Three Fashion-Biz Veterans Give Advice at USC Lecture Series
There are still fortunes to be made in fashion, but breaking into the field can be tricky. On Nov. 2, American Rag CIE founder Mark Werts and a trio of colleagues gave tips and advice to University of Southern California students on how to make an entry into fashion that will feel like a splash, not a belly flop.
The advice and perspective was offered in the latest in the “Captains of the Fashion Industry” lecture series, which has been produced by Werts at USC since 2008. Also speaking at the Nov. 2 lecture were Ilse Metchek, president of the California Fashion Association (CFA); Larry Russ, a founding partner of law firm Russ August & Kabat and a member of the board of directors of American Rag; and Ron Friedman, a principal in the accounting and consulting firm of Stonefield Josephson Inc. The panel talks were organized by the USC Marshall School of Business and the USC Roski School of Fine Arts.
Metchek started her talk by saying Los Angeles is the place to be for ambitious entrepreneurs hoping to make a career in fashion. The CFA ranks Southern California as having one of the largest fashion workforces in America, with more than 122,000 people employed in fashion design, manufacturing and wholesale sales. Because Los Angeles is a world capital of entertainment, people around the world pay extra attention to California fashion, as it is often photographed with celebrities working in the film and TV industries.
Metchek gave the crowd an overview of various fashion-industry business models such as the vertical model of American Apparel and the owner-designer model of Trina Turk. Skill sets needed to get an entry-level job in fashion include knowledge of basic math, advanced computer abilities, good communication skills, and an understanding of fashion history, current events and world geography.
She also advised the audience to complete the following exercise before opening a fashion startup company:
bull; Identify your customers.bull; Identify sources of supply and where you can manufacture.bull; Analyze your financial capabilities and map out what kind of technology you need to use, who you need to hire and what tasks you could outsource.
She also forecast that retail will continue to consolidate and brand owners will go on developing their own retail operations.
Russ introduced his talk by stating that one of the most important first steps to fashion-industry success is building a team. Key to building that team is creating a company structure where there are three basic choices: a general partnership, a corporation or a limited liability company (LLC). LLCs are the most popular entities these days because they combine the informality of a partnership with some of the legal protections that a corporation enjoys.
Friedman advised new fashion companies to register their business and get proper licenses. He recommended getting a Federal Employer Identification Number and registering the business with the state of California and also getting a business license with the city where the business is headquartered.—Andrew Asch
