When you think of the fashion industry, what comes to your mind? Do you think of what you're currently wearing? Maybe you’re thinking of the clothes that your friends and others wear aroudn you? Perhaps your mind jumps to costumes or potentially even runway shows with models adorned in the trendiest garments available?

Capstone Shots
Capstone Shots
Capstone Shots

For my undergraduate thesis, I wanted to know the relationship between culture, identity, and theworld of fashion. At the end of my interview process and research, I was left with multiple conclusions.

Fashion, both physically and conceptually, has evolved into a means of expression. Furthermore, this expression has become a way in which people can relate to one another based on shared beliefs, music, politics, or a simple graphic.

Capstone Shots
Capstone Shots
Capstone Shots
Capstone Shots
Capstone Shots

The rise of social media has also lead to many creating their own brands from their experiences in hopes of reaching a new audience. The emergence of a spectrum rather than set standards surrounding expression in regards to fashion with an accompanying increase in availability, variety, and influences, fashion as a part of society has transformed into something much more. Social media as a conduit to share our individual expression has propagated fashion as something to be experienced with others.

In February of 2010, HBO released How To Make It In America, a show that follows young adults Ben Epstein and Cam Calderon as they attempt to start a denim brand in the lively New York City fashion scene in pursuit of the “American Dream.” The quote above highlights a scene from the season one finale in which a mutual friend of Ben and Cam, consoles Ben in a park. While sitting on a bench, Domingo begins to recount the story of his uncle Julius back in Cleveland. At this point in the show, both Ben and Cam have experienced setback, after setback on their path to success and after a delivery truck full of their product is stolen, the duo are worried for their future in the industry.

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“Things come and go. Money comes and goes, t-shirts come and go. Sometimes there’s greater forces at work than we’re aware of. You know what I mean? You just gotta roll with those ****** punches, you know?” - Domingo Brown, How To Make It In America

When all seems lost, Domingo's words of encouragement encapsulate the central message of the show. The road to achieving the American Dream is neither easy, nor does it come without adversity, but having the ability to persevere through it all has the ability to turn dreams into reality.

During March 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, manufacturers had to adapt to social distancing guidelines, and devise a plan on how they would recover. In a New York Times article titled, “‘Pretty Catastrophic’ Month for Retailers, and Now a Race to Survive,” data from the U.S. Department of Commerce notes that the clothing and accessories stores saw a 50.5% loss in sales for the month of March, the largest single month loss since the recession of 2008. A spotlight has been cast on the financial losses, struggles of larger companies, the commodification of “pandemic” themed apparel, but little has been said about small business owners in the fashion industry and how they’ve managed to stay afloat during this tumultuous time. Similar to the plights of Ben and Cam, creators of today face both the well known challenges of building up a business, but doing so under an ever evolving pandemic created an entirely new set of problems for hopeful creatives aiming to get their foot in the door.

This project explores small businesses in different states across the U.S.through interviews conducted during February, March, and April of 2021. Over a year after the start of the pandemic, these three creatives are pushing themselves everyday in hopes of making a larger impact on their communities and the industry itself. Click a picture below for more:

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Drew Joiner Shot Drew Joiner
Martin San Juan Portrait Martin San Juan
Elwood Espiritu Potrait Elwood Espiritu
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