Fashion Slow Lane!

As a fashion consultant to start-up brands in the fashion industry, I have compiled the top 5 mistakes that new designers make. Want to manufacture their products in the USA but expect to retail for Target prices.   The main request I get from new designers is to design their collection and then they request that I help them produce it in the USA, yet they want to retail it for the same price as Target.  I let them know that that is impossible because the cost of production in the USA is 5-10X that of overseas depending on the product.  New designers need to educate themselves on production costs in the USA vs. Asia before they start their collection.  Do not have a core target market.   Often new designers do not have a target market. They want to design a collection for everyone.  Big mistake.  It is nearly impossible to design a fashion item for a target demographic that is everyone.  When I try to pinpoint the demographics of their target market, their reply may be, all women

My Experience as a Solo Female Wanderer  January 2017 update:  Recent political chatter about rape culture, women's rights, misogyny, and other cultural issues reminded me of this article I wrote about 3 years ago.  I decided to repost it as maybe my timing of writing it 3 years ago was not as timely as it is today.   Originally published on January 2014. (Disclaimer:  Graphic language.  These are my personal experiences and opinions and do not reflect the experiences of anyone else) The recent news of the gang rapes of female tourists and local women in India is appalling.  Today this was a strong headline in the New York Times:     NEW DELHI — A young woman in West Bengal was gang-raped this week on the order of a village council, to punish her for planning to marry a man from outside the village, according to Indian police .   Click here to read the entire article in the New York Times . This news reminded me of my experiences traveling abroad, often alone, as