Names: Caroline Callé; Melissa Greenblatt
Years: Junior
Majors: Communication, minor: consumer psychology; Health and Societies
Tell us a little bit about yourselves (what you’re involved in on campus, where you’re from, etc):
Caroline: I have always been interested in fashion design as I have been sewing and designing since the third grade. I mostly stick to women’s wear. Some of my pieces have been shown annually in the UPenn fashion design shows. I am from Philly, but grew up in Pasadena and San Francisco. I am a Comm major at Penn and have really loved it and have taken a lot of what I have learned from my classes to help us with the marketing and social media side of FRACKIT.
Melissa: I have no background in the actual makings of clothing, but I have always loved fashion and especially outerwear. I am from Long Island, and have lived there my whole life. I am pre-med at Penn because I have always loved science so I have really enjoyed working on FRACKIT as it is definitely something new and different for me.
Where did you get the idea for FRACKIT?
So sometimes we decided to brave the cold and forgo our jackets when we went out because we feared losing or ruining them. Or we would go out and bring a jacket that would cause us stress throughout the night. Finally we decided this needed to end, so we decided to design an affordable but also attractive jacket to wear out. Our intention is not for people to go out and lose their jacket, or even not care about making it dirty, but what it is there for, is a jacket that is attractive for all, hopefully affordable for most, and a piece of outerwear that is warm, water proof, washable, and if lost, your name is in it so hopefully it is returned. We currently are working on a customer database so that if a customer needs to buy a replacement, we will strike them a deal.
Where did the name come from?
We both had heard of the term “fracket” before that was used to describe a cheap jacket worn to parties that you wouldn’t mind if you lost or got ruined. Going out at Penn, we both have lost multiple jackets that were unfortunately not so cheap. We looked at places like Wal-mart and other wholesale stores for our “frackets” but never found one we necessarily found cute enough to want to wear over our outfits and dresses. So we wanted to make a “fracket” for ourselves that we found both attractive and affordable. While we understand FRACKIT isn’t quite as cheap as the term “fracket” describes, we had a number of additional features, such as customization patches, logos, warmth, durability, most importantly attractiveness that we wanted to include in our design.
Can you explain the process of creating your jacket, from idea to final product?
Since Caroline has been sewing for a while, she designed the original prototype. In the meantime, we looked around for manufacturers who could mass-produce our product. We found a manufacturer in Minnesota who could recreate our prototype in mass quantities. After many turn arounds of the original prototype, we chose our final design and started producing them. In addition to working with our manufacturer, we also had to handle all of the material vendors (ie zipper, fabric, binding) and make sure that all of the moving parts were able to be put together within our price quota and on a common timeline making production possible.
Are you more interested in the design aspect of your business or the entrepreneurial opportunities?
Honestly both. Caroline has always loved to design and sew, so it was interesting for her to use those skills for FRACKIT. However, both Caroline and Melissa have been learning a lot with just the basics of starting a company. It’s been fun to see our names in different articles, it has been a lot of fun to interview, and then on our end, trying to get our product name out there has been hard work but fun as well.
Do you have any prior experience with entrepreneurship?
Neither of us do. We both have always loved to come up with business ideas; we’ve been best friends since freshman year, and have probably come up with about 50 business ideas, but FRACKIT was the only idea we took to full fruition.
What’s coming next for FRACKIT?
Our hope is that FRACKIT is everyone’s (girls and guys) go-to jacket before they go out. Its simple design makes it easy to go with any outfit. We also wear ours day to day during class so hopefully people decide to wear it not just out as well! We want to expand into other apparel products but are also looking into making non-clothing items and essentially build a brand around everything a college kid might need for a night out.
What advice would you give to other students hoping to break into fashion entrepreneurship?
If you have an idea, start working on it immediately! College is the best time to work on a project because we are surrounded by so many interesting people and great resources. We have had so many friends interested in helping us, which has honestly made this whole thing possible. Not to mention, the social media use in our generation has made marketing an affordable task, which is another reason starting a business in college is possible. Also, the process takes longer than one might think, so the earlier you get started the better!
Follow FRACKIT!
Website: www.thefrackit.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/frackit.dressresponsibly
Twitter and Instagram: @frackit2014