After 20+ years in the fashion industry I felt it my duty (oh, how noble of me) to take my knowledge and experience and pass it on to the crowd of makers, crafters, designers, and all round creatives who themselves had a vision of creating.

All too often I have seen companies who do not appreciate the complexity of a development process, the concept of planning, the need to identify a market, and most importantly, the need to treat their suppliers with common curtesy (being polite, gets you places, being a bitch doesn’t): things I believe are essential to the longevity of a collection and of a brand.

So I’ve made it my mission to educate and preach these aspects to anyone who is interested in listening.  To pass on these nuggets that will fundamentally change your business and make a random selection of products into a cohesive line.

My goal is simple: I want people’s businesses to succeed. I want to enable a beautiful product to be made and appreciated. Whether it’s for a huge international brand, or a maker with a spare room and a vision. I want to be part of it.

So join me on the 12th and 13th May in person in San Francisco, or on the live stream at:

https://www.creativelive.com/courses/diversifying-your-product-line-susie-breuer

My consultancy is co-lab54.com

I’m based in San Francisco

“It’s important for me, for my own creativity, to have our own point of view in the whole market. Being a small business, you’re offering a different a point of view that hasn’t been offered everywhere else”

Of course staying small has it’s downsides, with no financial security blanket you need to be very business savvy, responding quickly to market downturn with new lines, changes of product etc, but that’s what fashion is about, isn’t it? Keeping it fresh?

The article on style.com talks more to Maria about the companies structure and goals and highlights an initiative by American Express to host for the second year ‘Small Business Saturday’ where customers are rewarded for shopping in smaller stores.