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In Vogue we trust

I’m Hannah.I am a sweet tea sippin’, fashion loving, shrimp and grits kind of gal. You can spot me out at a fashion outing, indulging in a book at a local coffee shop, or running around town.

Catch me if you can!

I realized my adoration for fashion at a young age when my fashion sense was more than my tiny hometown of Easley, SC, could handle. Throughout my young years, I surrounded myself with Harpers Bazaar, Vogue or any fashion forward media outlet that I could get my hands on.

Charleston was my first and only destination on this long road of discovering who I am and what I wanted to be. It has been a long road but a very successful one. With my recent travels and studies, I have fallen even more in love and continue to be inspired by all of the different cultures, lifestyles and trends that are contributing to the fashion industry.

It’s nice to meet you!

Flip along with me!

Native Casting

This is a trend that focuses on strong women who knows exactly who they are and where they want to be in life. Freedom to roam the lands and sailing the seven seas, staying true to their souls and fighting for what they believe in.

The three sub trends of Native Casting all have three things in common; armor, water and global travel.

Warrior Pirate

Gypsy

A gypsy is a free spirited person who wanders the lands and is always drawn back to the sea. They express themselves with their tattoos that tells a story and tarrot card readings. You will see a lot of layerd jewlery, different types of textures and organic fabrics and airy garments.

Different from both a pirate and a gypsy, a warrior is seen as a figure that protects and serves those whom she is fighting for. In this trend, you will see a lot of structured pieces—jewelry, arm braces, body chains and overall a well-suited look.

People recognize pirates as having a rebellious and rugged lifestyle, and their wardrobe shows just that. From elaborate hats and eye patches to great capes, this trend is all about pushing your rebel side against the law and showing just how far you will go until you have to walk the plank!

Mission Statement

La Mode is here to offer designer and quality garments in a variety for every occasion and services that are helpful to our loyal clients. Our job is to provide services to our clients with the latest fashion knowledge and other sevices that are beneficial to the client.

Market Analysis

The primary target market for La Mode are the women ranging from early 20s to the women who still enjoy to look great as they get older. Conveniently located in the heart of the shopping district on 1804 N. Damen Ave, Chicago, IL, we believe that they will make up the largest percentage of our customer base. Our secondary target market are the younger women who stay up to date with the new season’s trends. We expect these women to stay loyal to keep updated with these trends. The last target customer La Mode is listed as other, these are the women who may use our services as a last resort when they find themselves in need of help. As the store increases popularity we expect to see an assortment of curious seekers, and local residents from the community as well as tourists. At La Mode our objectives are too generate an atmosphere that provides our clients with step by step services and meet the requirements our cliental is looking for.

The goal of La Mode is to serve not only local clients but wabroad as well, ranging from all ages that have difficulty finding the right style and fits for them. We would also like to serve the teen and younger women who are still trying to find their style. These are your everyday women who love fashion and takes pride in looking their best. We are targeting them because these women spend most of their time shopping, going to social outingsand enjoy being in the social light. We feel like this target market will bring in business because looking good is what they love and what makes them feel good.

La Mode has a number of advantages that will allow us our brand individuality, add value to our merchandise and form a loyal client base while standing apart from our competitors. We will offer our services at our client’s home, offer clothing of all sizes, fits, and styles, we will create a sense of culture and bonding with the community, our location is central to our target customer base, we will maintain a detailed record on each customer, logging addresses, their purchases, size, and brand for customer follow-up and in-house promotional purposes. Our competitors, who are Rachel Zoe Inc and Saks Fifth Avenue, have been around for a lot longer than La Mode. Rachel Zoe has a clientele base of A-list and celebrity, Saks Fifth Avenue has been named a J.D. and Associates 2012 Customer Service Champion and has been building their customer base since 1867.

Our keys to success is staying updated with the new trends for each upcoming season, always having a variety of sizes, fits and styles that meet our clients taste, targeting our cliental and making sure that they are successfully being promoted to and offering special services to our loyal clients.

Executive Summary

La Mode is a personal styling frim that provides one of a kind designer Ready-to-Wear and Couture garments for our high end clients. Our many services include, in store alterations, rush delivery, at home assistance, and our most popular service--style assistance. Our trained and experienced staff members assist clients who have A-List events or just need to keep updated with the season’s new trends.We are the first retail store in Paris that offers all services as mentioned before. The location was chosen because we took into consideration where most of our target market shops, eats, lives and even socializes so that we are easliy visable and convient to them.

Critical issues facing our business is the economic downturn and network security. The problematic conditions and cutbacks in consumer spending have harshly impacted the retail industry. The internet and electronic networks offer retail businesses with better, productivity, and worldwide access to possible markets and customers. But along with it brings new legal hesitations and complex risks

Business Ownership

Andrea Serrano

Andrea Serrano founded the style blog, Charleston Shop Currator, which focuses on local and designer boutiques. Over the past year I assisted her on these photos shoots as her style assistant. These photo shoots took place around Charleston, using props from local bussiness and boutiques.

Andrea SerranoOctober 2014 I assisted Andrea with her Halloween

photo shoot. This was located downtown Charleston, SC, at the Unitarian Church Graveyard We shot a series of different characters that were inspired by high fashion and made a twist on your every-year Halloween costumes.

Andrea Serrano Moo Roo Renew

This photo shoot was for Andrea Serrano’s client, Moo Roo Renew boutique, that has a focus in luxury vintage up-cycling pieces ranging from furniture, decor, handbags and accessories.

The definition of off-shore manufacturing is the assembly or full manufacturing in a country where labor and raw materials are cheaper, for export and eventual import into the manufacturer’s home country. A few years ago, choosing to do business with an offshore manufacturing location was fairly direct; a lot was focused on a handful of cities in China. But with the volatility in the dollar, fluctuating transportation and commodity costs, and the shifting of global economic fortunes, it has been decided that it is much more difficult. as the prices of commodities rose prior to the recession, the amount of time products spent in transit had an increasingly significant impact on companies’ inventory carrying costs, making the lengthy trip from China that much more expensive. Commodity costs and shipping rates have since moderated wwith the slowing of the global economy, but finance chiefs have realized the risks those costs pose to global supply chains and are reevaluating some of their offshore sites as a result. Economically, a successful domestic and offshore strategy will help a company prosper by both gaining market share and growing the market. A growth company will help the nation by creating better and higher-end jobs for its citizens.

Many companies have their products manufactured overseas for a lot of reasons; most common is the cost factor. Many companies have their products manufactured overseas for a multitude of reasons; most common is the cost factor. Some consumers frown upon companies that

encourage outsourcing thinking that local production could have helped reduce unemployment. However, in a macro perspective, outsourcing can save the company capital-intensive installation of machinery, training workers, insurance, that would otherwise skyrocket to the point where business or industry is no longer competitive. Also, companies that include outsourcing manufacturing have the option to pass on cost savings to their consumers. Outsourcing must be viewed as a method that will make companies more competitive. Since offshore manufacturers already reap economies of scale by producing desired levels of output, their cost of production will be much lower than locally; therefore the cost per unit to the company will be reduced. Many consumers are able to identify low production cost per unit with low labor cost.

A pro to this method is that when a well-run company that has its own Marketing and Sales, Engineering, and Manufacturing Departments, considers offshoring, it is because the managers determined that they can save money by using China’s cheap labor. They expect that the company will become more profitable and their market share will grow as a result of the lower prices. In this case, I admit that some lower-end jobs, manual-labor jobs, might be lost within this company to these lower-cost countries–or even by automation within that company, for that matter. But the higher-end jobs, which are focused on innovation, design, and new products should increase as the company reinvests its larger profits. The final result, however, depends on how well this company develops proper long-term, successful strategies for its business.A con is the situation where a sales and marketing firm, a distributor, or a retail outlet, decides to go straight to China and eliminate the “middle man,” which the U.S. is manufacturing firm that normally supplies it with products. What happens here is that neither entity, the U.S. distributor/retailer or the Chinese manufacturer, has expertise or experience with the product design. So when a problem arises, nobody in that supply chain knows how to fix it.

China’s comparative advantage as a nation is low-cost labor. Companies know that if their wages are high, they will not be competitive in the world market. The China labor market is open. The workers will only work at a specific factory if they think their wages are competitive. That is why we see quite a bit of employee turnover in China. Of course, we look at China through American eyes. Their employees do not receive the same kind of treatment that we receive from our employers. If we look at China through Chinese eyes, a lot of workers and their families are better off working in industry than on a farm back home.As our economy evolves into a more global and competitive marketplace, outsourcing is increasingly becoming a necessity rather than an option. The extreme competitive nature of some price-sensitive products forces a company to continually search for cost-reducing, efficiency-enhancing strategies. And outsourcing a subassembly or a single part in the United States, rather than overseas, has several major benefits.

The first benefit is realized when a company strengthens and markets its core competencies to support the economies of scale theory. This increases efficiencies because, most often, thedomestic supplier has a vested interest in the OEM’s business model, not just delivering a final part or assembly. For example, the supplier may have a diverse set of value-added services that can be tailored and customized such as engineering design and layout, prototyping, software development, marketing support, and material selection. Additional services may include financing strategies, idea generation, packaging design, product upgrades, referral networks, intellectual resources, stocking programs, legal affiliations, and logistics support. Outsourcing to another county, however, impedes and diminishes this ideal because typically, the foreign supplier is known only for moving large-volume orders out the door. This means that some suppliers will have little interest in supporting the OEM on core competencies.

The second major benefit of outsourcing in the United States is reduced costs. As any business professional might expect, there are additional costs associated with outsourcing overseas. For instance, outsourcing to an overseas supplier based on price alone is risky because there are hidden costs that relate to cultural interferences, interpretation hindrances, time-zone constraints, political differences, proximity delays, and privacy and piracy issues. Additional drawbacks include handling and delivery damages, warranty claims, engineering changes, quality obstacles, lead-time concerns, and the learning curve theory.

Outsourcing to a supplier in the United States drastically reduces these cost-producing, efficiency-draining issues. In fact, it’s so easy for an OEM and a supplier to join forces that it’s common to conduct and complete business the same day.

Fundamentals of BusinessOff-Shore Manufacturing

Product Development & Manufacturing

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Flora is a women’s clothing line that focuses on sustainability, cost consciousness and staying environmentally friendly. Flora accomplishes these values by using recycled fabrics and materials for all garments, staying active in the design process, guaranteeing consumers are receiving top quality and doing their part in protecting the environment as well as human health. This brand is targeting the consumer of any age, who shares the same values, enjoys the bohemian lifestyle and adds some edge in their fashion style. The scope of this project was the product development process including supply chain management and technical design.

CUSTOMER

SUPPLIER MANUFACTURER

DISTRUBITION CENTER

Charleston InsideOut & Man About Town

Whether you are visiting Charleston and in need of checking out the historical events to do here or playing a native for the day, Charleston Inside Out is a local magazine that highlights the hipness of this beautiful city. Man About Town is dedicated to the art of being a well-rounded Lowcountry man, health, fatherhood, entertainment, toys and tools with a nontraditional local twist. During my time as an intern for a local guide called Charleston Inside Out I learned a lot about the magazine, advertising and marketing industry. My mentor, Abby Simon, has a team of writers, social media experts who have lived in Charleston for years.

Hanah Knorr is the Charleston InsideOut Intern. You might spot her on a fashion outing around town or hitting the books at The Art Institute of of Charleston

Charleston Fashion Week

During Charleston Fashion Week 2014 I assisted friend and emerging designer, Terese Sydonna with her Spring 2014 women’s collection. Throughout the year leading up to CFW, I assisted with the preparation process by preparing organizational documents, contacting sponsors for accessories and model fittings. The night of the show I was backstage assisting with styling, dressing the models and executing the presentation process.

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week 2014

During Fall 2014 I assisted the execution of the 2014 Project Runway Fashion Show during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. During the show I prepped seating for the guest, organized the gift bags by priority seating for the attendees and assisted in guest seating. This was a great experience for me to fully understand how the fashion show production industry operates. Not only was I able to meet proffessionals in the industry and enjoy being in the city, I was also given the chance to appreciate the prodctiveness of what I was doing.

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week 2014

Holy Chic