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| Photo
courtesy of Alpacas Magazine |
2006 winning students with
eco-fashion model, Summer Rain Oaks
For the last two conference
years, the AOBA Fiber to Fashion Student Design Competition has been able to
bring the six top winning students to the F2F Conference. Here, the students get further exposure to
the world of alpaca and are able to network with breeders, vendors, and the
other students. It is a life changing
experience for many of the students. We
are able to do this because of the generous support of the Affiliates,
businesses, and alpaca farms and ranches.
After attending the 2006 conference, Jennifer Bovio, 2006
First Place Textile winner wrote:
….First off I just want to thank you from
the bottom of my
heart, this was such a great experience and I really want to
help make Alpaca fiber bigger than cashmere. I feel so strongly about this,
this trip literally changed my career plans! I'd love to be a part of helping
make this fiber popular and helping the breeders maintain the quality they work so hard for. I hope to go to the MOPACA conference in March, too. I'm addicted
to Alpaca fiber! I really feel strongly about this. I hope I can be of help to
you all. Again, I can't express how grateful I am to you and everyone, not only because the conference was fun but because I found a goal to work towards, something I
feel very strongly about. I suppose
if I
didn't live in a condo I would have become a breeder! I hope to team up with Donna and produce the cutest softest garments for the next fashion show! Thanks
again!"
When we
send students and instructors back to the colleges and universities feeling
this excited about our product, it’s a win / win situation for the students, instructors, and our fiber industry.
