American Fashion Podcast — exploring innovation and sustainability across the industry
178 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 84 ratingsExploring fashion as an art and a business. American Fashion Podcast is the fashion show for fashion people, diving deep into the designing, making, and selling of garments and accessories through long-form interviews with people at all levels and in all corners of the business, with an emphasis on sustainability and innovation, since 2014. Hosted by Charles Beckwith and Cathy Schepis.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
112 – How To Fund A Fashion Business
October 02, 2016 17:12 - 49 minutes - 45.6 MBHow To Fund A Fashion Business Attorney Lois F. Herzeca is the author of the preeminent fashion law survival guide, Fashion Law and Business: Brands and Retailers. In this episode she talks about how fashion brands get funded and gives tips and tricks for how to make that process run smoothly, both for investors and designers. References: Nineteenth Amendment Betabrand Golden Seeds Lawrence Lenihan on Fashion Is Your Business episode #115 Resonance
111 – Fashion Pop-Up Store Strategy For Fun and Profit
September 27, 2016 21:13 - 45 minutes - 41.4 MBFashion Pop-Up Store Strategy Lion’esque Group founder Melissa Gonzalez helps brands set up camp to sell and be known. The company provides fashion pop-up store strategy, deployment, and management for a wide range of clients both inside and outside the fashion sphere. The temporary pop-up shop trend seems to have been catching on as steadily as the decline of traditional brick and mortar retail establishment, and can be a smart response to a number of different needs, from simple brand...
110 – Damn The Fashion Week, Full Speed Ahead
September 22, 2016 22:54 - 1 hour - 60.5 MBDamn The Fashion Week, Full Speed Ahead Charles Beckwith an Richard Spiegel (The Fashion Tribune) are ranting about fashion week (damn the fashion week, full speed ahead). We sat down at the end of New York Fashion Week to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly. This is rather raw and almost a behind the scenes conversation, of the kind that promoted the creation of this series. Also in this episode is a backstage interview with designer Tadashi Shoji at his Spring 2017 collection show...
109 – Designer Yeohlee Teng
September 15, 2016 15:53 - 1 hour - 57.7 MBYeohlee Teng Interview Yeohlee Teng (bio) has been a fixture of the New York City fashion design, culture, and industry for decades. Her store at 12 West 29th Street is a destination for women seeking clothing of a rare quality, the product of an intelligence and thoughtfulness that is both the mark and mind of its creator. AFP hosts Charles, Seth, and Lisa attempt to interview Yeohlee about fashion then and now, disposable culture, her approach to design and technique, and a range of oth...
108 – Fashion Week Pre-Game Show
September 02, 2016 16:59 - 1 hour - 56.6 MBFashion Week Pre-Game Show New York Fashion Week is next week, so we’ve gathered some great minds to help you get your head in the game. It’s the New York Fashion Week Pre-Game Extravaganza! Guests in this episode include Fashion Unfiltered founder and editor Katharine Zarrella, Decoded Fashion founder Liz Bacelar, ace runway photographer Udor (Instagram), and guest host Cathy Schepis. Fashion Week show formats continue to evolve. A few seasons ago, many in the industry were shocked at t...
107 – Bow & Drape Founder Aubrie Pagano
September 01, 2016 15:00 - 49 minutes - 45.5 MBAubrie Pagano, Founder and CEO of Bow & Drape Mass customization has been a big buzz term in the fashiontech sphere for a couple of years, and a company spearheading the implementation of the idea is Bow and Drape. Aubrie Pagano (bio) founded the company in 2012 and has been making pathfinder decisions in the fashion future space ever since. Granted, it’s a lot of kitsch, like sweatshirts bearing slogans such as “Namaste In Bed” and “Humble Like Kanye,” but the course toward customers being...
106 – Madison Avenue Hatter, Albertus Swanepoel
August 08, 2016 16:28 - 1 hour - 57.5 MBAlbertus Swanepoel Albertus Swanepoel is a hat designer from South Africa who has been working in New York for several years, and has collaborated with some of the biggest designers in the world on many of the most memorable runway shows. Questions raised: Why don’t more people wear hats, and is it a growing or a shrinking business? Does e-commerce work for hats? What is the state of fashion in South Africa right now? What does traveling do for the perspective of a fashion designer? Do ac...
105 – In Pursuit of Luxury
August 05, 2016 21:51 - 41 minutes - 38.1 MBIn Pursuit of Luxury Behind the scenes with the panelists and organizers as LIM College hosts a conference on luxury in partnership with Brooklyn College and The University of Hertfordshire. In Pursuit of Luxury is an academic and industry crossover conference, focused on the luxury products market. Part One includes Christopher Ferree, the Lanvin brand manager at Bergdorf Goodman; Veronica Manlow of Brooklyn College; and Travis Haglin, former Ralph Lauren executive and General Manager fo...
104 – Sexy Sordid Focus With Author Michael Gross
July 21, 2016 20:52 - 1 hour - 79.8 MBAuthor Michael Gross Michael Gross (website) is the author of a number of books on the subject of elitist worlds, from billionaire condo buildings to model management. His new book is Focus: The Secret, Sexy, Sometimes Sordid World of Fashion Photographers, and he is in the studio with American Fashion Podcast to talk about it. Also in the studio, a guest host: fashion and beauty photographer Stephen Eastwood. A Great Conversation Discussion begins with Mr. Gorss expanding on how he ca...
Celebrating 100 Episodes With Domenico Vacca
July 14, 2016 05:43 - 12 minutes - 11.1 MBCelebrating 100 Episodes Designer Domenico Vacca welcomes guests from the Open Source Fashion and Fashion Media Center communities at his private DV Club above the new Domenico Vacca flagship store on 55th Street in Manhattan, celebrating 100 episodes of both American Fashion Podcast and Fashion Is Your Business. As part of the party, Charles Beckwith interviews Mr. Vacca about his new flagship store, which has been designed as a brand experience space. This is not a new concept, but one t...
103 – Fashion Ignores Many Women
July 12, 2016 13:52 - 50 minutes - 46.5 MBFashion Ignores So Many Womem Our interview with Cindy Weber-Cleary, the former fashion editor of InStyle Magazine and now co-founder of the shopping site Apprécier, which serves the vast number of women over 45 years of age who seem to be widely ignored as customers by the fashion industry. Has online shopping changed how women over 45 dress themselves? Do affluent women seek bargains? What has happened to brand loyalty? Why are so many magazines still failing? references: Suite 1521 ...
102 – Part 2 – Rebecca and Uri Minkoff
July 06, 2016 14:22 - 36 minutes - 33 MBThis is part two of the live audience recording with Rebecca and Uri Minkoff.
102 – Rebecca and Uri Minkoff
July 05, 2016 17:04 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MBIn front of a live audience, sibling designers Rebecca and Uri Minkoff talk about building a thriving brand in the midst of a chaotic industry with failing systems. Guest host Rob Sanchez from the Fashion Is Your Business Podcast. This is Part One of Two, with the second portion of the interview being on the Fashion Is Your Business podcast.
101 – Sustainable Living
July 05, 2016 16:09 - 39 minutes - 36.3 MBEthical Writers Coalition members Kasi Martin (The Peahen) and Alden Wicker (Ecocult) talk about living a sustainable stylish life. Sustainable Living References: Helpsy Trash Is For Tossers Thrive (book) Eco Intelligent Polyester (for furnishings) Slack Reddit Ecouterre How To Pitch A Conscious Blogger The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (book) Suzanne Rae Titania Inglis Reformation The-Acey Kitty Ferreira Everlane Ecocult Shopping Guide The Peahen Shopping Guide To fi...
100 – Maker’s Row
June 21, 2016 16:45 - 1 hour - 55.2 MBTanya Menendez is the co-founder of the factory index site Maker’s Row. With 10,000 factories and 100,000 businesses cataloged for easy access, it helps designers manufacture clothing and accessories in the United States. In this episode, we talk with Tanya about what she did before, how Maker’s Row came about, how designers and manufacturers can use the site, and where it’s going. Charles, Seth, and Lisa reflect on the journey to 100 episodes. What did Seth and Lisa think when Charles sai...
099 – Betabrand Is Taking The Pain Away
June 06, 2016 07:40 - 43 minutes - 40 MBWe’ve been watching the e-commerce company Betabrand for a long time, and what they’re doing is quite interesting. Designers of any skill level sign up for their platform and submit designs, ranging from just a sketch to full tech packs, and then the site’s users vote on the designs they want to be able to purchase through a crowdfunding model. Then Betabrand makes final selections and manufactures the goods, splitting the profit with the designers, and users get credit for other items if th...
098 – The Collective Consciousness of threeASFOUR
May 12, 2016 02:38 - 1 hour - 81.9 MBAn interview with Adi Gil, Angela Donhauser, and Gabi Asfour,the designer trio collectively known as threeASFOUR. What is the place in fashion and New York City for art, life and, spunk? A conversation with three designers known for keeping the flame alive. “There is a certain type of allowing the heart to come in, or allowing the spark to shine, to give light. So, we allow that to happen. That’s basically a rule that we have. But it’s not a spoken rule.” – Gabi Asfour Why is their studi...
097 – Dana Thomas, Author and Journalist
May 10, 2016 18:04 - 1 hour - 77.8 MBFashion journalist Dana Thomas is the author of the books Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster and Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano, and is currently the foreign correspondent in Paris for Vogue Australia. “God bless Martin Margiela. I think he was the designer with the most integrity in the last 30 years, because it wasn’t about him, it was about the work.” – Dana Thomas This interview tracks from growing up in Philadelphia to her change of model to ...
096 – Please Don’t Laugh At The Economist, With Kathleen Fasanella
April 26, 2016 16:03 - 48 minutes - 44.4 MBKathleen Fasanella is the author of The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing and founder of the web sites Fashion-Incubator.com: Lessons From The Sustainable Factory Floor and Designer-Entrepreneur.com. In this episode, Kathleen talks with the AFP team via Skype from Albuquerque, New Mexico, about how she got started helping so many designers around the world to figure out the sustainable manufacturing puzzle. She has some great stories about students learning from misundersta...
095 – I do! The New York Bridal Market – With Designers Austin Scarlet, Babi Ahluwalia (Sachin + Babi), and Katharine Polk (Houghton)
April 15, 2016 15:59 - 1 hour - 71.4 MBIn the studio with top bridal fashion designers Austin Scarlet, Babi Ahluwalia, and Katharine Polk, talking about why they got into making wedding dresses, new alternative wedding boutiques, and the new ways brides are thinking about their special day. New York Bridal Market Highlights KATHARINE: “I don’t design with any rules for the bridal. I definitely have a lot more fun and a feel a lot restricted in terms of what I can do for bridal. I feel like it’s been a lot more accepted when I ...
094 – Marvel’s Netflix Costume Designer Meets Andrew Ondrejcak
April 11, 2016 00:47 - 1 hour - 88.6 MBMarvel’s Netflix Costume Designer Stephanie Maslansky has worked on Marvel Entertainment’s full Netflix lineup, including Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and the upcoming Luke Cage series. She has previously done styling for commercial print advertising, costume design for films, and designed costumes for the television shows Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Third Watch, and Oz. A Director of Many Things Andrew Ondrejcak, recently the Artist in Residence at the Park Avenue Armory, is an all-aroun...
093 – Fashion Unfiltered Wants Conversations
March 31, 2016 08:01 - 1 hour - 77.5 MBKatharine Zarrella’s Fashion Unfiltered Katharine Zarrella, former news editor at Style.com, senior editor at V Magazine and VMAN, and prolific contributing fashion writer all over, has branched out on her own with the new fashion site, fashionunfiltered.com, which seems to have a cleaner mission than any we’ve seen in the recent past. We’re joined in the studio for this episode by WWD‘s Media Editor Alexandra Steigrad. highlights: KATHARINE: “I would like to shift the consumer focus awa...
092 – Model Management Industry Super Episode
March 21, 2016 16:33 - 1 hour - 99.1 MBThis episode is going to be HUGE. Trump Model Management is being sued for allegedly fraudulent paperwork on a model’s H1B visa application. We thought this would be a good opportunity to go deep on the subject of the global model management industry. The Model Management Industry Writer and former fashion model Madeline Hill talks about her experiences globetrotting for four agencies, then former modeling agency in-house counsels Ali Grace Marquart and Doreen Small, of the law firm Marqu...
091 – No, Seriously, Robots Don’t Make Your Clothes
March 17, 2016 21:36 - 49 minutes - 45.4 MBJust To Clarify, Robots Don’t Make Your Clothes Young designers Julie Mollo and Louis Mairone (Dominic Louis) have two very different aesthetics and approaches to business for their companies. Julie’s first client was pop star Katy Perry, and she successfully spins influencer marketing publicity into wholesale and e-commerce sales as a sole operator, while Lou plays a more slow and steady game. This episode gets deep into the mindset of two emerging designers fairly representative of the s...
090 – Naeem Khan, In The Atelier With An American Treasure
March 10, 2016 16:40 - 58 minutes - 53.7 MBWorld-renowned fashion designer Naeem Khan invites the American Fashion Podcast team into his showroom for a poignant discussion of work, life, and the future of the fashion industry. Naeem Khan highlights: “We have amazing craftsmen in this country. When Italy or Japan, where you have such high paid labor, can produce, why can’t America?” – Naeem Khan (10:05) “Unless and until you don’t have something different and something new to offer, if every designer has the same kind of looking c...
089 – Zero Waste Fashion For The Gold
March 08, 2016 15:14 - 1 hour - 64.5 MBLisa Koenigsberg, Timo Rissanen, Daniel Silverstein, and Tabitha St. Bernard are in the studio. Lisa Koenigsberg is the president of Initiatives In Art and Culture, which produces several conferences around the fashion and luxury goods industries, and has one coming up on gold. Timo, Daniel, and Tabitha are zero waste fashion designers, and educators in that field. zero waste highlights: “If I may be so bold as to reduce this to a very simple concept: if you want to be a zero-waste design...
088 – Skill Is A Luxury?
March 01, 2016 20:12 - 1 hour - 90.6 MBLee Anderson of the Starkweather outerwear R&D group is in the studio talking about her conferences and focus groups, which she has been using to explore the fashion industry’s chronic issues. The hosts comment on a long list of recent news stories about the industry (see references list below). Charles Beckwith hits the Tranoï New York trade show and talks to designers Charles Harbison (Harbison), Yasmine Rana (Y by Yasmine), Katie Gallagher, and Philip Chu (Ground Zero), along with Tranoï’...
087 – New York Fashion Week! Fashion Week! Fashion Week!
February 19, 2016 19:43 - 55 minutes - 51.1 MBNew York Fashion Week is in full swing. Charles and Lisa are in the field and Seth checks in via Skype. This episode includes interviews with Bil Donovan, Ernest Schmatolla, Kenny Bonavitacola, Stephen Knoll, Rosina Rucci (RR331), Naeem Khan, Tadashi Shoji, Raquel Allegra, Raul Peñaranda, and Charles Youssef. Charles Beckwith reviews Zoolander 2 and goes to a Chinese fashion show on the Hudson. references: A Détacher Amanda Phelan Cushnie et Ochs Zimmerman Reem Acra Monique Lhuillie...