There’s no formula for the perfect educational journey. Some of us are ready when we leave school to choose our futures, while others need more time and life experience to figure it out.
For those that aren’t quite ready, university can be a difficult and disappointing experience. Gary Aspden was one such student, starting a degree at another university at 18 and dropping out before graduating. His story isn’t unusual. At what he describes as a “colourful and wayward time” in his life, he admits he “didn’t understand what the implications were” of not completing his degree.
It took a few more years for Gary to figure out what he wanted, and that education might be the answer to changing the “dead end” in his life. What he needed was a second chance, and just before his 25th birthday he got one. This time with us on a BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion.
Second time around it was very different for Gary. He was driven, “self-motivated and worked hard”. He knew what he wanted and enjoyed his studies. During his year in industry, he worked seven days a week, balancing internships (including spells working with Diesel, Giorgio Armani and Donna Karan) with part-time work to pay the bills, before graduating with first-class honours. He used his time here wisely, building up a list of industry contacts, one of whom inadvertently got him started in his career with adidas.
"A massive thanks to UCLan. I am forever grateful to the people who gave me a second chance"
— Gary Aspden, BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion graduate
Gary had been connecting an entertainment marketer with musicians he knew in exchange for free trainers. Although the marketer left adidas, when her bosses realised how instrumental Gary had been in building her contacts list, they asked if he was interested in a job. As a broke but determined graduate, of course he said yes, and spent over nine years as an employee at adidas, where he finished up as the Global Head of Entertainment Marketing before going freelance and is now retained by the company as a Marketing Consultant.
Since then, he’s featured twice in The Face magazine’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in Fashion. He’s travelled the world, attending every major sporting tournament and music festival, meeting his heroes along the way, all in the name of fashion. He contributes to Arena Homme+ and SHOWstudio.com, delivers guest lectures on fashion marketing and occasionally judges the Creative Marketing Award at Graduate Fashion Week. There’s no doubt that Gary is at the top of his field. His work has impacted and influenced the sportswear industry over the last two decades.
Gary is at the top of his field. His work has impacted and influenced not just adidas but the sportswear industry as a whole for well over two decades. He's known and respected for his work with adidas, he has worked on a number of milestone projects including the global launch of the adidas Originals range in 2002, early streetwear collaborations with brands like A Bathing Ape in 2003 and the European launch of adidas Yohji Yamamoto collaboration Y3.
Since 2014 he has curated and designed the adidas Spezial capsule collection. With his vast personal archive of vintage adidas products, his knowledge of the brand and where it intersects with popular culture is second-to-none. His relationship with adidas is still going strong; he’s now in his 26th year working on the brand in various capacities. The adidas Spezial range continues to grow in popularity from year to year - selectively collaborating with everyone from Noel and Liam Gallagher to Stephen Graham and Ashley Walters, as well as creative heavyweights like Nick Knight, Kevin Cummins and Peter Saville.
Gary has never strayed too far from his Lancashire roots. He opted to bring the global launch of the adidas Spezial range back to the north with a charity exhibition that fast became the highlight of the Design Manchester festival in 2014. He has also shown the Spezial exhibition in London, Paris and Moscow before eventually bringing it back to Blackburn in 2019 in aid of local charity Nightsafe (who he has since become an ambassador of). As part of a collaborative project with adidas Spezial and C.P. Company he organised the 'Cinquanta' exhibition for the 50th anniversary on a converted underground car park in his hometown of Darwen.
Two years later Gary returned with another exhibition to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the adidas Spezial range, transforming a closed down supermarket on the high street into an exhibition space. These exhibitions brought people from all over the world into East Lancashire whilst raising money to help youths who find themselves homeless in the area. His charity efforts with Nightsafe and his promotion of creativity and culture in East Lancashire were recently recognised when last year Blackburn with Darwen Council renamed the street that houses the youth centre Gary attended as a teenager as 'Gary Aspden Way'.
Gary has maintained a rapport with University of Central Lancashire and has always been willing to share his expertise and experience as one of our Leaders in Residence. Generously donating his time to support the next generation of creative minds, some of them mature students just like he was. He's also recently been awarded an Alumni Achievement Award from the University for his services to the arts and creative industries, recognising his influence on fashion. Gary has come full circle and serves to prove that sometimes second chances are worth taking.
