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Senior Salehe Bembury manages, designs own NYC-inspired fashion line
By Taylor Engler
Posted: 4/3/08, 11:44 PM EST Section: Feature
Bembury heads all the designing for the business. He said it can be difficult to balance his industrial design work - a career he still hopes to go into - with his clothing line. Solomon and Camp communicate with Bembury three or four times a day via phone or e-mail to discuss product ideas.
On the Duane Web site, viewers can find photograph albums of the clothing styles compiled from the owners' own cameras. The photographs depict the fashion designers' lives, including images of small beauty in the city streets and portraits of people in their lives. The site also features art created by Bembury and other friends.
"The one thing that is really key in creating a company is branding," Camp said. "We want to create an image - a lifestyle brand in the long run. There's a certain kind of feeling to it when people see the photos, art and our blog, which Bembury updates regularly, people can feel more a part of the brand."
The trio has produced two lines so far and its winter line is currently on sale on their Web site for $20. The summer line will be dropping in mid-May and will be sold online as well as in boutiques in New York City. The line will be previewed in the "Fashionably Aware" fashion show on April 12 at SU as well as at the University of Maryland.
"For the upcoming season we have six different designs," Bembury said. "And it comes out to 12 different pieces."
The new line will include T-shirts, tank tops and sunglasses. Its enterprise is already profiting, and once the group earns enough - it plans to expand to add more clothing products to the line up.
Bembury still sees the group as a side project. And Camp admits he's not looking to have clothes in thousands of stores. Still, they'd like to see a "high-end brand" that has people lining up around the block, just to get a T-shirt or a shoe - not bad for a project that started out as a simple summer venture.
"In the next few years I'd like to see us become well-established in the T-shirt industry and making all kinds of clothes - clothes for everything from head to toe," Camp said. "We haven't had any cut and sew clothing yet, but I can't wait for that because that will include much more of a design aspect in it. I want a lifestyle brand instilled in minds of the consumer."
trengler@syr.edu
On the Duane Web site, viewers can find photograph albums of the clothing styles compiled from the owners' own cameras. The photographs depict the fashion designers' lives, including images of small beauty in the city streets and portraits of people in their lives. The site also features art created by Bembury and other friends.
"The one thing that is really key in creating a company is branding," Camp said. "We want to create an image - a lifestyle brand in the long run. There's a certain kind of feeling to it when people see the photos, art and our blog, which Bembury updates regularly, people can feel more a part of the brand."
The trio has produced two lines so far and its winter line is currently on sale on their Web site for $20. The summer line will be dropping in mid-May and will be sold online as well as in boutiques in New York City. The line will be previewed in the "Fashionably Aware" fashion show on April 12 at SU as well as at the University of Maryland.
"For the upcoming season we have six different designs," Bembury said. "And it comes out to 12 different pieces."
The new line will include T-shirts, tank tops and sunglasses. Its enterprise is already profiting, and once the group earns enough - it plans to expand to add more clothing products to the line up.
Bembury still sees the group as a side project. And Camp admits he's not looking to have clothes in thousands of stores. Still, they'd like to see a "high-end brand" that has people lining up around the block, just to get a T-shirt or a shoe - not bad for a project that started out as a simple summer venture.
"In the next few years I'd like to see us become well-established in the T-shirt industry and making all kinds of clothes - clothes for everything from head to toe," Camp said. "We haven't had any cut and sew clothing yet, but I can't wait for that because that will include much more of a design aspect in it. I want a lifestyle brand instilled in minds of the consumer."
trengler@syr.edu
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