A team of creative Year 8 students at King James I Academy have gone into the designer shoe business for the annual Durham County Council Future Business Magnates Competition (FBM).
This year’s all-girl team, consisting of Ellie Tighe, Charlie-Anne Davies, Tessa Hope, Georgia Brannan, Evie Welstood, Georgia Scorer-Bell, Megann Griffiths and Bethany Davey, who are working with Art Teacher, Mrs Mulryan came up with the idea of recycling unwanted shoes by customising them in a variety of ways including adding drawings, crystals, studs and designer shoelaces.
Their company, named Carbon Footprint, will soon be launched as an online shop and customers will be able to browse and select from a selection of pre-made designs or choose a design-it-yourself option, which will then be produced by the creative team and mailed to any address in the UK. There is even a custom design service for those with special requests, such as a specific colour scheme.
Each year, competing schools are linked with a local business mentor; this year, the King James team is working with Spennymoor based, C2M (UK) Ltd, a company that specialises in supporting inventors and entrepreneurs in the North East.
The competition, in which over 25 schools across the county compete for the title of FBM Champions, involves six challenges including a Dragon’s Den style presentation to an esteemed panel of judges. King James I Academy has had great success in the FBM competition in previous years; students triumphed on two consecutive occasions and this year’s team are hoping to achieve the third victory.
