The Daily Orange

Media Credit: Katie Schuering [Click to enlarge]

At a downtown Syracuse event, Karen Bakke noticed women flocking to buy blue and orange beaded earrings.

"They were common, nothing special and overpriced," said Bakke, a textile design professor. "But I knew we could do it better."

The "we" ended up being this fall's FAS 323: Accessory Design class, and the "it" is a series of university-inspired watches that will be sold in the Syracuse University Bookstore.

As an in-class assignment, students drew up specification sheets with diagrams of beads they planned to use, determined the total cost and selling price and designed prototypes to be sold.

"For every class we do spec sheets, but never really go into the costing of things," said Caitlin Young, a junior in the fashion design program. "I learned a lot about it with this project."

It is a good project for students to do because if they end up at a design company, they will be doing the same thing, Bakke said. The professor teaches two sections of accessory design, both with about 20 students.

Each watch has sterling silver bead separators and clasp, as well as a charm with the SU crest. The students used a variety of beads for the watchbands, including dyed pearls, lapis and cubic zirconium.

"We really had to think about the cost of each gem or bead we used," said Jessie Goldstein, a junior fashion design major. "We wanted to make them sellable."

The only downside was that the students noticed that everything looked the same.

"Everyone had to use the same beads and meet certain criteria; obviously the watches were going to look the same," Young said.

Fashion professor Todd Conover is designing hanging tags to attach each student's name to their design.

"I don't know if it will be in my portfolio, but I can definitely write about it on my resume," said Goldstein.

The watches are expected to attract mainly alumni, parents of students, faculty and others with ties to the university.

Young said she would buy her own after spending so much time making it, but agreed that students were not the target market.

Bakke plans to sell the watches exclusively in the Syracuse University Bookstore.

"They are our best friends, and I wouldn't do business with anyone else," said Bakke.

The sterling charms used for the watches were ordered through the University Bookstore, which allowed Bakke to buy at wholesale price. The charms were the most expensive at $13 each.

"I was surprised at how much it ended up being," said Young. "But I would expect to pay that much in the bookstore."

The bookstore already has a wide variety of watches and jewelry, priced much higher than the jewelry made by the accessory design class.

It already carries different types of watches, including an $89, leather-banded men's watch and a $169 ladies linked watch.

The bookstore also carries various university-themed charms, which are big sellers among faculty and alumni as gifts, particularly during major sale periods like homecoming, parent's weekend and the holidays, according to Gale Youmell, the bookstore's merchandise manager.

In addition to the watches, one of Bakke's students contributed Syracuse-inspired necklaces to go with the collection of watches.

Bakke is preparing her students for a life in fashion beyond school and hopes to instill in them an entrepreneurial spirit, like her student Lacey Seltzer who has already displayed her own line of Lacey Ryan jewelry.

Seltzer, a junior fashion design major, had already been successful selling jewelry from her own line at the bookstore with the help of Bakke.

"I've had three shows in Schine already, one each semester," Seltzer said. "I've been making jewelry for a really long time."

Bakke, with an eye for successful fashions, noticed a sterling silver necklace with small charms hanging from the chain.

"They are really popular with people like you, the younger crowd," she said.

Seltzer had never thought to do a Syracuse University line in her jewelry collection, but she said she was excited to start when Bakke suggested it.

The necklaces feature the same university charm and variety of beads as the watches from the accessory design class. They are handmade by Seltzer and are expected to sell for $30 each.

"The watches and necklaces should be in the bookstore early next week," Bakke said. "We want the jewelry in the bookstore before the holiday season."

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