Frances Harder

LDB had the great honor of sitting down with Frances Harder, founder of Fashion Business Inc. I was excited to learn how FBI and LDB could work together to offer resources and support to new designers. The FBI office is located in the California Market Center (California Mart). If you’re not familiar with this building, it is where fashion lives in Los Angeles. When I walk into the Mart, I have died and gone to fashion heaven where the fashion gods bless me with their best design inspirations! It is my favorite place in all the world!

When I found the FBI office I was reminded of where the designers of Project Runway or The Fashion Show do their work and fight over sewing machines. She showed me a large room big enough for many designers to congregate, classrooms where aspiring designers were furiously taking notes, equipped with rows of computers and…get this…a fabric printer!

Frances took me to her office where I sat down to ask her some questions. I started by asking her about her background in fashion design and how she came to start Fashion Business Inc. From a small town in Northern England, Frances grew up in a family of designers. She was certainly influenced as a young girl. She even embellished her boring school uniform to make it a little more fashionable. Interestingly, she admitted that her first love was really graphic design and still finds that world intriguing. But nonetheless, she started designing knitwear in a factory in Northern England and found she was quite good at it. And so her career began. Frances’ career has enjoyed so many different experiences from knitwear in England, to pattern-making in Germany and eventually on growing labels in the United States. All the while, she often worked as a design educator as well.

Frances is a fantastic resource for young designers not only because of her experience, but also for her willingness to share her experiences. I hope that new designers who read this will consider using her as a resource to learn more and get ahead in the business. In 1999, Frances opened the doors of FBI to those who needed this assistance and she hasn’t looked back. Today, Frances speaks at high-profile fashion and design conferences all over the world and was even voted for four consecutive years by California Apparel News to be one of the most influential women in fashion in Los Angeles!

Some of the services FBI offers to new designers are resume reviews, help with merchandising, producing quality samples, marketing, financial strategies and technological training needed to launch in fashion today. Click here to see the complete list of upcoming events from FBI and to RSVP for a workshop. Many of the classes do cost a fee, but some are free!

I look forward to filling you in on more of what FBI has to offer in the coming months. And, stay tuned for an FBI sponsored giveaway you won’t want to miss…here on Little Designer Book. Details to come…

Thanks, Frances, for taking the time to talk with us! We really appreciate what you are doing to help support new talent in fashion design.