Fashion designer, Ron Tam of VANDAL leads Creative Studio Workshop on Garment Sewing Techniques

Artscape Wychwood Barns tenant, Toronto Artscape Foundation Launchpad Bursary recipient, and fashion designer, Ron Tam graduated from Seneca College School of Fashion in 2014. In the same year, he launched VANDAL, a contemporary womenswear line that fuses street aesthetics and classic tailoring.

A ready-to-wear label, VANDAL offers the highest grade apparel with an emphasis on innovative textiles, workmanship and details. Each item is crafted with technical precision combined with the finest raw materials.

“Every runway show, each collection or lookbook completed, or acquiring a new stockist are all equal [career] ‘highlights,'” recalled Ron of his success as a creative entrepreneur. “It’s not possible for me to pinpoint any specific achievement as every action were vital building blocks with one thing leading to another.”

Since graduating, Ron has also worked at several well-known apparel companies such as Canada Goose, Lululemon and Champion USA, Get Fresh Company of Toronto, in pattern making and production management, while growing the VANDAL brand. Currently, he is a product developer at a smart-textiles apparel company called Myant, gaining a wealth of experience in the fashion industry.

In the Creative Studio Workshops’ Introduction to Sewing series, Ron will be facilitating the second workshop, Garment Sewing Techniques in the Fashion and Textiles Studio. He will lead aspiring sewers through a series of sewing applications that are commonly found in contemporary ready-to-wear.

Ron will also brief participants on the basics of textile groups, while highlighting pattern versus sewing techniques, so participants can better understand how to engineer the highest grade garments possible.

“One thing I stress in the realm of fashion design is understanding the extensive range of garment construction techniques and their relationship to pattern making & textiles,” explained Ron. “These components are deeply intertwined and I aim to demonstrate various scenarios of when, what and how to apply the best sewing or pattern method to achieve the highest level of workmanship.”

The next Garment Sewing Techniques workshop with Ron Tam of VANDAL is happening on Sunday, February 2 from 11am – 6pm. Register here.