by Aliana C.
A shelf from floor to ceiling packed with all different kinds of fabrics lines the room. In the center of the back wall is a large desk with a sewing machine in the middle. Needles of different sizes and different thread colors are strewn about the desk.
It started when she was younger.
“I had always been drawn to all things fashion,” said junior Piper C.
When she was younger she would draw out designs she would come up with. She sewed smaller things like stuffed animals and simple pieces. Moving onto her high school career she has opened up her own online business.
She finds inspiration from different boutiques, popular musicians, Instagram, and other people’s styles.
Depop is an online selling business and “a social media app in itself” Piper said. Thousands of people resell their clothes and their own designs. With so many other vendors it can be hard to stand out. According to her customers, Piper stands out because she takes a current tread and puts her own spin on it.
Piper advises “trends sell well, but not if it’s like everyone’s there has to be a distinction between your own brand and mainstream trends.”
On Depop, Piper sells t-shirts, and reinvents old items. She goes out thrifting and will buy a cheap piece and then flip it into something so much more. Each design can generally take 2-3 hours and Piper considers herself a bit of a perfectionist. She designs on paper and iPad. Pinterest, another social media app aids in inspiring Piper as well. She adds to different ideas she sees on Pinterest by manipulating the color scheme and making things unconventional.
Her audience is around 12- to mid-20s females (and a few males thrown in). A big accomplishment she has made this year is selling to all 50 states. She hopes for the future to be able to ship internationally as she has gotten many different requests from European countries like France and England.
Junior Margaret B, a customer of Piper’s shop, said “she just does it better, she takes popular trends and then tweaks them to how she sees fit.”
To promote her brand Piper will post on her social media photos wearing her clothing, and post on Depop.
Aside from wearing to market, Piper said “I wear my stuff but that is just because I want to.”
Piper isn’t the only DHS student getting into the fashion business.
Rachael P., a junior, sells on a similar site to Depop.
“I wanted more unique jewelry and I wasn’t finding it anywhere else.”
With no options available, she took matters into her own hands. Rachael sells handmade earrings out of all kinds of materials. She makes them out of wood, clay, plastic, anything she thinks will be best. Both Piper and Rachael find creating and selling as a passion turned into a business.
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