Changing the World One Outfit at a Time
It’s not all about ruffles, haute couture must haves, or waifishly thin models. Its also about business and fashion is a huge business- a 90 billion dollar business, in fact. This means that there is a lot of room for new business, for business failures and for power house old world names.
Striking examples of young entrepreneurs are constantly seen though within the industry. Proenza Schuler was launched by two men in their early twenties. They now run an internationally known and praised fashion house with their own line in Target stores, among other. All this stems from two kids who met each other at design school and decided that they shared a vision on how to creatively revolutionize fashion
Similarly, those contestants who regularly compete on Project Runway are forced to be entrepreneurs. While they may have creative designs galore, in order to get the clothes to people, to get people to buy them and to keep having the funding to supply the clothing, the designers also have to have strong business acumen . Tom Ford could have never succeed if not for stringent business plans.
Other designers are tapping into new markets to set their businesses apart. Allison Beth sells knitwear online and has created a largely successful company. Ben Barry has changed the shape of the female model; he rebelled against the industry to show that women of any size can be beautiful. His line of thinking and his agency were responsible for the recent Dove advertising campaign.
The fashion industry is as a hard as any other industry when it comes to “making it” and like other industries there are a variety of different forms of involvement: talent, design, management, marketing, but as it is constantly changing and re-inventing itself there is plenty of room for new ideas.
Recently we became inspired by Kerry Bannigan, the founder of Nolcha, a true entrepreneur in fashion. She has been working with the Make Your Mark campaign in London for previous Enterprise Weeks. And this coming November, you can expect to see much more of her during Global Entrepreneurship Week.
Tags: Allison Beth, Ben Barry, Dove, Fashion, Innovators, Nolcha, Proenza Schuler, Project Runway
