Fashion merchandising: What gives me a purpose and a reason to get out of bed everyday
Major: Bachelor of Science in fashion merchandising (see resume and professional pitch)
Minor: international business studies
Industry experiences, courses in my major, and club involvement made me realize that fashion is what gets me out of bed everyday. My purpose remains within fashion, where I find the intersection of culture, change, and conversation.
While my path within fashion changes, even before freshman year, I knew that I couldn’t focus only on business theories.
Business theories lay the foundation of our global industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars. However, without the specialized apparel/beauty/lifestyle lens, I find myself checking off the boxes and going through the motions.
Connecting the dots, I realized that I had to immerse myself in fashion consumer goods, nearly 24/7. Fashion makes up the essence of who I am and drives my impact on the world. Even on my designated “off” days—i.e., days without classes/club involvement/networking—I find my mind racing back to my passion, the status quo of fashion.
Philosophy on Sustainability: Who is responsibile?
A circular economy requires everyone doing their due diligence in the senses that:
- Consumers call-out brands and the prices of quality garments and labor
- Brands and retailers enforce safe working conditions and stick to contract clauses
- Government representatives fine-tune legal language and hold companies accountable for production practices
We execute more sustainable practices with compliance, payment, and safety obligations/standards. However, our industry necessitates long-term structural changes and streamlining forward-thinking action across multiple moving parts and people.
A former Fashion Revolution university ambassador, I published a piece on Rethinking Fashion Weeks, which we put on pause at the height of COVID-19.
academic coursework: Three favorite courses
- FASH218, Introduction to Fashion Business: walked away from this course knowing how to engage with the industry, both in and out of the classroom, and understand apparel beyond my own use. The class provided the foundation for looking in stores and reading about brands in the news to think about how moving pieces fit together. I happened to work in my first apparel retailer, New York & Company, the winter after I took this course (fall 2018 freshman year). On the retail floor, I interacted closely both with products and consumers. I saw my job as the perfect transition to apply concepts from the class into practice.
- FASH455, Global Apparel and Textile Trade and Sourcing: fashion isn’t black and white, especially not at the trade and sourcing levels. Different agreements and policies perpetuate different “winners/losers” depending on (e.g.,) country of origin, exporting/importing country, product nature. Trade development provides the backbone for our industry empowering global innovation and movement.
- FREN211, French Reading and Composition: endless hours of reading and reviewing still pay off. Much of the content sticks with me, in which I find myself skimming and scanning: Fr. news sources and product instructions /care-labels. I loved the challenge of learning not only linguistic skills but also adjusting my articulation. Practical skills for me keep building on.
