AN INDEPENDENT company has created hundreds of badges to be worn by BBC reporters at the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Branded Stuff, a promotional design company located on an industrial estate in Settle was approached by the BBC last year, asking them to create 200 branded badges to be worn on the jackets of presenters and camera crew for the duration of the event which started last week.
22-year old Gabrielle Kayley, who graduated with a fashion design and media degree from the University of Northumbria last year and has worked at the company for six months, helped to take on the mammoth task.
She said: "We got approached by the BBC and Regatta which is an outdoor brand who were collaborating to get the jackets for the Olympics, and then the BBC contacted our company to get the badges as that's what we specialise in. They must have just searched online and found us, which is good really as we are a branding company."
Gabrielle has her own alteration business and spent the festive period working on the project to ensure the deadline was met.
She added: "It was a bit of a mad rush. Usually, we offer an application service to garments, but because the team needed the badges so quickly over the festive period there was no one available to do it.
But I studied fashion at uni and I have my own alteration business on the side we thought why not create them in-house, so then all the jackets got sent to our HQ and I applied all the badges to around 200 jackets between Christmas and new year and sent them all back - now they're going to be telly."
She said it was a 'surreal feeling' when she saw them being worn by members of the BBC this week.
She added: "My auntie sent me a picture of them when people were wearing them for the qualifying games. It was hard to think the jackets were in our office and my home and now they're on tv.
We were very excited in the office when it came through. When everything finally comes together, that's when it feels real and you see that everything you're doing has a point."
Gabrielle said the company offered overnight services and made special exceptions to make sure the jackets were on the flight to Beijing in time.
They hope to work with the BBC again for future Olympic games.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here