Fashion Forward Thinking: Why One Budding Designer is Prioritizing Business

MANHATTAN, NY — Jake Matluck, 21, lounges with his back against a large window overlooking Washington Square Park. He looks minimalistic and impeccably chic in Celine jeans, Common Projects Chelsea boots, a black, thick-knit turtleneck and a delicate gold chain with the letter “J” dangling from the end. Sitting amongst shopping bags filled with scented candles, crystal vases, and delicate branches, Matluck presents the perfect visual for a budding fashion designer.

Matluck is a student in his final year at New York University (NYU) Gallatin School of Individualized Study who began his own fashion line about six months ago. Matluck’s self-designed degree is titled The Language of Communication, Media and Design, in which he has studied 80% business and 20% art. Before transferring to NYU, Matluck was predominantly studying art while minoring in business, however, once he transferred, he realized he already had ample innate creativity; what he lacked was business acumen.

Matluck’s brand is named The Solipsist. Solipsism is a Latin word for alone with oneself, and Matluck’s brand takes this idea, modernizing and altering it to mean the things that one surrounds oneself with should be rigorously edited and entirely essential, reflecting the individual. The Solipsist is unisex, taking luxury minimalism to a new level and focusing on the individual. In the words commonly accredited to Mies van der Rohe, “Less is more.”

That statement may be true for the aesthetic of the brand, however, less is certainly not more when it comes to the knowledge needed to launch a fashion label. Although Matluck has learned a lot in school, he is a self-teacher stating, “If I’m really interested in something, I’ll just figure it out.”

Although it might seem that designers should go to school for design, students like Matluck are proving that this may not always be the advisable route. Making the decision to focus his education on business as a means of supplementing his inherent creative tendencies has given Matluck a leg up and a strong foundation on which to build up an entire business rather than just a clothing collection. Although he may have a highly unique and appealing product, Matluck has differentiated himself as a business professional in a highly saturated industry of designers.

“You can make and design the best product you want, but without the skills to do the data analytics, to have the social media, to put all that stuff together, it’s just not likely that it’s going to work,” says Jeffrey Carr, a clinical professor of marketing and entrepreneurship at NYU Stern School of Business. “There’s this ongoing issue of focusing on this thing, this product, when the success is much more broad-based.”

Carr sits reclined behind the L-shaped desk in his office, the radio tuned low to a jazz music station, and the upper button of his crisp, white button-down undone underneath his brown, wool, chevron patterned jacket.

“The world doesn’t need more fashion designers,” he says, folding his hands together and propping them in his lap. “But if that’s what you want to do, do it now.” He chuckles dryly, fingering the gold signet ring on his pinky.

Carr has been a professor at NYU Stern for over 20 years. Apart from teaching, he is also the director of the NYU Stern Fashion & Luxury Lab, which focuses on building and growing relationships between students, faculty and the fashion and luxury industries. Carr has been self-employed since the age of 23, which likely lends to his vibrant can-do mentality as well as his plethora of knowledge about what makes a great business.

Camila Hernandez is the brand coordinator at Wolf & Badger, a company based out of London that recently opened a boutique in New York and works with independent designers and artisans from around the world.

“Weirdly enough I feel like a lot of the designers that have done super well with us aren’t the typical creative types. It’s usually people with backgrounds in finance and banking. People with more of a left brain kind of background tend to do super well,” Hernandez muses. “It’s almost like they start this off as a hobby and then it just picks up because they know what they’re doing from a business perspective.”

And there has been a myriad of logistical aspects of fashion Matluck has had to navigate. He has had to not only teach himself the ins and outs of pattern making, clothing production, fabric swatches and buttons but also how to put himself out there.

“[The greatest challenge] is factories taking me seriously because I’m so young,” Matluck states. “I feel like I get pushed to the side even though I know exactly what I want and I have all my shit together. It’s a lot of negotiating and proving that I’m serious.”

Although Matluck feels he is more creative than business-centric, he has come to like learning about the business side of things, although he has no interest in remaining at the business helm were his label to succeed.

Running a good business, however, is more to Matluck than simply producing garments. One of his goals, and something he believes differentiates his brand from other luxury startups, is for The Solipsist to be the first entirely American-made luxury brand. Although Matluck doesn’t believe clothing can ever truly be sustainable, he intends for his pieces to last for many years. And by working with all New York-based factories and sourcing, he intends to uphold sustainable business practices.

“I’m trying to support the local economy. If I wasn’t able to visit the factory every day if I wanted to, it would kind of eat me,” Matluck confides seriously. “I want to know who’s making my stuff, I want to know what the facility looks like, I want to know that they’re being paid a fair wage, and I want to know the people making the clothing.”