Skills Canada Series - Season 4 - Episode 10 with Dhefen Goh

The CWB Association is proud to continue our collaboration with Skills/Compétences Canada on this special podcast series, where we will highlight the training, passion, and dedication,showcasing the road to WorldSkills Team Canada from the competitors, trainers, experts, and everyone involved as they prepare to head to the World Skills Competition in Shanghai, China,on September 22-27, 2026.

Where creativity meets precision, Dhefen Goh is stitching together the skills, confidence, and determination needed to represent Canada on the world stage. In this episode, Dhefen shares her unexpected journey into Fashion Technology, her rise from a high school fashion program to national gold, and the intense training behind the preparation for WorldSkills Shanghai 2026. She reflects on how competition has pushed her outside her comfort zone, strengthened her confidence, and transformed a creative interest into an opportunity she never imagined.

Follow Skills/Compétences Canada: 
Website: https://www.skillscompetencescanada.com/en/ 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SkillsCanadaOfficial 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skillscompetencescanada/ 
X: https://x.com/skills_canada 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skillscanada 
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@skillscompetencescanada 
 
There is no better time to be a member! The CWB Association membership is new, improved, and focused on you. We offer a FREE membership with a full suite of benefits to build your career, stay informed, and support the Canadian welding industry. https://www.cwbgroup.org/association/become-a-member 

Transcript

Welcome And Road To WorldSkills

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the CWB Association Welding Podcast. I'm your host, Kevin Hua. Let's flip up the lid and spark some conversation. Welcome to the CWB Association Welding Podcast. We are proud to continue our partnership with Skills Competence Canada as we follow the road to world skills in Shanghai, China. In the eyes of Team Canada competitors, experts, and actually everyone involved. Today we'll be having an exciting conversation with Defin Go. How's it going?

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Hi, I'm doing great.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Good, good. So what is your trade?

SPEAKER_00 0:39

I'm in fashion technology.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Okay, so I'm a welder by trade. What is fashion technology?

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Fashion technology involves lots of different things. There's the sewing aspect of it, there's the pattern drafting aspect, there's draping, there's technical drawings, there's a lot of different things you can do.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Yeah, I'm I'm getting excited to dig into all that stuff. So why do you think that your trade is important in today's society?

Meeting A Fashion Technology Competitor

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Well, I think everyone, everybody wears clothing.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Clothing is never gonna go out of style. There could be non-fashionable clothes, but everyone has to wear clothes in today's society.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

So it's very important.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

No, that's a very good answer. We need to be wearing clothing.

unknown 1:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

So when you were young, were you always into fashion, or what what were you like as a kid?

SPEAKER_00 1:35

When I was younger, I wasn't necessarily into fashion. Fashion is kind of something I've stumbled upon more recently. But when I was younger, I always loved working with my hands and doing creative stuff and solving puzzles.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

So how did you make your way into fashion then?

SPEAKER_00 1:52

I entered a high school fashion program that I just learned about by reading the course planning guide in my school.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

So I decided this sounds really interesting. I'm just gonna give it a shot and see what happens.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Yeah, so you just jumped right into it.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

So that was in high school then. So how long have you been focused on fashion?

SPEAKER_00 2:14

I started um in the high school program back in 2023 when I was in grade 11. Then it's one semester per year. The year after that, I did it as well. So grade 12. After I graduated, I continued to work with that same teacher.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

And I did skills again, which was 2025 last year. And then I haven't gone into post-secondary, but from there I've just been training for worlds.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Okay. So how were you introduced to skills competence?

SPEAKER_00 2:43

So in high school, after two months of just starting fashion, my teacher, who has volunteered with skills for a very long time, had it pretty much made it mandatory as part of our like grade that we had to compete in regionals. And based on like how you placed in regionals, that depended if you went to provincials and nationals. So that was just two months after I began fashion, and I thought, oh my gosh, this is like those fashion reality shows that you see on like Netflix and stuff, where they have like a set amount of time to make whatever design they want.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Yeah, yeah, that's crazy. So you've been, you know, you haven't been competing for a long time. You're just kind of jumping into it.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Yeah. This this is my I competed for three years, and this is gonna be my fourth year because I'm going to Worlds.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Okay. So how did you get chosen to be on Team Canada?

SPEAKER_00 3:40

It's whoever wins the 2025 skills uh for your trade gets to go if you're age eligible.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

So last year it was 2025, I won gold in fashion technology, which is how I got the opportunity

What Fashion Technology Really Includes

SPEAKER_00 3:55

to go to worlds.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Very cool. Okay, so let's go back to fact fashion technology as a trade and the different facets of it. So can you walk us through like each one, a little little explanation for us that don't know?

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Yeah, sure. Probably the main thing you're gonna notice in C is the sewing. Obviously, like we do, I guess tailoring is part of it too. Um, sewing, we take the fabric, we cut it out, put it together using sewing machine, and there's also like different methods of using an iron that most people don't know about. Yeah, like you would think, oh, you're just sewing and stuff, but uh pressing, like just ironing, is also very important. That's a very huge factor in it. So I feel like most people don't really know how important that is, but even in your day-to-day life, I still iron in a very specific way. Yeah, there's also a lot of really neat little tips and tricks depending on what type of fabric you're working with and what type of garment you're making.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Wow. So what kind of what kind of garments do you make? What what is the competition like?

SPEAKER_00 5:02

For 2024 and 2025, we did like jackets and coats. This year, I believe it's a vest and pants. Nationals, you have 12 hours to draft and sew your design of coat, and it has to fit on the dress form based on the basic jacket block that they give you to work off of.

SPEAKER_02 5:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

It's it's actually like a really it's a really tedious process because you're the whole production team. Usually you'd have in the real industry, you'd have multiple people doing each one of those jobs.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

But we have to do the pattern drafting, which is drawing all the design lines and all the design sections you have onto the pattern, which is like your what you're gonna cut out onto fabric after and sew together.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

And if you mess that up, then everything else behind it gets messed up. Like after it. So every process is like has to be very precise, otherwise the next step gets messed up and it gets even more messed up from there on.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Yeah, it compounds. Yeah. How do they judge you then? Like it it's I guess it's more of an art form, right? So how do you judge you know the art that you're making?

SPEAKER_00 6:10

I would say fashion is a lot of people think it's just an art. It is an art, but it's a lot of engineering as well. Because they will measure your your seams, like the seam is a section you sew together. So they'll measure if specific parts that have to be kept that way. They'll measure it by the millimeter. If you're off by more than two millimeters, you get a deduction or a zero, depending on what it is.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

That is some tight criteria.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Wow. So you have to be super precise.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

I guess on that side of things, because I mentioned art,

Skills Competitions And Team Canada Path

SPEAKER_01 6:45

right? But it's also engineering. Like, how do you how do you separate your personal style when you're building a garment? Like, how do you how do you not put so much of yourself in it that it ends up not meeting criteria?

SPEAKER_00 6:59

When I design something, I usually focus on the criteria first and then my touches to it after. Because obviously in this competition like this, you want to get as many points as you can. So first I look at what I can't touch, and then I look at what could be touched, and you have to read very carefully in between the lines to see, oh, this part you can't touch right here, but here you can. So you can find out all these little like uh loopholes that you can use to your advantage.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Okay, yeah. So what does uh what does a training week for you look like running up to worlds?

SPEAKER_00 7:37

I nowadays, because we're getting closer to worlds, I'm training around five times a week every day from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Oh wow, yeah. Like full time, yeah. Very cool. So, what kind of stuff do you practice on?

SPEAKER_00 7:54

I usually practice by doing mock competition style modules to prepare me for like getting in the right space and the right pace of the actual competition. We still don't fully know what the test projects are gonna be, but we know that there's gonna be some form of some form of pattern drafting, um, draping, sewing, and technical drawings as well. So I've been focused on focusing on those areas, but as of like what it is, it could be for each of those sections, it could be like a skirt or it could be a top, it could be a jacket. It it's there's a lot of variety it could be. So I have to learn how to do sleeves, how to do collars, how to do skirts and pants. There's they're all very different.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Yeah. So you mentioned draping a few times. I don't know what draping is. What what is that?

SPEAKER_00 8:48

Draping is when you take um when you it's when you use fabric and you pin it and cut it directly on the mannequin to make your pattern pretty much.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

So you're making your pattern directly on the mannequin. So after, if you take it off, you clean it up and you cut it out of real fabric, it should actually fit exactly to the mannequin's measurements.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Yeah. So is there someone that comes around and judges you like real time, or is it just based on, you know, do they stop you in the middle of the competition, be like, I gotta check this out?

SPEAKER_00 9:21

For my years, they will only judge your garment after the end of the second day because we have 12 hours to do it.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

But they will have specific criteria that they will judge on the first day.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

So like last year they did pockets and slit or events, which is like an opening, which is like if you have two pieces of fabric like this, yeah, that would be a slit, it opens right in the middle.

SPEAKER_02 9:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

And a vent is just overlapping like that. Usually you'd see those on like blazers and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Cool.

Jackets Coats And Millimetre Judging

SPEAKER_01 9:55

I'm I'm learning so much right now. So during your training, what is something you think that you've improved skill-wise?

SPEAKER_00 10:05

I've definitely improved in everything overall, but I would say draping is brand new to me. I've never done draping before training for world skills. I've also haven't done much technical drawings before world skills. And pattern drafting has like improved the most significantly. Because now I can look at any single picture and I can draft it to your measurements and almost exactly like the picture. It's pretty cool. I couldn't do that before.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

No, that's awesome. Yeah. So was it the competition that made you want to get better at these things? Or, you know, like this is what you want to do for a living, right? So is it because of the pressure of the competition that you started really focusing on that stuff?

SPEAKER_00 10:54

I I just really love learning and really pushing myself. So the fact that they had this competition did really make me um want to improve myself, be faster and more accurate with everything I do. I feel like if I didn't if this competition didn't exist, I would still be at a a caliber that was a lot lower because nobody pushed me and I wasn't given guidelines to follow.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Yeah, yeah. No, that's fair. Do you feel the pressure of competition? Like, are you a nervous person?

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Yeah. I used to feel especially nervous, but I feel like this past year I've gained a lot more confidence and I've just been thinking that you know what? I got this far. I think I can I think I can do it. I I just have to give it my all, and that's really all I can do.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Yeah. How do you approach the competition? Do you have like a checklist that you go through? What's your process?

SPEAKER_00 11:51

For the competition, the I I still don't know what the test projects are gonna be because they just came out a few days ago. Yeah. But my expert hasn't told me.

SPEAKER_02 11:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

I've just been training, doing as many, like repeating what I'm doing over and over. For example, like draping after draping after draping, I get a new picture every time with slightly different sleeve, maybe or something that'll challenge me so I can kind of get used to seeing all these different ideas in case I get like thrown a curveball at the actual competition.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Yeah. No, that's fair, like practicing so much until you can't get it wrong, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:25

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

So heading into worlds and going to Shanghai, is there something that you think you need to be focusing on or working

Training Full Time And Learning Draping

SPEAKER_01 12:35

harder towards?

SPEAKER_00 12:36

So far, I haven't been able to do too much sewing because my expert from Quebec, I'm from BC. Okay. She will fly in maybe every she's only flown in four times so far in the past year for two or three weeks at a time.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

So we don't have that much time together, and sewing takes up quite a long time. Like it can take three to four days to sew a garment. Whereas drafting takes maybe three hours to do one.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

So because of that, I haven't she hasn't been able to give me as much feedback as she could have. And I know I'm lacking a little bit in that because she critiques me more on those than the other modules.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Yeah. Is sewing worth more points when it comes down to it?

SPEAKER_00 13:21

All the modules have their own marks, and I'm not sure about the marking scheme, how that works. But the sewing portion is the longest module. I believe it's between maybe 10 to 14 hours. Whereas the rest of the competition, maybe draping is only two hours, drafting is three hours, something like that. So it's probably worth the most, and I should probably focus on that the most.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

True, true. Um now you have a time limit to complete these garments, right? So is it better to throw something up and maybe not make it perfect and finish? What happens when you don't finish?

SPEAKER_00 14:05

Yeah, so from previous worlds, what I've been told by my expert is it's better to finish and hand in something slightly lower quality than not finish and have it perfect because it'll give you more points. Whereas if you don't finish, you get zeros on a bunch of things, and that will affect you more than getting deductions on everything.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Yeah, yeah. So, what's your favorite part of being, you know, involved with skills competence Canada?

SPEAKER_00 14:34

My favorite part so far has been just all the energy and all the connections I've made so far. From all the way from like Skills BC to Skills Canada to now representing Canada and kind of being involved in a little bit of world skills. I've met so many interesting people, and I've never thought I would be able to get this far and have this level of like influence in a way.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. And like it's not just you know, you're representing your country, but it's it's everything else that's involved with it, right? Yeah, so you made a ton of friends. Um traveling, you've you're from BC. Is you know, are you a big traveler?

SPEAKER_00 15:16

I do love traveling, but I haven't been able been able to do it much because of I was I was in high school before, you know, you have your semester system. Yeah, and then right after that, skills been training most of the time. And before that was COVID, so I've only mostly traveled when I was younger.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

Okay, yeah. Are you are you excited to go to China?

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Yeah, I'm incredibly excited. I've

Finishing Versus Perfect Under Time

SPEAKER_00 15:40

never been to Shanghai. I've been to China when I was probably five, but I don't remember anything.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Yeah, no. Does anything worry you about, you know, is it the food? Is it the jet lag? Is anything kind of hanging you up right now?

SPEAKER_00 15:56

I think I'll be I'll I think the food will be awesome because I am Chinese and I eat Chinese food every day.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

The jet lag is a little bit concerning though because it's it's quite a big time change.

SPEAKER_02 16:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

I want to be in like in my best, um be the most charged and in my best headspace for the competition. So I'm hoping to be able to, you know, get there.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Yeah, no, for sure. It's like 12 hours, I think, something like that, 12, 13 hours different. Yeah, it's a little weird. Are you you guys are showing up a little bit earlier, right? You have some days beforehand.

SPEAKER_00 16:32

I think we're showing up a few days early, not too many days though.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Yeah. Is there anything planned before that? Do you do like any any practicing while you're there?

SPEAKER_00 16:41

No practicing while we're there, because the experts and everyone else are gonna be busy. But I think we do have some team events planned, not really sure yet.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Little team building exercises. Yeah. Yeah, no, that's cool. That's cool. So, what would you say to a young person that wants to get into a trade or fashion technology but doesn't know how to get started?

SPEAKER_00 17:07

It depends on where you are, because I know getting started can be pretty difficult. Sometimes these programs aren't as widely known or maybe even widely available. I'm saying, but I would say if you're actually really interested in it, just go for it and do it. Because what's the worst that could happen? You could either love it or you could just decide, oh, it's not for me, but I learned a lot from it.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

Yeah, that's true. Do you have any set plans when you get back from World Skills?

SPEAKER_00 17:37

After World Skills, I'm gonna stay in China for a while and explore the the whole country. Sounds awesome. Travel to all the different cities. I think I'm also going to Japan for a week.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Really?

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Very cool. Would you be interested when you get back to becoming

Shanghai Travel Jet Lag And Team Events

SPEAKER_01 17:55

an expert or a trainer? Like, do you want to stay involved with skills competence?

SPEAKER_00 18:01

I would love to. That sounds like that sounds like a lot of fun. And you also learn a lot when you're at a when you're looking at the competition from a different perspective. But maybe for the next few years, I'd like to maybe explore my hobbies and stuff more before I get a little older, then I might come back.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Yeah, no, that's fair. So can you share your favorite memory from the whole time you've been competing up till now?

SPEAKER_00 18:31

My first nationals was incredibly exciting for me because I had no idea what to expect. I remember like they just told us you're going to opening ceremony. Oh, what's that? Oh, I don't really know. Okay, let's go. And then everyone walks in banging these like bam bams, making lots of noise. The flag is getting waved, there's lights everywhere. It's like a little stadium. It was

Advice For Youth And What Comes Next

SPEAKER_00 18:55

so cool. I remember being like, Wow, this is so cool. Like, I feel like I'm at the Olympics or something.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

It it really is. This is the Olympics of the trades, right? Yeah, very cool. Well, I think we're gonna wrap it up here, unless you want to leave us with uh, you know, a piece of information or you know, something that maybe motivates young people to get out there and and do things.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

For all the young people out there who are wondering whether you should go into trades, yes, definitely do it. I myself am a very I'd say academic person. But I've once I started trades, I've like never wanted to go back to academics. Trades is so much more interesting, there's so much you could do, there's like endless possibilities, and there's so many people you can meet. Plus, trades are like essential for like the world to run, and there's also a lack of it.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Very good quote. I love it. Thank you so much, and thank you for tuning in to the CWB Association Welding Podcast

Final Message And Sign Off

SPEAKER_01 20:00

and our special podcast series with Skills Competence Canada. And we wish uh Team Canada the best of luck. I know you're gonna do great. Uh, make sure you like and follow, and thanks again.