TMFD Faculty and Students Travel to Dallas Career Day

29 Apr 2013    

TMFD's 2013 Dallas Career Day Study Tour participants pose for a group photo at the Trade Mart's Grand Pavilion

            The first full day in Dallas was reserved for industry tours.  During these visits, students heard and saw first-hand accounts of what it’s like to work in the creative world of fashion and related accessories.  The day started with a visit to the merchandising company Bioworld, which has an impressive range of corporate partnerships including Forever 21, Hot Topic and Walmart. 

            After a tour of their newly renovated headquarters, the group went to the World Trade Center to visit Dorfman Pacific’s showroom.  There, a mock vendor/client interaction between DP’s Executive Vice President for Sales Scott Starnes and TMFD Alum/jcpenney assistant buyer Rachel Brown Sheehy provided a close-up view of a typical day at work in the wholesale marketplace. 

            The third stop of the day was at the design and production studio of The Finley Shirt Company.  Finley Moll, head designer and partner in the company, showed the group the a to z of their operation and provided insightful advice on how to start a small garment company. 

Finley Moll explains the design and product development phases of her company's operation

            Finally, students and faculty had an opportunity  to wind down with a visit to the Dallas Museum of Art, see the Marc Chagall exhibition there,  and then enjoy dinner at the well-known Tex-Mex restaurant Mattito’s. 

            Dallas Career Day itself was held in the World Trade Center on Friday April 12.  To start off the morning, Stephanie George – whose resume includes names like W Magazine, Women’s Wear Daily, People – gave an inspirational speech about working hard to achieve goals.  “The opposite of happiness is boredom,” she told the room of over 300 fashion students, “and the biggest moves start with the smallest steps.” 

            After that, TMFD students and faculty attended seminars in subjects that included Trends, Buying, Visual Merchandising, and Fashion Show Production, while a panel of industry professionals held one-on-one sessions with students seeking interview and resume advice. 

            A special treat of the day was hearing keynote speaker Levi Palmer of palmer//harding designs tell us how he re-creates the white shirt season after season for his label, and what it felt like for a Texas native to see his designs grace the runways at London Fashion Week.         

            In addition to seminars and speakers, students had the opportunity to participate in the trend board and illustration competitions for cash prizes and scholarship money.

            Dallas Career Day came to an end with the Annual Fashion Show at the Dallas Market Center.  Selections for the show were chosen from over 500 submissions made from students all over the region, and these top 200 designs vied for the coveted title of Best of Show and a $10,000 study abroad scholarship in Paris.  Designs by TMFD students Megan Berry, Amanda Dendinger, Kjersti Pollard and  Lily Hershey were among the 200 designs shown on the Dallas Career Day runway.

TMFD students Averi Melcher, Brandon Perchal, Laura Edwards and Natalie Dones at Dallas Career Day 2013

 - reported by Averi Melcher