Pattern to Plan and our founder and President Gretchen Harnick is proud to support the third edition of The Future of Fashion program with Who’s Next, Premiere Classe and Not Just A Label. 30 emerging designer labels were selected and hail from Australia, Canada, Israel and throughout Europe to showcase and sell their collections in September 2016 during the Who’s Next and Premiere Classe trade fairs in Paris, France. Gretchen has been mentoring the designers on live training calls earlier this summer. It’s been great to support their businesses and we look forward to meeting them all in September! With more than 2000 applications submitted for the third edition, The Future Of Fashion Program has become one of the leading springboards for young talent in the fashion industry. Since the creation of the partnership, NJAL, the trade shows and Pattern to Plan have worked together to accompany and support emerging designers in the development of their international presence through exposure to buyers, press, stylists, and showrooms in Paris, France. Discover the 30 winning designer brands:  #FAME – women’s ready-to-wear The winning women’s wear designers come from around Europe to present their Spring/Summer 2017 collections at the Fame area of the trade shows. Arethé Stockholm – Sweden Blondi Fox… [Read More]

As a creator or designer building a business in 2016 you know that you can reach your clients by opening an online shop. You also know you can sell to boutiques and concept stores, etc and many clients come to me for this guidance. But are you aware of a fashion marketplace? Where seemingly hundreds upon hundreds of designers are selling their goods straight to consumer? The Fashion marketplace, in the simplest of ways to describe it, is the online version of a consignment store, WITHOUT the risk of your stuff getting dirty. I get so upset when I hear of clients who “loaned” their hard earned work to a store only for it to have been used in a fashion show and ripped, stained with lipstick or worse, stolen! So why not give the online fashion marketplace a try? I mean honestly it’s kind of a winning answer for the startup designer, but which to choose because once you start digging into it, you’ll see the opportunities are endless. Like everything when you are running your business you want to minimize risk which can turn into extra work and provide few results. When I hear of larger brands talking of these… [Read More]

When I first met Isabella, she was just like all the other students at Parsons –eager to learn, asking lots of questions and submitting top notch work.  I’ll never forget however in one of the discussion threads for our online course, she said something about being invited to a dinner with Nordstrom. She mentioned that she was tickled they would include her. She was very humble and maybe briefly mentioned she had her own line but it didn’t stand out to me. I thought that sounded funny yet not totally unusual. Most of the students may be interning and gain access to events.  However being so flattered to be invited tipped me off that this not a typical intern scenario. When I asked her to elaborate on the Nordstrom dinner invitation I began to put pieces together and discovered her fashion label Isabella Rose Taylor. Over the course of the next 15 weeks, Isabella was a star student.  I could not get over how much she excelled in the course. She turned her work in on time or sometimes early and was very active in class discussions considering her age and also that she was running this business while taking my Global Marketing course online. It is my honor and… [Read More]

Any introduction I can offer to Tereneh Mosley, fashion designer, creative entrepreneur and founder of Idia’Dega pales in comparison to her own story.  Proud to call her a dear friend and also crazy happy for all of the successes and growth she’s seen along her own path, this enterprising woman inspires so many around the world. Enjoy getting to know fashion designer, Tereneh Mosley of Idia’Dega. I am honored to share her story with you today. Give us a little background, who you are, how you got into this game. Like a lot of people in fashion, I fell in love as a young girl.  As a child watching movies on TV, I loved seeing Dorothy Dandridge, Ingrid Bergman and Katherine Hepburn’s unique style, glamour and intelligence:  words and wardrobes. As I got a little older, I began devouring fashion magazines.   Mirabella, Taxi, Essence, Baazar and Vogue were favorites and I would memorize the names of the designers, but also the stylist, photographers and stores where the clothes were for sale. When the time came to choose a major for my undergraduate degree I decided on business. At that time, I felt that fashion was not important enough of a career, mainly because… [Read More]

Hi.  If you’ve been hanging around Pattern to Plan for a while or even just a minute, this article is for you.  And really, what on earth do buyers ask at market week, and why? Oh, the number of times I hear that question! You see I am super passionate about informing my readers on the topic of Market Week. Because I was new to the industry too at one point. It was 2001 when I first heard the confusing term, Market Week. I was sitting with an Australian handbag designer in her West Village studio. Ruthless was the name of her collection and I ended representing her work for 5 years. But the term Market week? Ruth explained to me what it meant by sharing that she also was new to the industry.  She was originally an artist working with vinyl and transitioned her skills to working with leather.  As we sat cross-legged on her floor, she told me the first time she heard the term market week from an older gentleman who was mentoring her. Believe me, you are not alone. I don’t know why we make it so complicated in the fashion industry. Really Market Week is just another name for a trade show…. [Read More]

If you are in the know about shoes, then you’re probably familiar with cult shoe brand The Palatines Shoes. They remind me of what Audrey Hepburn or maybe Brigitte Bardot would wear. Shoes which are simple, oh so chic and an underlying cool personality to notice them. We recently spoke with designer Jessica Taft Langdon who I’m also proud to call a sister-in-creative-arms and friend. We met through a unique creative women’s business group “The Collective of Us.”  We were immediately paired as buddies and it’s been exciting to see her business grow ever since. What you may be surprised to learn is that these shoes are designed and manufactured in Los Angeles, California. No small feat with the lack of shoe manufacturers in the States but Jess has managed to do this. Read on and follow her on Instagram! The Interview: Give us a little background, who you are, how you got into this shoe game. I grew up in the Philadelphia area – always a creative kid, but not particularly talented in any medium. My family always supported creative endeavors, but no career path seemed to emerge clearly, although I’d always had a bit of an obsession with shoes as a consumer. You’d… [Read More]

Many fashion students dream of the glamorous red carpet side of the fashion industry. But what is sexy about hauling boxes, pulling all nighters and becoming chummy with the Home Depot guys? The secrets of being a freelance fashion stylist are probably a mix of the two realities. We recently sat down with uber talented career fashion stylist Kristin Paquette who’s been making things happen in New York City for 20 years to uncover truly what does it take to create a life and career you love out of your creativity. Read on: Give us a little background, who you are, how you got into this fashion business. I have an interesting background that combines – timing, luck, talent and persistence. My degree is in Apparel but it was the role of a costume designer that led me to New York. But let’s start at the beginning. . . Right after graduation [Kristin went to RISD, I told you she’s uber talented and uber smart] I got a full time job in Boston as a sweater designer. It ended up not being all the exciting action I wanted for myself right out of college. But luckily, I met had met a costume designer… [Read More]

Yes, wondering who attends fashion trade shows is a basic question but definitely one I hear so much in speaking with start up brands. Why does it matter, shouldn’t you just GO? Recognizing that global fashion trade shows are where most of the business transactions take place, as a new entrepreneur you NEED to know who is there.  Plain and simple it’s so that you can make the best decision for yourself, and your business.  Brace yourself, you are probably going to be surprised by a few people on this list. Be sure to grab the Pattern to Plan custom created global fashion trade show calendar <<–CLICK TO ACCESS immediately! So now onto the real story – Who goes to fashion trade shows: BUYERS Of course buyers are there, they are there to write orders (or shop in layman’s terms). They come by themselves, but mostly they come in teams. Even when I had my small little boutique in Ohio I would bring an assistant to help identify new trends and brands, and keep me on the straight and narrow in terms of my Open to Buy. Learn all about what happens at the trade shows and arm yourself with how a buyer operates. SHOWROOMS and… [Read More]

FREE WORKSHOP  >>CLICK TO ENROLL NOW  Does starting a fashion business make you feel confused or overwhelmed? Are you sick of not knowing what to do next? Do you feel like it you’ve tried to make sense of the ideas in your head but you’re still not any closer to launching? Sew Heidi, fashion designer, entrepreneur and Adobe Illustrator pro is excited to partner with Gretchen Harnick, professor, entrepreneur and fashion business strategist of Pattern to Plan, to offer a special live online workshop… {SEW HEIDI} + PATTERN TO PLAN PRESENT THIS WORKSHOP WILL GET YOU MOVING FORWARD RIGHT NOW. Finally understand exactly how to turn the ideas in your head into the beginnings of a viable fashion business. In just 60 minutes, you will have actionable steps that you can implement immediately. OH, AND DID I MENTION IT’S FREE? YEP, 100% FREE. Click the link below to join us Thursday, January 7th at 5pm EST / 2pm PST (and if you can’t make it at this time, you will still want to register – we will be sending out a link to the replay, but you will only get this if you have registered using the link below). GET… [Read More]

If you find yourself asking question after question about the fashion calendar, the cycle of production and trade shows then undoubtedly you may need a fashion mentor. But the question remains how to find a fashion mentor? And how to find the right one for your business and stage as an entrepreneur?  First, take stock of what you do know. Create a big long list of what interests you in the fashion industry. Don’t forget to include any work experiences you’ve had, an special training, and add family insights. As an example, if you grew up in a household where your father worked in wholesale sales…even if it was not a fashion industry brand chances are you understand something about sales and something about working between vendors and retail or end distributors. Second. Next to each of these items, create a ranking for yourself. I find a scale of 1 – 5 should be sufficient.  And rank if you are an expert (1) or more or less a consumer (5) with your knowledge about this subject.  I find that often many people feel they are social media experts because they have a lot of accounts, maybe their own blog or are members… [Read More]