Cal Poly Debuts Student Showroom
The hands-on approach to fashion education at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona took a new turn recently. The school’s Apparel Merchandising and Management Department opened a wholesale showroom on campus called ApparelScapes. Formerly a professor’s office, the showroom will serve as the site where students find valuable business experience, said Cal Poly professor Linda Tucker.
At the admittedly small space, just 10 by 14, ApparelScapes students are encouraged to think big. Like showroom salespeople, they pick vendors and drum up business for ApparelScapes. And they hope, eventually, to make a profit, which will be put back into their showroom, designed with colors of red and tan.
Senior Breezie Jordan said the real-world experience helped her and her classmates to think independently and look for creative ways to find customers, such as online marketing. Since ApparelScapes’ first season started May 25, at the end of the school year, Jordan and her fellow fashion students only had time to sell graduation sashes and some T-shirts to their university’s fraternities and sororities.
The upcoming busy season is Back-to-School, and fraternities, sororities and school clubs also will be the target markets. Sales are scheduled to begin in July, when the student showroom salespeople sell T-shirts, polo shirts and aprons from vendors ranging from American Apparel to Hanes. —Andrew Asch
