Sophie Johnson and Laura Arrowsmith, both lecturers on our BA (Hons) Fashion Business and Promotion course, have begun an exciting new podcast called The Fashademix all about the latest fashion news. We had an insightful discussion with them to find out more.

What is The Fashademix podcast about?
The podcast is about all things fashion and retail. We cover all sectors, interview an array of industry guests and have some debate. Each episode is split into three key segments:
In the know - This will cover the latest fashion topics and business news, recent national headlines or local retail updates.
Get to know – This is where you’ll hear a variety of interviews with industry experts, other academics and students from a breadth of fashion courses.
Like to know – Here we’ll shine a spotlight on products, brands or people in the fashion and retail industry.
Why did you both want to start a podcast?
Laura and I have been friends for over 13 years as we met studying the same course at BCU in 2008. We work together very closely and we are often naturally discussing our opinions on fashion news and sharing our views with the students. It’s a big part of what we do, and we thought it was only fitting to put our discussions in a podcast format. Our students often laugh at us for going off on tangents in our lectures, as we get so excited talking about the latest headlines! For us, there’s nothing more natural than sitting and having a chat about the latest fashion and retail news.
What topics have you discussed on the podcast so far?
We try and create a theme for each episode we record. Episodes 1 and 2 are already live and they cover the reopening of retail post-lockdown and the evolution of influencer marketing. Coming up on our episode, released on Thursday 1st April, we’ll be discussing sustainability and chatting with our amazing guest Sophie Ordige from Superdry.
Do you have exciting special guests lined up for the future?
We’ve got so many great guests lined up including people from Pretty Little Thing, Style Birmingham, In The Style and Gung Ho Communications. Each week we invite a guest that can give us relevant industry insight into our chosen theme. We also have an array of fashion photographers and influencers lined up so we can’t wait to talk to them. On our second podcast, we were really proud to feature Lounge Underwear as a Birmingham-based brand who have just celebrated their fifth anniversary.
What are your future plans for the podcast?
We hope to keep expanding, hopefully release episodes more regularly and invite brands and industry guests from all over the world. We would love that people want to come and study under us at BCU and hope that people want to come to our lectures after hearing the podcast.
Where can we listen to The Fashademix podcast?
Our podcast is listed on every major and minor podcast platform you can think of. Most popular platforms include Spotify, Apple podcasts, Amazon Music and Google Podcast, and on the Brum Radio Website. New episodes are released every fortnight on Thursdays.