A fashion designer returned to his old school in Clayhall to inspire pupils.

Amardeep Sura, 30, talked about his career path to children at Caterham High School in Caterham Avenue.

The East Ham resident is now working on his own fashion brand Shift Zero, which he founded in 2018.

Self-taught Amardeep began by designing t-shirts for a local brand while studying at Coventry University.

He then went on to do in-store tailoring at Hugo Boss and Alexander McQueen while interning at other major fashion brands.

Amardeep, who left Caterham High in 2011, revealed that he turned his back on a potential career in professional football to pursue his dream of running his own fashion label.

He said: “I was always playing football at school. I played at a few academies and played at semi-professional level. But my parents wanted me to go to university.

“I quickly realised (football) wasn’t what I wanted to do. I have always had an interest in art and fashion so taught myself how to sew."

Amardeep, who is originally from Gants Hill, enjoyed working for big brands but realised he wanted the flexibility to design his own line of clothing.

“It started to feel like a glass ceiling - no matter what I was doing there was something that wouldn’t let me push through, so I started to design my own brand.

“It was definitely the hard way round but it was worth it."

According to Shift Zero's website, Amardeep's influences include art, sport, music and London.

On his visit to Caterham High, he added: “I talked to them (pupils) about my journey and I brought in a piece that I made which was quite popular.

“I showed them the process of how it gets made and I spoke to them about the industry and the different roles. They were very interested.

“They were unaware of how many different processes go into making one piece of clothing and the amount of people that are involved in it. I really enjoyed it.”