Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!)

I was recentently "tagged" in a Facebook post, as reference to a young girl who is in an entrepreneur program (YEA!) at a local high school. She needed someone to produce her prototype. I responded that I was interested in hearing more, so was put in touch with her mentor. The student had come up with an idea for a product. Her idea was athletic wear, specifically, leggings, with a twist.


Next thing I knew I was talking to the student on the phone and we made an appointment to meet in person to discuss the details! We met at local Starbucks and I took notes as we spoke. She said many times she would wear yoga pants, then wish she had shorter leggings, so her idea is to have a zipper below the knee, to make them convertible. Genius!
But I had lots of questions about the design. What did she want them to look like, did she have a sketch, what was her business plan, what about a contract for my services, what was the intended use of the garment (casual or workout wear), what was her targeted market, who would manufacture them, etc, etc, etc...


Many of these questions she didn't have answers to yet, and the fabric she had already purchased, was all wrong, because it is to be sold as workout wear. It was too thin, more like dancewear. She said, " I want a good quality legging, I don't think I want to use this fabric". So I suggested going back to the fabric store and proceeded to accompany her. I educated her on the amount of stretch needed for a good workout fabric and the importance of the weight of fabric. I offered a few suggestions, such as an alternative fabric for the lower part of the legging that zips off, since the top part of the legging would be worn all the time, and the lower part only some of the time, so the fabrics would wear (and fade) differently. And most importantly, I asked her if she wanted the zipper to show and where to place the tab (front, side, back)!


She did return the original fabric, and purchased a newer, slightly heavier weight, more useful fabric for the leggings, and also the zippers needed and waistband elastic and handed it over to me. I have 3 weeks to produce the product that she will then present to a panel of "investors" (like Shark Tank).
She graduates in May, then will be going to school in CA to study business, with a focus in entrepreneurship.