College offers us plenty of opportunities to branch out and try a new sport, join a new club, or maybe even learn a new language. But some don’t hold anything back and they follow through with their passions, like these four ladies who took the plunge and created their own fashion lines. Ever wonder what it’s like to balance fashion with school work? Take a look at how they take style into their own hands.
Lana Caster: Caster Collection
There’s nothing worse than walking into a party and seeing the girl across the room wearing the same exact shirt as you. With popular chain stores around campus it’s not hard to believe that there is a lot of overlap of collegiettes buying the same clothing items. But Lana Caster solved this problem by creating shirts that were from her unique imagination.
How she began:
This sophomore at Boston University moved from sunny Florida to the chilly Northeast to study advertising, never expecting to have her own fashion line within a year. She never had the intention of becoming a college fashion designer until she stumbled upon the idea of making printed t-shirts from doodles and drawings she did in her spare time.
“The collection began from drawing in my apartment and receiving attention with my drawings,” Caster says. “Then I decided to print them on T-shirts and it quickly developed into a business venture!”
Where she is now:
The Caster Collection includes long- and short- sleeved shirts, tank-tops, and pullovers with printed black or white images that Caster herself draws by hand. Available for both ladies and guys, each item in the collection is screen printed with a distinctive drawing, ranging from skulls with mustaches to anchors to dream catchers.
“My designs come from random bursts of inspiration from different parts of my life,” Caster says. From sketches to success, this collegiette found a way to take her passion for drawing and create a business out of it. She says that she doesn’t think of just one specific kind of person when she is making her designs, but instead she lets customers find their own connections to them. And her advertising major is a bonus on top of everything, just check out her website above! Although she says the site was the most difficult part of starting up the business, it now allows anyone to shop her collection online. But after three months of tedious work, she uses the website along with social media and student groups to get the word out about her line.
Even though balancing work and school can be difficult, Caster says the whole process has been exciting, simply because it’s what she loves to do. Since she is already used to being busy, after working at a clothing boutique, taking classes, and starting her own business, the work she is doing now is difficult, but does not feel too overwhelming.
“When the collection started to develop further I learned the importance of placing time and energy into one project than trying to do a bunch of different things without my full attention,” she says. “School and the collection are my priorities so I find the time to balance both.”
Devoting at least an hour each day to thinking of new ideas, she would like to see her line move forward. With her friends by her side, supporting her with encouragement, modeling or with photography skills, everything up to now has led her to her own fashion line and profitable business based around her love of fashion and art.
Where she’s going:
By tapping into the power of social media and word of mouth, the Caster Collection has received recognition on campus and off. Joining forces with Unitiques has also helped launch her line and promote the sales of her products.
“At this point I could develop the collection to a full time job or have it on the side as a way to be involved in my own business and make money through college,” Caster says. “I’m excited to see where the next few years lead me.”
Take a look at her website to see displays of all of her different designs, and maybe even find your own top to show off your unique style. Keep a look out for more styles to come!
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Julie Himmel: Flower Fox
If you’re looking for one of a kind jean shorts with lots of spunk then James Madison University senior Julie Himmel is the girl to talk to. From one look at her website you can see that she rips, tears, dyes and embellishes jean shorts for any style.
How she began:
After she and her friend couldn’t find a decent or affordable outfit for Electric Daisy Carnival last year, they took matters into their own hands and created their own pair of shredded shorts from vintage jeans they found at Goodwill. The annual music and dance festival hosted in Las Vegas draws in an eclectic combination of fashion trends, but Himmel knew she couldn’t go dressed in something that was just ordinary.
“Five hours later our first ever self-made jean shorts were made and a success!” Himmel says. She then paired the homemade shorts with a flower headband and a crop top with a fox face on it.
“I was addressed as ‘Flower Fox’ during the entirety of that music festival, and the name just stuck,” she says. So Flower Fox was born.
“It wasn’t until the following week when people really started to notice the fashionable quality of my music look following my Facebook photo album upload of EDC. People constantly wanted to know where I got those awesome shorts from. From that point on, the rest is history!”
Where she is now:
Himmel says that it can be tricky managing her business on top of being a full-time student at JMU studying Media Arts and Design. She keeps a busy social schedule by having fun with her sorority, her boyfriend, and her puppy, but she says that sometimes Flower Fox can fall into the same category.
“When I’m ‘Foxing’ I am always relaxed and at ease with the process, making it completely enjoyable,” she says. “So sometimes when I work on shorts or marketing for FF, I don’t even realize I’m doing work.”
She doesn’t set too much of a strict schedule since she loves what she does, but she likes to have orders placed early in the week, dedicating Friday mornings to shipping the orders out, and then using the weekend to focus on being a student and enjoying her last few weeks of college life. It’s passion that drives her business, and whether she is Instagramming or getting her hands dirty designing, she says that hours can fly by without her noticing that she has spent so much time “working.”
“Personally I am not that organized of a person,” Himmel says. “But if you are passionate about something, time doesn’t seem to be an issue. You find a way to get it done!”
Where she’s going:
Keeping the creation process of her stylish shorts a secret, Himmel does say it takes more than just a pair of scissors and studs to create the perfect look for personalized shorts. Now, after a year of practice and working on her craft, Flower Fox is getting noticed at universities across the country, thanks to the help of social media and her Ambassadorship program. Through this program, girls from colleges across the country promote the Flower Fox line through advertising and wearing the clothing at festivals, like the Firefly Music Festival this summer in Delaware. Currently, the program exists at James Madison University and Roanoke College, but Himmel is in the process of expanding to other universities. After graduation this spring, Himmel plans on moving to the west coast to continue the expansion of her line and the Ambassadorship program. And she might even go back to Electric Daisy Carnival to sell her shorts at the very place where they first began.
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Natalia Gonzalez: Artwear Designs
When most people get dressed in the morning, they pick out their outfit then match the jewelry to the clothes. But Artwear Designs creator Natalia Gonzalez thinks about fashion in the reverse, by basing an outfit around the jewelry. Gonzalez has been making jewelry since she was seven years old. But today she has a multiple collections she calls her own and a nationwide customer list that keeps her busily making products like infinity charm necklaces, dangly owl ear cuffs, and bow rings.
How she began:
As a sophomore at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Gonzalez began selling her homemade jewelry during her freshman year of high school. “I was shopping at a gift shop near my house,” she says. “I was looking at the jewelry and noticed that I could make some of the jewelry that was being sold at the store.”
After speaking about her jewelry line with the store’s owner, she began selling her products there, then expanded to other stores, and eventually created her own website. “I named my company Artwear Designs because I truly value art and the design process that goes into every piece of jewelry that I make.”
Where she is now:
While she creates products that are distinctly recognizable as Artwear Designs, she also wants them to be stylish and fashionable. And although Natalia is a successful business woman, she is also a part of the clientele that buys her products.
“I feel as though Artwear Designs is unique because I am a part of my target market,” she says. “I know what it is like to be a student, a teenager, a fashionista, and just a girl who loves fashion but also wants it to be affordable.” And with this business approach she has expanded throughout the United States in addition to a large customer base and her school in Chapel Hill. With a high demand for products, she carefully plans out her production schedule with her class and homework schedule.
“One of the hardest times for me is Christmastime because I usually get the highest number of orders in middle to late December, which is the same time as final exams,” Gonzalez says. “I try to have enough inventory made before exams, but every year, I end up having many sleepless nights finishing orders while studying.” During the school year she has an assistant to help her make the jewelry, and her customers are also understanding of her double life as a student and jewelry maker.
Where she’s going:
With ambitious plans for the future, she is optimistic and shows no signs of slowing down. Gonzalez sees Artwear Designs as a long term venture, has hopes of seeing her designs in department stores, and would even love to run her very own shop in New York City. Check out her designs and keep a look out for her Summer collection 2013, coming soon!
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Yali Derman: Yali’s Carry On
For many ten-year-olds, the biggest challenges they have to face involve boys, clothes, and making the transition into middle school. But Yali Derman had a different path as a young girl, and spent much of her time in the hospital fighting Leukemia, befriending nurses, and learning how to cope with the disease. Now, as a young adult cancer survivor, she is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying nursing and taking advantage of her good health by helping other sick children through her handbag collection that donates all proceeds to Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
How she began:
One of the hardest parts of fighting Leukemia for Derman at the age of ten was losing her hair from chemotherapy treatments. Her friends and family were there to support her, and gave her the “go-to” cover-ups for the radiation therapy hair loss, which were bandanas. Not only did she use the bandanas to cover her head, but she used them as the inspiration to create her first bags. Derman used creative art therapy to help her cope with the long and difficult treatments, and she transformed her experience in to something different by crafting handbags, cross bodies, and purses.
“I wanted to transform my experience into something different. I wanted to be seen, as a normal kid, beyond my disease and bald head,” Derman says. “The power of the purse came to be when I needed the words to express my desire.”
Using her love of symbolism, creative graphics, and the story of her struggle with cancer as inspirational devices, she created her line named Yali’s Carry On to signify how cancer survivors or those undergoing any challenge in their lives can “carry on” despite their medical baggage. The bandanas she received during her therapy were the original muse for her bags. Her modern interpretation of the paisley, the key pattern of the bandana, is the central theme of all her designs.
Where she is now:
After refining her design skills with an incredible partnership with Kate Spade and Co. at the age of 16, Derman continued on to develop her own trademark for her line by the time she was 18. The bag she designed with the Kate Spade company raised over $50,000 for the Make-a-Wish foundation, and both Kate Spade and Derman were honored as donors in 2008. In 2009, Derman debuted a screen printed carry-on bag with the graphic of a hummingbird over a backdrop of paisleys in a pink canvas to benefit the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
“My goal was to raise $1,000,” Derman says. “I ended up raising $10,000!”
Her current design is the Peacock tote, a colorful image of a peacock and paisley. Derman is in charge of designing everything: the paisley peacock was designed by a combination of hand-drawn sketches and illustrator conversions. And in a three-month long process, Derman handpicked every color that graces each paisley. She ensures that every measurement is perfect for any occasion when a girl could need to use the bag, whether that is at school, work, the plane or the gym. She strategically places the pockets in convenient locations and works with the straps’ width and length until it fits just right. Once the design is perfect, she sends her sketches and design dimensions to be silk-screened and mass-produced by a company specializing in this process.
“This bag was now the big time…it was professionally mass-produced and Saks Fifth Avenue took it on in several of their locations,” Derman says. “When Saks took interest in the bag I knew it was going to be a hit!”
Raising over $200,000, this bag has already helped build a new playroom in the newly opened Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital. Never imagining that her line could lead to building something as big as this, the bags are still going towards helping the hospital and are currently supporting a creative arts program for hospitalized. Through her success and support of KIDSS for the Kids, she has gained much recognition and was recently named as one of Glamour magazine’s Top Ten College Women of 2012. According to their website, KIDDS for Kids is a non-profit fundraising auxiliary of Lurie Children’s Hospital. Entirely with the help of volunteers, their fundraising activities benefit the hospitals’ Family Support Services programs, focusing on the emotional well-being of the patients and their families.
“It is so humbling to think of all the people that have helped along the way,” she says.
Where she’s going:
As a nursing student, Derman wants to be able to help to sick children just as her nurses helped and inspired her, making her smile even through tough times. Using her passion for design as a refuge from schoolwork, she also uses it as an inspiration to continue her studies in nursing. Using her free time to go for a run or a swim, this helps her clear her mind of stressors and make room for creativity and new bag ideas. Seeing a relation between her work as a nurse and a designer, she says that the two professions are actually somewhat similar.
“Nurses and designers both work from a palette of innovation, and passion to color a world that is brighter for all of us,” Derman says.
With plans to continue her line and to support and inspire ill children, Derman has ideas for some smaller purses and a new tote to add to her line. She encourages everyone to stay tuned and visit her website for more updates.