#MondayMaterials Episode 23 – Dr Claudia Henninger

#MondayMaterials 6th June 2016

Welcome back, everybody! It’s been three weeks since the last #MondayMaterials. After that trip to the HMXIF, we paid a visit to the Design, Fashion, and Business research grouping to chat with Claudia Henninger. Here’s what she had to tell us:

Hi Claudia. Thanks for chatting to us. Can you start by describing your research, for the layman, in ten sentences or less?

Okay. So my research looks at micro-organisations. So anybody who’s employing ten people or less in the fashion industry. And what I’m particularly looking at is what those organisations stand for. So how, theoretically, do those business owners build their business.

And I’m also looking at sustainability. So more from the perspective of what materials they are using, and what processes they are looking at.

And that’s what I’m doing in a nutshell.

Great, thank you. Sounds exciting. And how can your research benefit the public?

I feel my research can benefit the public in terms of bringing forward the micro-businesses. Because they do make up a massive proportion of the industry, but they’re still quite under-researched and a lot of them, unfortunately, don’t last over five years. So it’s about helping those organisations to understand what they are, who they actually are, and how they can communicate that to a wide audience.

Brilliant. So how did you first get interested in your research area?

I think it came through my Bachelor’s Degree. I did Business and European Studies. One of my marketing lecturers actually said to me ‘don’t you just want to do something else’ and I thought ‘yeah, sure, why not?’

And then I kind of got into corporate marketing because there are a couple of authors who write a lot about it and in a way that is very easy to understand. I found it really fascinating. The more I read about it the more I got interested and the more fascinated I became by just working out what organisations stand for.

And who or what first inspired your interests in fashion?

That was actually one of my supervisors. So when I chose my research topic I knew that I wanted to do something with organisations, look at sustainability, and kind of bring everything together. But I was missing a context.

First I thought I was going to look at the wine industry, just because where I’m originally from there’s a wine region. But then one of my supervisors said ‘wouldn’t it be great if you did fashion?’ And it was just a really interesting topic. I was a bit sceptical in the beginning because I never really had any interest in reading fashion magazines, but when I got into I thought it was the absolutely perfect topic for me. So I was pretty happy that my supervisor suggested it!

Moving away from work for a question, then, can you tell us about your other interests? What do you get up to in your spare time?

I’ve got two main interests that I’m trying to pursue as much as I can. One of them is photography, I absolutely love it. I have loved it for quite a while. I do have two blogs, and for the past 5 years I have also done this 365 project where I post a picture every single day. A couple of my friends are continuously looking at it, which I think is great. And they’re always telling me ‘that was great, what you’ve been up to’ – and then I remember that it’s because of my blog.

And then the other thing is, I love sports. I do like ice hockey, that’s my favourite thing. I’m a huge ice hockey fan. So when the season’s starting that’s where I’ll mostly be at the weekend.

Sounds like fun. So, one last question. How has being here in Manchester helped your work and research?

It has helped me absolutely tremendously. I think it’s been the best and most supportive environment. My colleagues have been absolutely amazing and really inspiring. I’ve been exposed to so many different techniques, different technologies, and different research areas. Everybody’s so friendly and so helpful; anytime you’ve got a question there’s somebody there to talk to.

So I just feel that with the support, and with people helping you out and talking to you, and seeing you as more a colleague than a PhD student, has been a really great experience.

Brilliant, thanks Claudia! Sounds like you’ve had a very interesting path to get to where you are today and we’ll be keeping a close eye on how your research develops.

Readers, I hope you enjoyed this one – I know I did. And we’ll be with DFB again during the next couple of weeks as we catch up with an alumni and report from the Degree Show. Enjoy!

BusinessesFashionSchool of MaterialsThe University of Manchester