STUDENTS got a taste of work in the developing world when they set up a ‘sweatshop’.

Fashion students at Oxford and Cherwell Valley College were organised into a factory workforce and submitted to poor working conditions to recreate as closely as possible the harsh working conditions of a factory in the developing world.

Thursday’s project was run in conjunction with city-based charity Oxfam.

Forty budding fashion designers used shirts donated to Oxfam to stitch into reusable shopping bags.

The students were given punishing production targets and limited food and rest breaks.

Maria Skoyles, fashion teacher at the college, said: “We were really excited about this.

“It was a great way to get new students to reflect on some of the harsher realities of life in the fashion industry.

“And while we knew it would be a tough challenge, it was a real team-building exercise.”

The bags, labelled chemi-shoppers, will be sold for £4 each at Oxfam in Broad Street to raise money for both the charity and the college.

They will also be available from the reception area of OCVC, in Oxpens Road.

If the scheme is successful, it could be tried at colleges across the country, in conjunction in with the charity.