Business Blueprint
How to succeed in business—specifically the apparel business—was the topic of an allday seminar series hosted by apparel training nonprofit organization Stitches Technology and held during the West Coast Fashion Summit at the Black Business Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
The Sept. 13 series featured speakers from several local fashion schools discussing careers in the apparel industry and lending advice on starting an apparel business. Led by Frances Harder of apparel nonprofit organization Fashion Business Inc., the series featured attorney Greg Weisman, certified public accountant Peter Cook, AIMS apparel software firm president Henry Cherner, Ron Finley of Drop Dead Collexion, Angela Dean of Deanzign and Randy McBride of Blade Graphics. An afternoon session covered methods to grow an apparel business led by California Fashion Association Executive Director Ilse Metchek and featuring Cook, Cherner, Paul Ratoff of Strategy Development Group, Yolanda Williams of HR Essentials Inc., Vanessa Smith of Risk Works, publicist Janelle Place, independent marketing consultant Wanda Scott, Stitches Technology’s Clotee McAffee, West Coast Fashion Summit Director Myra Wallace and Lantz Simpson, president and designer for Dada Footwear.
Topics discussed included accounting practices for a growing company, strengthening competitive advantage, building a winning team of employees, risk management, using technology to track production and conduct business online, marketing and participating in trade shows and fashion events, and trademark and copyright issues for new apparel companies.
Pictured: (standing) McAfee, Wallace, Metchek, Scott, Cook and Simpson; (seated) Smith, Ratoff, Place, Cherner and Williams).
—Alison A. Nieder
