Kwantlen fashion instructor wins teaching award

Sharon Greeno honoured at Vancouver Fashion Week

Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s fashion program is booming over at the Richmond campus, and it’s far more diverse than some people might realize. Sewing and dressmaking is an essential part of what fashion students do, but there’s more to the fashion industry than sartorialism.

Sharon Greeno, KPU’s coordinator for the fashion marketing program, was recently honoured at Vancouver Fashion Week with an Originator Award in the teaching category. This award was presented to her due to her contributions to advancing local industry.

“My teaching philosophy basically uses small [to] medium sized, local brands or companies as examples of what we do in my classes,” says Greeno. “So building the connections rather than just looking at the big celebrity couture brands that get most of the attention.”

Receiving the award was certainly an honour, she says. It symbolized not only Greeno’s own skill and dedication as a teacher, but also the inspiration she bestows on her students.

“I was actually proud of it from the perspective of my students, because it gives my students an opportunity to know they’re contributing to the community, and there’s work out there for them, and that obviously people think I’m sending out industry-ready graduates that are confident to do a large number of things, whether that’s fashion related or not,” says Greeno.

Greeno earned a bachelor of home economics with a major in clothing and textiles and a minor in business administration, all with a cooperative education distinction. Her first year at Mount Saint Vincent in Halifax was like any other standard school year for students, but the next two-and-a-half years she did a combination of study terms and work terms at The Bay.

“Fifteen minutes after stepping on the sales floor, I found my thing,” Greeno says. “Customer service, sales, human resources, event planning, training . . . I loved the people piece of it. I had an affinity for taking a finished product and matching it to people and building their confidence.”

Greeno completed a two-year associate of arts degree in California before moving back to the Maritimes and starting her career working at The Bay. There she was the youngest human resource manager on the east coast. She then moved Ottawa working as the regional sales training manager. She then worked for an accessory company in Toronto where she did a lot of buying, travelling, and designing.

After working for another fashion company called Finishing Touches, Greeno was employed at a fashion company called Wear Else. It was while working with Wear Else that she spoke to a design class about being a buyer in the fashion industry. Slowly, she began to teach classes while working until she transitioned fully into teaching.

Teaching has been a fantastic experience for Greeno. There are so many different aspects to the fashion industry that go way beyond just designing and sewing.

“It’s politics. It’s social [and] economic. It’s creative. It’s a way of thinking. The design thinking model can be used in anything,” says Greeno. “You have a problem or you have an opportunity. How do you do the research? What do you come up with? How do you ideate that? How do you collaborate? How do you find the right fabrics and right fits and factories? How do you do that ethically and sustainably. How do you market it? How do you photograph it?”

Greeno herself focuses on the applied aspects of the industry. She helps students to find out what kind of careers there are in the industry and how the industry actually works.

“[I] demystify the idea that we draw and sew and read magazines and watch runway shows,” says Greeno. “It’s a tiny portion of the industry and an extremely tiny portion of the Vancouver industry.”

While Greeno may have won an award for teaching, some of her most memorable moments at Kwantlen have been because of her students. It is because of her students that she’s been teaching for so long, and continues to do so.

“I stay in touch with a lot of students and grads,” she says. “My role, the piece that I love most is teaching, and those exciting moments when someone finds their voice. Once that happens, the sky’s the limit.”