Kat's Adventures: New York City Tour of the Garment Industry (Day 5)

Our journey through the many enlightening appointments was about to come to a closing for this was our last day to meet the local designers and brands in NYC. At this point in the week everyone seemed a bit on the edge. I’m not sure why our group became so tense and aggravated with each other. It could be because we all have been seeing each other for 5 days straight with very little alone time to ourselves. Or if all the walking around, traveling through the city, was getting tiring. Or if being constantly somewhere all the time doing something all day long was mentally draining. It could be all those things. All I know was my feet were hurting, I was exhausted mentally and physically, and I was about to bite off the heads of some of my closest friend.

Well anyways. We met up in the lobby of our hotel to head off to talk with the managers of Calvin Klein Flagship Store. Everyone knows this brand I’m sure, but in a nut shell this lifestyle brand serves a very rich clientele for who can maintain a extravagant way of life. Ava Boode and Steven Sears, the managers of the store, started the tour with a brief history of Calvin’s career, the goals he achieved, and how he retired by selling the brand to PVH. Sounds like the dream to me; to bring up such a highly recognizable label that took decades to create and then to leave it behind on a good note set for the rest of your days. The brand sells apparel, accessories, and home décor of the highest quality. Honestly, I can’t say I really enjoy this appointment for I had no interest in the company and what they believe to be a worthy lifestyle of extreme luxury. Though it would have been interesting to speak to Calvin himself, but alas we did not. Plus. . . I MAY have accidentally marked a white blouse, worth GOD KNOWS how many hundreds of dollars, with my jell pen while taking notes. . . yeah there’s that.

On to the next appointment then to Susan Van De Linde, a professional millinery designer based in New York providing handmade incredible hats, shoes, and accessories to her mature clientele. Susan learned how to design and sew over the course of many years working under man big names in fashion. She eventually started her own small business in the Lombardy Hotel taking over two rooms full of her products. Right off the bat a man bought $14,000 worth of her product.

That money helped her start her business into what it is today. What kept her motivated over the years of her practice was the happiness she gets from satisfying her customers with her product and the custom requests she gets constantly. What humbles her the most is the attention she gets from her clients. Her product has been published in many magazines including Vanity Fair and their A-List parties, The Opera Winfrey Show, and even in an episode of the sitcom Friends. Many people reach out to her for her unique handmade creations to use in their movies, photo shoots, and special events. Susan was a very kind woman to have let everyone try on her hats and take a group photo. I loved every hat she let me wear. She put on a hat, noticed my gothic appearance, took a feathery hat and told me “you just went from goth to couture” which made me laugh. At the time we were there visiting they were looking for a seamstress and man I wish I could have jumped on that opportunity. I had the chance to talk to her assistant about my experience with hat making, though it is not anything that would have impressed Susan. The assistant, on the other hand, was very interested in what I had to show her. It was a pleasant appointment to say the least. I loved the energy of the business and the general atmosphere the shop offered.

The next stop, and might I say the most impressive denim designer that I will ever encounter, was with PRPS who sells the most insanely incredible distressed jeans you will never have the opportunity to wear unless you are a celebrity. The CEO and head designer of the company originally wanted to be a comic book artist but then switched gears toward fashion design; specifically working with denim. After college he moved to NYC with only $1000 to live off of. He worked for many companies producing all sorts of product for them including a rugby sports team who went to the world cup. After developing his brand and producing his denim designs for selling, he was watching TV one day and realized that Brad Pitt was wearing the PRPS jeans.

The designer recognized his own uniquely designed back pocket fold and realized what kind of market to focus on. He promoted the new found information to the public and PRPS products can be found in many high end stores including Nordstrom. The designer is highly skilled and knowledgeable in denim distressing using the typical distressing methods used to make any pair of jeans. The only difference in PRPS and any other distressed jean is HOW he uses these common materials. By studying, experimenting, testing, and perfecting his distressing practice he can now mass produce such outstanding looking distressed jeans priced in the high hundreds. He has an incredible talent for not only his designs but how he conducts his business in Japan is quite impressive. He was kind enough to show the group his antique denim jeans from as late as the 1800’s. He loves how old, ripped, raggedy, discolored, rusted, stained, and dirty these jeans have gotten over the many generations of its life. He even owns an original Levi brand jean worth at least $15,000. His incredible talent is truly well exhibited in his company. It truly was an extremely impressive and interesting appointment of the day.

After that we were met with our last tour of the day, which was with Calypso St. Barth located all the way in Queens. This fashion merchandising lifestyle brand sells bohemian preppy resort wear and supports a community of artisans by selling their collections on the Calypso website and in store. Because of the great products provided by the artisans they feature their 50 store locations, Calypso offers a wide variety of options to their clientele. They market their product by offering exclusive deals, arranging photoshoots all over the world, and feature their vendors often in some of their store locations. I’m going to be brutally honest, not the most interesting appointment, but this time it was for a very good reason. Our tour guides were two young women (one who joined the team last March fresh out of college) in charge of the marketing department. They were completely unprepared to talk to a group of students and didn’t know what to say to us or show us in their tour. They didn’t answer our questions very clearly and generally did not exactly represent the company as best as they should have. Plus I personally was not interested in their products, at all. I didn’t really learn anything new there and I’m pretty sure the rest of us was just as bored as I was. Yep. Just being honest. . .

That was it for our appointments. We were done with meetings and arrangements of that sort which actually really disappointed me greatly. I felt so fortunate to meet with everyone that I did and ask them firsthand how to get to where they are today. After coming back from the far away land of Queens, Tia, Carolyn, and I had our own adventures for a short while. We visited a super large comic book store located close to Time Square. We took a quick stop (hoping to find a bathroom for Tia and Carolyn) and I managed to buy a manga. I never did bring entertainment of any kind for the plane ride, so I choose this time to actually do something about it. Hahaha. Then afterward we went back to the hotel to rest our tired feet and minds (not to mention recovering for almost loosing Carolyn in New York for good. PIECE OF ADVICE: Never go out into a huge city with a dead phone. AND if you do make a plan with your group to meet up and STICK WITH IT.)

For dinner that night we went out to a Spanish restaurant. Now, Spanish food is different from Mexican food. Mexican food consist of things like taco wraps, tortilla chips, meaty beefs, chickens, and some seafoods; served with a grain of some sort and common vegies. Spanish food is mostly seafood oriented with shrimps, clams, octopus, squid, and sometimes serve chicken. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this restaurant and really enjoyed the room we ate in. It was a very small place but it was cute. I had a very nice dinner; I think it was one of my favorites out of the trip. After dinner though I was so tire I couldn’t do anything else with my day other than plop onto bed and clock out. So that’s what I did exactly. Besides, I had to get up bright and early for something special in the morning.