a Merit product collection.
Videography By: Eli Sider, Sider Mill Video
Each year our 9th and 10th grade FATE cohorts participate in an end-of-year capstone project where they put their skills in business, entrepreneurship, marketing, and design-thinking to practice! Six 9th grade teams were asked to create a Marketing and Advertising Campaign for Merit (our cause-based fashion brand) which included a 60-second commercial, a print advertisement, and a pitch presentation. A panel of expert judges in the PR and marketing field was tasked with declaring the winner - securing them a $200 cash prize and their campaign will be promoted by Merit! Our 10th graders were split into four teams and developed a Merit Product Collection. These collections were on display trade show booth style and available for presale at the Student Showcase. The team with the most pre-sales is declared the winner, awarding them a $300 cash prize and their collection will be produced in full and sold by Merit!
Just a few months ago, our 10th graders began their Grade 10 Capstone Project: Designing a Merit Product Collection. They were put into 4 project teams and each one has spent the past few months developing a collection that was put on display at the annual Student Showcase and made available for pre-sale.
Team Members: Khloe, Ma'Kaylah, Briana, William, and Christian
Collection Theme: “Nostalgic Moments"
Graphic Designer: Scott Everett
About the Collection: “To us, Nostalgic Moments means when you’re living in the moment and reminiscing about how far you’ve come, where you are now, and how far you’re going. Our overall mission is to get people to think back to their childhood, the history of Detroit, and to remember the good times.”
Meritverse
Team Members: Peyton, Martez, Jordan, Xavier, and Olivia
Collection Theme: “Brilliant Influence”
Graphic Designer: Jonathan Brooks
About the Collection: “Everyone is inspired by someone and in turn can be an inspiration to someone else. Our inspirations and the things that influence us have connected to the light within ourselves. We use the analog of space and stars to better convey this idea. We are motivated by brilliance to become the best versions of ourselves and see the best versions of others. Like stars that form brilliant constellations in the universe, be a brilliant influence in your life and positively influence the next generation.”
The Winners
Team Members: Nevaeh, Messiah, Tony, Makayla, Alyssa, and Amari
Collection Theme: “Winning Out of This World”
Graphic Designer: Scott Everett
About the Collection: “We are “The Winners. Our wins were limited by this world, but we realized that our wins can go further than that. Our team came up with the theme “Winning Out of this World” to show that our ideas and aspirations don’t have a limit. Everyone on our team is a winner, and we want you to be a winner too. By buying one of our products you will support the youth of Detroit through a donation to FATE student scholarships. Now your wins will go further than just us so that we all win.”
Kids Next Door
Team Members: Devin, Karlin, Dha’kiyah, and Camariah
Collection Theme: “Wear Your Confidence”
Graphic Designer: Jonathan Brooks
About the Collection: “We pride ourselves in the idea that CONFIDENCE is contagious and wanted to share a collection that influences positivity. Our main focus while creating this collection was to make products that are not only stylish but comfortable. Radiating positivity and empowering others, “Wear Your Confidence“ supports the idea that when you look good you feel good. Make yourself a part of the movement.”
ABOUT THE GRADE 10 CAPSTONE PROJECT
Developing a Theme, Design Concepts & Creative Brief
To begin creating a product collection, each team needed to pick a theme that would guide the designs in their collection. It was important that not only did each theme have a name, but that the teams were able to describe how the theme connects to the Merit brand and its target customers.
To assist in this process, we partnered with Carhartt where our students spent the day in their design center working directly with their creative team! Students learned about designing for a consumer, took a tour of the Carhartt building, and spent time fleshing out their collection themes.
With a collection theme chosen, each team developed 5 design concept ideas and worked on a “creative brief” that outlined the aesthetic, design elements, colors, and inspirations images that helped guide the design process.
For example, The Talents team identified the theme “Nostalgic Moments” which focuses on living in the moment while also reminiscing on how far you’ve come. When they thought about how this theme could be communicated visually, they thought about objects and design elements from the past that give off a nostalgic feeling such as vintage muscle cars, a landline phone, and the original ipod and paired those design ideas with motivating phrases such as “You’re in charge of your future” and “Oh the places we’ll go”.
Product Designs
Each team was assigned a graphic designer - Scott Everett and Jonathan Brooks - who worked closely with each team to understand their collection theme and brought each team’s vision to life. In addition to creating the 5 design concepts, each team got to decide which product they wanted in their collection, the color of both product and the graphics, and the design placement.
Creating a Trade Show Booth Display
We produce a sample collection for each team which is on display during the annual Student Showcase event and available for pre-sale. To create these trade show booth displays, we partner with Creative Solutions Group (CSG) - a full service experiential marketing company. During the excursion workshop with CSG, students get a chance to design their own trade show booth poster. Special shout out to Kori, Dan, Tom, and the rest of the CSG team for your support!
Collection Sales Pitch
Right before the Student Showcase, our students practice a collection sales pitch to familiarize themselves with their product collection theme, collection story and design concept details so they are prepared to attract customers and make the sale! Before this process starts, we partner with Zingerman’s for a workshop centered on “The Art of Giving Great Service” where students learn about identifying who their customers are, how to give great service, why it’s so important, and how to handle complaints.
2024 STUDENT SHOWCASE - GRADE 10
During the 2024 Student Showcase, the Grade 10 teams had their product collections on display for pre-sale as they interacted with a variety of customers! The goal was to not only showcase their creativity and hard work - but to get the most pre-sales. As each team competed against one another, they had to focus on grabbing the customers attention by describing what makes their product unique and the message behind their designs.
It is always so impressive to see our students transform into sales experts! One of our Grade 10 students - Dha’Kiyah - had her sales pitch down to a T - sharing
“Let me tell you a little about the thought process behind this hoodie. We picked bright colors because when you think about confidence you don’t want bland, gray or black, you think about bright colors and we have the word confidence and picked words based off of the word confidence such as happiness, creativity, and style and put them on the back of the hoodie.”
All the Grade 10 Product Collections were available for pre-sale until June 23rd, 2024. While there are 4 incredible collections, only ONE team was selected as the winner based on having the most presales from June 4th - June 23rd. In addition to a $300 cash prize, the winning team’s collection will be produced in FULL and sold on Merit’s website. What’s so exciting about the Grade 10 Capstone Project is that the winning team has been chosen by YOU, our Merit customers!
Who was Crowned the Winner???
The people have spoken!
Our official WINNER OF THE 2024 STUDENT SHOWCASE COMPETITION is…
The Talents - “Nostalgic Moments” Collection
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Their top selling product was their “The Places We’ll Go” hoodie! You can shop the entire “Nostalgic Moments” collection here:
- The Places We’ll Go Hoodie- Motor City Wheels Sweatpants
- Future Calls Long Sleeve Tee
- Now Playing Tee
- You’re In Charge Tee
We are so incredibly proud of all four teams and the hard work they put into these product collections the past few months. In addition to the winning collection being produced in full and sold on Merit’s website, we have selected the top 5 selling products from the other collections that will be available as well.
Our top 5 products this year included:
The Winners: Winning Out Of This World
- “No Limits Sweater”- “Leave Your Mark Hoodie”
- “FATE Logo Beanie”
Kids Next door: Wear Your Confidence
- “Confidence All Over Hoodie”
Meritverse: Brilliant Influence
- “Wishing on a Shooting Star Tee”
It was also so special to see the wonderful support of our 10th graders for our 9th graders who were participating in the Student Showcase for the first time! During the 9th grade presentations, they all stood in the back with big smiles and cheered them on each time a team came on deck to give their presentation! It was extra special.
We want to give a special thank you to this year’s incredibly talented graphic designers:
- Scott Everett and Jonathan Brooks
As well as our Grade 10 Capstone Project partners which include:
- - Carhartt - Ben, Andrea, Patrick, Kobe, D’mitri, and Claire
- - Creative Solutions Group - Kori, Dan, Tom, and the rest of the CSG team!
- - Zingerman’s - Jenni &Tabitha
Lastly, a special thank you to our event sponsors:
- - Creative Circle
- - Quikly
- - Creative Solutions Group
- - Jet’s Pizza
And of course our FATE Mentors & the Give Merit Board, our panel of judges, and all of our incredible volunteers for the day!
Photography: Allison Farrand and Shelby Dubin