Campus Celebrity – Nick White, Founder of Buddha Clothing
There aren’t many students at university gifted with as much drive as Nick White, a third-year Sports Management student. His course didn’t seem like quite enough to fill up his time at university. Having always had an interest in fashion, Nick decided to launch his own retail brand, Buddha Clothing, in the second year of his time in Bournemouth. He views fashion as a big part of his life.
“It has helped me create my own identity to help people associate with me and vice versa,” he said.
Buddha Clothing is more than just a retail brand. Its concept is built around helping those around it as much as it helps itself. This means the brands tries as much as possible to source ethical products so it gives back to the workforce that helps drive the brand. It also takes on up-and-coming artists, photographers, models and graphic designers to help increase brand awareness.
“We are trying to create the store around the way it was born by keeping things exciting and fresh and not everyone likes or suits the same styles, hence the building of ranges,” Nick said.
Starting Buddha Co. was the easiest part, he said. The first batch of T-shirts were gone within a few weeks. Since then the brand has been remodeled and reshaped several times, but now Nick said he is finally 100 percent happy with the product. The brand has started to move further afield, posting as far as North America and Australia, but he always loves to hear interest from the students and crowd where it all started: Bournemouth.
“Buddha Clothing is a great brand to work for, they’ve helped me build my portfolio and are always looking to help other people, such a great team to work with. The clothing is fantastic quality and so unique, one of a kind definitely.” said Jemma Adey, model for the company.
Nick White has strong prospects for the future of Buddha Clothing and has got a few projects lined up for the summer. He has also recently been asked by a music event in Winchester to be its official clothing brand. Not only has he been able to make successful progress with both this and his course, but also he has managed to use the company as his full-time placement for this year.
“It has set me up nicely for the final year where a lot of the kinks have been worked out and measures put in place to reduce the work load,” he said.
This experience has definitely been a learning curve for Nick, but there are two main lessons he has learnt along the way: the ability to plan ahead and the need to work hard.
“You must work hard in life,” he said. “Nothing is ever just given to you!”