Tag: Expert Interview
Bonus: Freelancing Advice for the Fashion Industry
In this special episode, check out Heidi’s interview on the Spirit of 608 podcast. The interview, which originally aired in March 2018, focuses on her work as a freelance fashion designer, and Heidi doles out tons of valuable freelancing advice for the fashion industry. Heidi talks candidly about her fashion journey, sharing the highs, the […]
SFD094 This Dirndl Designer Grew a BIG Fashion Brand with a TINY Niche
Is it possible to start a successful fashion brand when your niche is super small? On this episode we hear from Erika Neumayer Ehrat of Rare Dirndl. Her full time job is designing and selling dirndls. If you’ve never found yourself desperately scouring the web for the perfect dirndl, we’re not surprised! It’s such a tiny […]
SFD093 How to Land Your Dream Job in the Outdoor Apparel Industry
Fashion is a tough scene. Even when you manage to break into the fashion industry, how do you get into your dream category? With so much competition for design jobs, it seems like luck can play the biggest factor in many designer’s careers. But what if you could make luck work for you? In this […]
SFD092 Should you sell your clothing line on consignment?
Sometimes it seems like there are as many ways to sell your clothing line as there are types of fabric! But when you’re starting a clothing line, should you sell your pieces on consignment? On this show, you’ll hear from Sam Murkoff. Sam’s brand, Manhattan Knights, was born when he started refashioning vintage tee shirts […]
SFD091 100 Ways NOT to Start A Clothing Line: These Guys Learned Firsthand What Works and What Doesn’t
Starting a clothing line from scratch is a massive challenge. And when you don’t have big investors and influential connections, it can seem impossible. But these three young entrepreneurs found a way to beat the odds and make their brand a reality. Meet Salvatore Graci, Angelo Acquista, and Luca Graci, founders of luxury streetwear brand […]
SFD090 How to Stand Out in Your Fashion Career (and always get the job offer)
Whether you’re still in fashion school, or you’re looking toward your next opportunity, you’re probably wondering how to stand out in your fashion career. In such a competitive industry, it can feel like an uphill battle to even get noticed by fashion hiring managers among stiff competition. On this episode, we talk to London designer […]
SFD089 How This Fashion Designer Balances Career and Being a Mom to 4 Kids!
Working in the fashion industry can be brutal. The long days, late nights, and cutthroat competition can make balancing a fashion career and motherhood seem impossible. But the reality is that women everywhere are finding ways to make it work. While there’s no magic answer for every situation, there are many ways to balance a […]
SFD088 How to Build Your Fashion Business with Festival Vending
Kimberly Ponniah didn’t take the typical route into the fashion world. Yet through grit and perseverance, she went from knowing almost nothing about the industry to running a successful fashion design business. She now works full-time designing her own line of accessories, Wild June. Through years of experience, Kimberly learned how to use festival vending […]
SFD087 How to Become a Fashion Merchandiser and Product Manager
In this interview with Shelby Collins, we go a little off the beaten path of the Successful Fashion Designer podcast. Shelby is a merchandiser and works in product development–she knew right from the beginning that design wasn’t quite the right path for her, so she did a lot of self-exploration throughout school and found the […]
SFD086 This 76 Year Old Worked in the NYC Fashion Industry since the 60’s. Here’s her story
Judy worked in the industry way back in the 60’s and 70’s in New York and she has so many fun and inspiring stories about what her journey was like through fashion back then. Whether you’re listening for a fun flashback or for some insight into what the New York fashion world was like back […]
SFD085: How this Mom Got her First Tech Design Job After a 12 Year Career Break
Nicola Osborne is a technical designer who got her break back into the fashion industry after taking 12 years off to raise her family. Getting back to any career after 12 years is a daunting task, but getting back into the fashion industry is an even more intimidating one. As Nicola says in her own […]
SFD084 How to Become an Event Planner for New York Fashion Week
Emily Burton lives in Georgia, is barely 5′ tall, and has a thick southern accent. She’s pretty far from what you would coin as a stereotypical “fashionista”. But she’s a spitfire of a woman and through pure perseverance and hard work, built an event planning company that now works with brands at New York Fashion […]
SFD083 How This Designer Built a Vegan Luxury Shoe Brand
Bebe Mehr’s fashion entrepreneur journey began in 2001 while she was in college and started selling stuff on Ebay. Little did she know, that 13 years later, after a lot of different fashion careers, it would turn into her own line of vegan luxury shoes, Cult of Coquette. Coming from an entrepreneurial family, Bebe’s journey […]
SFD082 Fashion Startup Trade Shows: Are You Ready (and what’s the cost)?
When it comes to trade shows, there are SO many questions. How much is this going to cost? How does this all work? How do I make sure it’ll be a success? Am I ready? In my interview with Danielle Licata and Kelly Helfman, we talk about these exact questions and more. Danielle and Kelly […]
SFD081 When Your Parents Don’t Support Your Fashion Design Dream
Kayla’s fashion career journey has been an uphill battle. First, her parents didn’t support an “artsy” degree. Not that uncommon. But then? During her senior year of high school, her dad became incarcerated. There was no money to pay for her college education. Kayla explored alternate, more “practical” career paths like accounting and biology, but […]
SFD080 Production & Manufacturing Processes for Small Batch Fashion
This episode was first published January 21, 2019. February 2, 2021: Jessica checked in, and Privy Label is still going strong! Privy Label teaches fashion entrepreneurs how to launch their custom Men’s or Women’s apparel lines through design, development, and small batch manufacturing in the US. If you have an idea but you aren’t really […]
SFD079 Three Years as a Freelance Fashion Designer
Kimberly Dippel was on the Successful Fashion Design podcast in August 2017, and we talked about her success finding freelance projects on UpWork. Since then, she’s come such a long way! In this episode of the podcast, we’re doing our first (!) follow-up with a past guest. Kimberly has slayed the freelance game this last […]
SFD078 Working with Factories as a Freelance Fashion Designer
There are a lot of different paths to becoming a freelance fashion designer. And Heather Royer took one I’d never heard of before. Instead of working directly with brands, she got her first freelance opportunity designing for a factory in China. The best part? There are ways you can create the same freelance opportunities for […]
SFD077 Interview with Project Runway Juniors Winner Chelsea Ma
Chelsea Ma won Project Runway Juniors when she was just 15 years old…and with no previous fashion experience. Like a lot of designers, she had an interest in fashion, but had no idea where to start. After convincing her parents to let her trade figure-skating lessons for sewing lessons, she began one step at a time by learning […]
SFD075 How to Be a Lingerie Designer with Laurie Van Jonsson
Being a lingerie designer is its own unique and interesting niche of working in the fashion industry. There are tons of different things you have to think about compared to designing – let’s say – shirts or jackets. But it’s a pretty cool job! Laurie Van Jonsson knows this firsthand. From launching her own lingerie […]
