The European Union-funded Pakistan Leather Competitiveness Improvement Programme (PLCIP) organised a six weeks internship for students of third year Leather Footwear and Accessories Programme of Pakistan Institute of Fashion Design (PIFD) at leading footwear companies in Lahore. The internship was facilitated by Giovanna Villani, leather footwear design expert from Milan. Villani has almost thirty years of design experience with top international brands such as Perry Ellis, Tods, Moschino, Missoni etc, and she is a visiting faculty at the POLITECNICO Milan.
One of the main objectives of the internship was to provide unique opportunity to the footwear manufacturers to work with the upcoming graduates to develop "usable" designs for the prototypes which could further be adopted by the companies.
The entire purpose of the internship programme was to bridge the gap between the PIFD and the footwear firms, and to facilitate a "real life experience" for the students, to equip them to enter the workforce in a more practical and market oriented manner. Under internship each team consisted of three students assigned to each company. These students were assigned the task by PLCIP experts to make three prototypes shoe designs based on the most exotic cultural traditions of Pakistan, transforming the folk designs into something contemporary. Villani was of the view that the students should come up with contemporary designs using the rich cultural themes of Pakistan which will give a new flavour and such fresh and original ideas will draw the export markets attention.