HIS clothes are available in the High Street and he’s just landed a top design role with one of the world’s leading sportswear brands.

It’s no wonder that former Burnley schoolboy Aitor Throup is seen as one of the rising stars of British menswear.

He told us how his life in Lancashire has inspired his award winning work.

LOOKING at Aitor Throup’s intriguing sketches and intricate garment designs, you would think he was born with a pencil in his hand.

And although he has drawn since he was a child, Aitor never thought he would become one of the most sought-after young designers in the country.

Born in Argentina and after short time in Madrid, at the age of 12, his family moved to Burnley, where his mother still lives. Aitor attended Gawthorpe High School, in Padiham and then Blackburn College — not to study art, but sciences.

Now living in London with his partner Clare, also from Burnley, and 10-day-old Bramble Lilly, Aitor said art at school put him off a career in that field.

“At school art was never taught in a way I enjoyed art,” says the 28-year-old.

“They wanted us to do different things like painting and I just wanted to do my sketches. So when I went to Blackburn College I studied lots of random subjects not connected to art.

“I was never sure of what I wanted to do. I did all sorts of jobs including working at Endsleigh Insurance in Burnley where I met Clare and at Originals in Burnley. I even spent time in Majorca working in a restaurant.

“Drawing was a big hobby of mine and I would design comic style superheroes.

“One day when it was quiet in the restaurant in Majorca I realised I was missing Burnley, my friends and family and even the warm clothes I loved to wear back home.

“I started to draw the characters in different styles of clothes and I realised that maybe fashion and clothes design was a way of evolving my drawings into something.”

Aitor went on to gain a BA in fashion at Manchester Met University before training at The Royal College of Arts (RCA) in London.

His graduate collection — When Football Hooligans Become Hindu Gods — won the International Talent Support Award in 2006 for graduate collection of the year.

The series of designs that made Aitor’s name was inspired from his youth spent in Burnley. A Burnley FC fan himself, Aitor said: “The town is defined by its people, and I saw these football hooligan types every weekend.

“They dressed in a certain way and that was the basis of my design. It is about making clothes that mould the anatomy.”

Since graduating Aitor has been featured by leading fashion magazines and has been approached by many top fashion labels who loved his unconventional style.

Stone Island produced a range of coats based on his designs which retail at £995 and he collaborated with the label for a catwalk show at Milan Fashion Week.

He has also exhibited at London Fashion Week, and teamed up with Topman to produce a design for trousers.

But his most exciting collaboration to date is his recent appointment as creative consultant for Umbro, now part of the mighty Nike sports empire. Aitor is working on a range of top secret items.

He said: “The brand is in a very developmental period and there are exciting times ahead.

“I never want to be a designer who simply conforms to what’s fashionable, bringing out a new collection every season without much imagination.

“I’m into creating something that has a purpose and a deeper meaning but is also functional as a garment.

“It has been said that artists create problems and designers solve them, I think I do both.”

He added: “I am amazed how quickly all this has happened and I have ambitions plans for my future career but right now it’s hard to imagine wanting anything more than my new little baby girl in my arms.”