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The POWER of FASHION lies in its ability to transform IDENTITY and CULTURE.

Fashion, like ART, embodies the time we live in and society bears witness to the interpretation of its HISTORICAL and CULTURAL significance.

– RP Hill

 

EDGE-ucation

Branding, Marketing & Advertising 101

Branding 101: Branding is the Big Picture. Branding is the sum of all impressions one has of your business. Such as, the quality and detail of your seasonal collections; public relations and news about the organization; social media output; your name, graphic and visual identity; packaging. Deliver a consistent on-target brand experience across all consumer […]

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With 25.5 billion pounds of USE-ABLE textiles thrown away each year (70 pounds per American), there is a lot of waste that can be prevented.

The EPA Blog

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We need to shift our consumption values so that the entire fashion system can shift along with it.

– RP Hill –

EDGE Market & News, EDGE-ucation

Fashion Unknown Fact – The U.S. Fashion Industry Employs More Than 1.8 Million People

The fashion industry—including retailers, manufacturers, designers and wholesalers—employs more than 1.8 million people in the United States. It relies on workers in a wide range of occupations, including fashion designers, market research analysts, graphic design artists, computer systems developers, patternmakers, sewing machine operators, retail sales workers, wholesale buyers, accountants and business operations specialists.The U.S. fashion […]

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EDGE-ucation

How Important is Sketching in Design?

Tapping into your audience/client at key points during the design process can save you a lot of disappointment of the ‘big reveal’ at the end. Consider this your focus group/feedback session. Sketches really help you “sell” your designs to the clients. – Icon Utopia Designers, the entire design process is of such meaning to your […]

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EDGE-ucation, sustainable EDGE

Fast & Cheap Fashion Consumption Leads to R.A.G.S.

Skip the landfill and discard your unwanted R.A.G.S. – Recycle Accessories Garments Shoes – responsibly. Americans discard more than 28 billion pounds of unwanted clothing, shoes, and other textiles.  Charitable organizations and others collect roughly 15 percent of these items, while the remaining 85 percent — 24 billion pounds — end up in landfills.  – […]

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EDGE-ucation

Color! Have No Fear

In fashion, do we produce and consume too much of the color black?  Do you know why black is used in the branding of Chanel, YSL, and Armani Exchange?  How does the color spectrum affect consumer behavior? Color is a powerful element in design. It has the ability to connect a variety of feelings, moods, […]

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EDGE-ucation

Fashion Unknown Fact – Fashion Week Designer Costs

Well established big brands can start at $100,000, which can include venue, models, styling, hair and makeup, production, public relations, and live streaming. Pay to play celebrities is an addition. In 2011, the New York Times reported that the Marc Jacobs show cost at least $1 million, which breaks down to about $1,750 per each […]

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EDGE-ucation

The One Branding Tip You Can’t Live Without

In developing your brand, focus on engagement, not sales.  You want to engage the consumer on an emotional level and to effectively communicate it across their entire brand experience.  When you think of an emotional connection with a brand, Disney has one of the best practices of consumer engagement and brand leveraging across all its […]

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EDGE-ucation, Look at EDGE

“Spotlight”: The Making of a Student Fashion Show

A student fashion show is not just “show and tell”, but a collaborative educational experience that showcases student marketing, design, and event production talents. It’s applying academics to real life. I wanted to learn more about the “what, why, and how” of producing a show by the student body and in particular how it is […]

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EDGE-ucation

Spec Packages | The Critical Product Development Tool

EDGE team contributor and technical designer, Melissa Lugo, shares her expertise on garment spec packages. We talked to Melissa, asking her pertinent questions regarding the importance of design specification packages. Melissa, what are spec [specification] packages and how important are they in the product development process? I use the word packages, because it is inclusive […]

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EDGE-ucation

Empowerment – Taking Charge | A Graduation Message

Artist Teresita Fernandez once said, You don’t need a lot of friends or curators or patrons or a huge following, just a few that really believe in you. Graduates of all vocations, yet particularly those of the arts, don’t wait for one or two years to truly own your life, empower yourselves now!  Whether it is […]

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EDGE-ucation

Rhonda’s Best Practices. . . Focus on The Consumer

Focus on the consumer, not sales, believe me, it’s a win, win. To do this you have to intimately know who your audience is.  Who are you designing for?  You design for the customer – the retailer/buyer – and you design for the consumer – the ultimate end user.  Knowing the consumer will position you […]

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EDGE-ucation

Rhonda’s Best Practices and Tips | Branding

As a veteran in the fashion business, this feature on business practices and tips are from my personal experience. Those of you that are recent graduates bear in mind that academia is a great foundation.  Gaining complete knowledge of running a fashion business [designer, wholesaler, or retailer] is the combination of both academia and experience. […]

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EDGE-ucation

Tom Ford Fashion Business Survival Guide

You have a voice that can influence contemporary culture as much or more than anything else. If you love what you do, there’s nothing like the rush of having a great idea and then seeing it created. – Tom Ford, keynote speaker at the 2013 annual CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund awards dinner. EDGE up and coming […]

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EDGE-ucation, sustainable EDGE

Sustainable Fashion Never Goes Out of Style

IMAGINE A FUTURE LIKE THIS: Community Couture [Scenario 2] 1.   The world is… struggling to cope with the impacts of climate change and resource shortages but community bonds are strong – many strive for self-sufficiency. 2.   Fashion is… expensive new or cheap and second-hand… very high costs of raw materials and disrupted supply chains have […]

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EDGE-ucation

I Got a “D”. A Gift In Courage

I got a grade of ‘D” on the first piece I made in my high school sewing class, which was a skirt.  I cried all the way home. What I thought was a failure was a gift in courage and determination to still pursue my dreams. Twenty years later, I became Vice President of Merchandising […]

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EDGE-ucation

Top Principles for Success – Professionalism and Preparation

The designers/brands that were truly professional would arrive a day or two in San Francisco [when I was a buyer for Macy’s] prior to our meeting.  They arrived well in advance in order to shop the floor, shop the market, and understand the competition of both my department and their product competition.  They wanted to […]

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EDGE-ucation

Top Principles for Success – Relationships are essential

Another lesson I’ve learned is that it’s so important to create strong relationship and to develop a strong network of professionals you can turn to for advice or support and know that they truly have the best interest for you and your brand. Building those relationships are like partnerships that will help strengthen your business, […]

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EDGE-ucation

Top Principles for Success | Exposure = the road to success

One of the most important challenges of your career as a successful fashion designer is to get and maintain retail and/or media exposure for your brand. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to land that first buyer meeting. You can’t stop trying to expose or get appointments just because some buyers or media have […]

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EDGE-ucation

Top Principles for Success – Maintain Your Focus

Commit yourself to your vision and goals, and understand clearly what will and will not help you along the way.  Stay in your “lane” or on the road that will lead you to accomplish your goals. Sometimes designers/brands encounter situations that appear to be opportunities, but can take them off the road in directions that […]

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EDGE-ucation

Top Principles for Success – Know Your Market

During my many years as a buyer and merchandising executive, I got to know and observe a variety of successful designers and brands from around the country.  Many of these designers were emerging designers, others were well on to becoming established, yet all of them were fast on their way to making not only national […]

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