Community Involvement

Here at Christopher Paunil, we are more than just wedding dress designers. We are proud to be heavily involved in giving back to the Toronto community, as well as to the fashion community as a whole. At our core, we believe that giving back and paying it forward helps make the world a better place, and we plan to continue to do everything possible to give back to our worldwide community.

UFORCHANGE

Since 2009, we have been heavily involved with mentoring Toronto’s youth, working to build up the next generation of Canadian fashion designers and creatives. A Toronto-area initiative, the UforChange fashion program exposes young people to design, pattern-drafting, cutting, and sewing. The program is focused on giving students tangible, real-life experience in fashion design and production, and participants have the opportunity to source their fabrics and deliver a semi-annual showcase where they model their designs and curate a small collection for the runway. In 2012, the UforChange program garnered so much respect that His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales visited the studio during his visit to Toronto.

SPEAKING AND EDUCATION

One of the ways that we seek to give back is with our openness about our journey into the fashion industry. Often participating in speaking engagements and joining panel discussions, we frequently volunteer our time to teach fashion students, meet with aspiring fashion designers, and inspire the next generation of designers by encouraging them to have fun and be creative in their craft.