School House <3's: Little Fashion Designers.

Can you see these? Our scanner isn't the best. These are some highly adorable undies designed by the daughter of School House's CFO, Anthony, whose enthusiasm for Virginia Tech rivals my Uncle Wayne's for the University of Alabama...

So hi, Belinda Leffler! We would be super excited if you returned our phone calls over at the VA Tech bookstore, as we are now licensed and my sister's husband is going to murder me if I design one more hoodie that isn't for the hokies! Please thank you! xoxo Rachel

We Got A Box.

Almost a year and a half ago, Colleen took me to a home just outside of Baltimore, Maryland to meet The Three Amigos. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Casey 1, Stevie, and Casey 2 Clark.

The Three Amigos are the best kept secret in the trim business. I don't mind sharing them with you, though. :)

For you non-garmentos out there, trim is anything added to garments that isn't *fabric* - think care labels, hangtags, and zipper pulls. The Three Amigos have built a quiet empire being the experts, and School House has had the great, great fortune of working with them since before we knew our asses from our elbows. I'm not sure why they took a liking to us that "Pizza Friday" at their place... why they took me under their wing, made 25 labels when I needed it, rush delivered way too many times, cared enough to take my phone calls when I was driving away from a great sales meeting. But I sure am grateful. I hope they continue to do what they do forever, not just for School House but for an industry that is becoming more and more Li & Fungized every day (if you haven't heard of Li & Fung, take a look... I'm pretty sure they own China.)

Long story short, when Colleen and I first visited their basement full of treasures, there were walls of trim boxes for Osh Kosh, Timberland, Under Armour, Bebe, etc. We were just starting out, one order in our hand from Duke and a dream to build a brand. Fifteen months later, we're well on our way... We have a box at The 3 Amigos.

xo from D.C.,
Rachel

Brown Kids, Broadway, and UPenn Are For Lovers: R. Dubs and C. Mac in the Northeast

Two weeks ago, Colleen and I packed up our body bags full 'o hoodies and took the northeast by storm. In the interest of full transparency - or more aptly, in the hope that any students at these universities who happen to read this will call their bookstores and sweetly insist that they place their spring orders ASAP - we met with Brown, UPenn, FIT, and NYU. As usual, I fell in love with every one of them for very different reasons...

[Colleen on the train to Providence:]


First, there was Bonnie at Brown, the sweetest descendent of Irishmen I've ever met, who told us all about how Emma Watson and Donatella Versace's daughter have been chilling in the bookstore (OK, not together, and not really "chilling")... and yes, I am in the middle of a very nice hand-written note to her publicist explaining precisely why she needs our Brown Varsity Cardigan. If she wouldn't mind wearing it on a day when the 'ratzis are following her, wonderful, thank you!


Bonnie also shared the challenges of selling family merchandise for Brown, since it inevitably results in such un-PC products as "BROWN KID" and "BROWN GRANDMA" t-shirts. I laughed about 3 minutes longer than I should have.

FIT and NYU are just going to be insanely fun in 2010. All I have to say is, Broadway is gonna have 2 new windowdressers in town by the names of Colleen and Rachel, and it is gonna be beautiful.

Our day at UPenn was a highlight... we met everyone from the very kind bookstore buyers, Nicole and Lew, to a delightful group of administrators by the names of Ilene, Christopher, and Marie. There were multiple fashion shows required of Colleen and I, and they very generously invited us to come back to their campus for the launch. Christopher even wants me to read from my senior thesis in Women's Studies, despite the fact that no one has ever read it besides my Women's Studies advisor and that it's entirely about the bra as a symbol of feminism's internal debates...actually he may not know that part yet.

Rachel vs. Body Bag, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I think I got away with falling over on the escalator because I was wearing a gold trench:


Yes, I cry sometimes after wonderful meetings and UPenn was one of them. I think after spending a week lugging an 80 pound suitcase all over Manhattan, and a year and half trying to sell the world on my dream, it was overwhelming to encounter some very experienced people who just really, truly, got it. When you spend so much time brushing off criticism and small failures, a validation like the one we felt from UPenn just made us want to float back to Manhattan on air... or, on 3 vodka martinis and a business class Amtrak seat! Woo!

Above, Rachel post-urgent wardrobe change in the middle of a midtown Kinko's.... Colleen and I taking our shirts off in the corner was probably the most excitement those dudes got that day!

A very special thank you to Faran Krentcil of NYLON Magazine for reminding me about the beauty of the information age: we don't have to wait to be famous.

With that in mind, I'm tweeting, folks. Follow me @schoolhouseinc !

XO
Rachel

With Wisdom She Lights The Way: KPS.

I've just returned from a whirlwind 10 day trip to the NE, and want to reflect on my favorite day before I tell you about the rest of the goose chase.

So. World, meet the ladies of Kent Place School. Get ready, because they're going to run you one day.

Above: KPS girls plotting socially responsible world domination.

KPS is an all-girls kindergarten through 12 independent college-preparatory day school in Summit, New Jersey. I was invited to come and speak by fellow Duke alumna and Women's Studies advocate, Mrs. Sarah Rosen. I jumped at the opportunity to come and meet with these students, whose school has the kind of mission that tugs at every one of my 'lil feminist heartstrings...

From their website: "For over 100 years, KPS has provided a superior education for young women who demonstrate strong scholastic and creative ability. Its mission is to offer students of diverse backgrounds, in nursery school through grade twelve, an academically rigorous curriculum in a caring atmosphere; to encourage them to contribute to and find success in this challenging program; to inspire young women to leadership; and to strengthen moral awareness. Committed to a liberal arts education that combines tradition and innovation, Kent Place provides the stimulus for each student to achieve her full academic, physical, and creative potential; to love learning; to gain confidence; to live responsibly; and to develop respect for herself and others in the global community."

AMEN.

I wish I'd taken pictures with the girls, but a glance at their seal will have to do. It has beat out Harvard, Yale, UPenn, and the University of Maryland in School House's unofficial "Favorite Seal or Crest" competition. This is the best version I could find (ignore the yellow rim):


I met so many wonderful girls, including a 7th grader looking for an internship opportunity. Yes, they are WAY ahead of the game. I also received the ultimate compliment- being called "sooooo cool" by a pair of 8th graders! Can I retire now?

Thank you, Kent Place, for listening to my story and inspiring me more than you know... the world is your oyster!

xo
Rachel

The Man Behind The Brand

Is there a saying that goes "Behind every great white lady... is a Sri Lankan man who taught her everything?" If not, I'm coining it today. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Upali Weerakoon.



But first, let me tell you how I met him. While living in Sri Lanka as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar, certain I had everything I needed to start my own brand and a living wage garment factory (oh, ignorance can be bliss!), I placed an advertisement in the Sunday Observer, a Colombo newspaper. It read something like "U.S. buyer seeking small, flexible apparel manufacturer for unique ethical manufacturing initiative." The day I placed the advertisement, there was a suicide bomb 2 blocks from the newspaper building... but that's a different story for a different day!

I received dozens of phone calls, some strange, some intriguing. One of them came from Upali Weerakoon, and we agreed to meet at a coffee shop to discuss my project. Several weeks and phone calls later, Upali convinced me that I did not really need the fancy business plan I had in mind, I needed **samples** and one hell of an order from the university clients I was after.



So I got in his car, and we went to make some samples.

With Roshan, his friend and colleague, behind the wheel, we went on a high speed chase through the streets of Colombo, the neighboring villages, and out to the free trade zones. We visited trim suppliers (hang tags, labels, etc.), fabric mills and libraries, sample rooms, and countless factories to develop the sample collection for Duke. My garment industry vocabulary must have grown 800% in 4 weeks. It was like a crash course in "Everything You Wanted To Know About T-Shirts But Were Afraid To Ask." And it was deeply, wildly fascinating.

In between factory visits, Upali took me to his house to eat what will always remain my favorite food on earth: Sri Lankan. At most of the fancy Fulbright events I was attending, we were treated like westerners and given forks and knives... at Upali's house I learned to eat rice and curry with my fingers, the way they do - only with much less grace and a little more mouth-gaping. Thinking of the curries we ate at his house still makes my mouth water. Afterwards, we'd all take a nap in the mid-afternoon heat before going out to brave the rag trade wildnerness again.

By nighttime, I fell asleep feeling like God put me on earth to come to Sri Lanka and meet this man. I was never sure why Upali treated me like a daughter from the moment I met him. Maybe he saw how much I had fallen in love with his country and culture, how I wanted beyond all else to do something good in his tiny, beautiful corner of the world. As an American not used to this kind of treatment, his endless time, energy, and giving often made me feel guilty... in the way that someone can feel undeserving of the love in their lives.

I hope you actually get to meet Upali one day, because there's no way you wouldn't love him. In the meantime, know that he has made every t-shirt, hoodie, or yoga pant you buy possible. He was the second person, after my own father, to believe in me. And he knows more about bringing people together to make beautiful garments than anyone you'll ever meet.

ETHICAL FASHIONISTAS: Safia Minney.

I just love People Tree, and was reminded of founder Safia Minney today while browsing ethical fashion sites... Her wikipedia write-up does her justice: "Safia Minney is founder of Fair Trade and environmental fashion and lifestyle label People Tree. Safia turned a life-long interest in environmental, trade and social justice issues from a lifestyle into a Fair Trade business and is regarded as one of the worlds, if not the worlds, foremost commentators of Fair Trade in the fashion industry. Safia Minney also instigated World Fair Trade Day for which she still runs the secretariat from her Japanese office."

People Tree seems to be taking on more and more interesting projects, collaborating with designers & now Emma Watson of Harry Potter fame to debut a fair trade fashion line...!

I Like My Job

**MODELS NEEDED FOR FALL 2010 AD CAMPAIGN SHOOT**

SCHOOL HOUSE is an ethical collegiate apparel brand offering up trend-driven, quality collegiate duds to universities all over North Carolina, and expanding into the northeast this fall!

We're bringing our creative team and NC-based photographer Keith Papke out to Golden Belt, a fabulous new creative/studio/office/event space in Durham, NC to shoot our Made in Sri Lanka duds on August 15th and 16th. We are looking for BOTH student and professional models who want to come out, earn a little extra cash, and be the new faces of the brand this fall!

WHAT: School House seeks bright, energetic, professional and/or student, punctual models, both male and female, for a two-day photo shoot in Durham, North Carolina.

The photographer’s work can be seen @ http://www.originalmindproductions.com/

The venue can be viewed @ http://www.goldenbeltarts.com/index.shtml

This is a paid shoot. Images will be published as part of School House's ad campaign and released to models for portfolio/trade use.

Requirements for prospective models are as follows (please read thoroughly):

MALE: Between ages 18-25. 5’10’’ to 6’3’’ in height. Available for a casting call (location TBD in Durham) on Tuesday, August 11th. Full day availability on Aug. 15th and 16th (Saturday and Sunday) for the actual shoot.

FEMALE: Between ages 18-25. 5’7’’ to 6’0’’ in height. Available for a casting call (location TBD in Durham) on Tuesday, August 11th. Full day availability on Aug. 15th and 16th (Saturday and Sunday) for the actual shoot.

In both cases think energetic, collegiate, athletic with a warm and infectious smile. More commercial. Less editorial.

Professional models must have either a portfolio and/or a comp card at the casting call. IF YOU ARE A STUDENT, don't worry about this.

EMAIL INFO@SHOPSCHOOLHOUSE.COM WITH THE FOLLOWING (Very important, otherwise your submission may be ignored):

1. A boring plain jane head shot. No make-up, no hair. Think snapshot. We need to see you as you really are.
2. Stats: i.e. Height, weight, age, shoe size
3. Contact info: Name, address/location (need to know if you are out of Durham), phone and email.

Once all facebook/craigslist submissions are reviewed prospective models will be contacted for the time and location of the casting call. Please note all prospective models must appear in person at the casting. We will not book models without meeting in person before hand.

What a difference two years make...

Running a company, 'lil as ours may be, is no easy job. The majority of your days are spent doing the not-so-fun stuff: number crunching, prioritizing phone calls, arguing over graphic placements, attempting to convince licensing directors that not offering womens collegiate underwear is somehow sexist... you get the idea.

Today in the UNC Bookstore, however, I had one of those rare and perfect "this has all been worth it" moments. I came back to see how the store had displayed our new merchandise for Carolina (go check it out!!). When I saw the cute display they created, I remembered standing in this exact same spot 2 years ago, looking at some boxer shorts I didn't think were all that great. I knew back then I wanted to start a collegiate apparel company, but had no idea what that would entail... Two years later our Little Undies That Could have set up camp where those boxers were, and every inch of that comfy elastic is the result of so many people who have helped me make my dream come true...and so many people in Sri Lanka who care about this company, who take unbelievable pride in their work. When I actually stand back and look at it all... I can hardly believe what we've done.

OUR HOUSE: Weeks & McCann in the big city.

I recently made my first trip back to NYC in exactly a year for a couple of very exciting meetings. Can't share any details yet, but I will share a little photo of Colleen & I posing beneath Liz Claiborne's golden name... R.I.P. Liz C.!

MEET THE PRESS: Duke Magazine.

http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/dukemag/issues/070809/move1.html

Sri Lanka Pics (148 photos), by Rachel Weeks

Hey guys... check out 160 of the 3000+ images taken by C. Stephen Hurst on my last trip to Sri Lanka in March!

http://www1.snapfish.com/fbshareredirect/p=754121247459761984/l=1884880016/g=7418947/redirectURL=share/otsi=SALBBL/AlbumID=328372016/a=7418947_7418947/usercomments=I_xqd%20like%20to%20share%20my%20Snapfish%20photos%20with%20you.%20Once%20you%20have%20checked%20out%20my%20photos%20you%20can%20order%20prints%20and%20upload%20your%20own%20photos%20to%20share./counttext=148%20photos/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish

OUR HOUSE: Thirsty Thursday.

Last Thursday, School House was thrilled to join The Conference Store for COLLEGE NIGHT at the Greensboro Grasshoppers! Boys in baseball uniforms, $1 beers, and School House... what more could you ask for?!

The School House Street Team is growing by the day... below, me with Connie, Ashley, and Jill - 3 fabulous ladies who made our new ASU, Wake Forest, and Duke styles look very, very good.


Making everything look pretty...


Cristie always comes prepared!


And finally, my old buddy Travis with his main girl Marisa, who also happens to be School House's Star Street Teamer/Chapel Hill Intern. Could not have made it through Raleigh Fashion Week without you, Marisa!


Shop School House!
xo
Rachel

SHOP: THE CONFERENCE STORE.

School House is thrilled to name The Conference Store as our first retail partner right here in sunny Greensboro, North Carolina!

Below, Cristie and I in front of our in-store display. We are both proud graduates of the Paris Hilton School of Posing...




Our in-store display features old school lockers, pom-poms, and all the Duke, UNC, and Wake Forest gear your little heart desires...



Check out our new STICKERS... free with every School House purchase!


The Conference Stores is located at 1218-R Bridford Parkway (off of West Wendover Avenue) near Target and Elizabeth's Pizza.


SHOP SCHOOL HOUSE!
xo
Rachel

NEVER GRADUATE: EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE.

In our first year, we've already had the chance to design for some pretty amazing schools: Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, East Carolina (hello, Pirates!), Harvard and Yale. However, I cannot quite contain my excitement over designing for the best college to never win the ACC, Evergreen State College.

Let's start with their mascot: the Geoduck (pronounced GOOEY-DUCK). The geoduck is the largest burrowing bi-valve clam in the world. All I know is, if this thing came flying at me at a basketball game I would definitely run away.

<--------- very realistic drawing of geoduck



cuter drawing of geoduck ------->




Evergreen also happens to have the best university motto I've ever heard - "Omnia Extares" or "Let it all hang out" - which may have something to do with the fact that they were founded in 1967.

I really hope we get to visit soon!

xo Rachel

MEET THE PRESS

Front page on June 17th!

Greensboro native heads company with a conscience

Neslon Kepley (News & Record)

Photo Caption: Rachel Weeks, (center), president of the School House clothing company, looks at models Robin Raimo (right) and Christie Saintsing (left) to see how different sizes of the same shirt fit them on Tuesday.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

By Gerald Witt
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO -- Rachel Weeks had to hop off the phone for a lunch appointment Tuesday.

“I’m sorry, I’ll just call back later,” said the 24-year-old Greensboro native and president of School House, a company founded on fair wages for Sri Lankan factory workers and trendy cuts for women and men wearing the threads here.

Lately, Weeks has been busy expanding her line of collegiate-wear beyond the bookstore at her alma mater, Duke University, and on to Harvard, Yale and other schools. On June 26, The Conference Store in Greensboro will begin selling the clothes.

School House sells spirit with styles that go beyond a typical boxy college T-shirt.

Weeks and her creative director, Colleen McCann, designed the clothes on those found in stores such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister or Urban Outfitters.

“The brands that these young women and men are buying right now,” Weeks said, “none of those fits were showing up on the brands of the college bookstore.”

Weeks, a 2003 graduate of Grimsley High School, refined the sensibility of her company as a Fulbright Scholar in Sri Lanka in 2007. While there, she landed contacts and learned about workers in clothing manufacturing. Workers making School House clothes earn enough money to survive, she said, unlike employees at many other factories in developing nations.

“I was a women’s studies major at Duke, and I have been socially conscious and interested in feminist causes,” she said of her motivation to pay fair wages.

Women comprise the majority of employees in the Sri Lankan apparel factories.

Her workers receive at least $160 per month, which she said is more than double what other clothing factories pay.
The appeal of fashion and good business practice to consumers here is evident.

“I think her products — given its uniqueness — it has created its own demand,” said Jim Wilkerson, director of Duke University Stores. He was also the person who gave Weeks her first contract.

Weeks said that Wilkerson and many others have helped as she developed the idea into to a startup and is poised for expansion this summer into Greensboro and up the East Coast.

Wilkerson has long paid attention to what the Duke store sells and how products were made. And plenty of people come to him with ideas on building a better business.

Few of those ideas get off the ground.

Even fewer are successful.

But it appears that Weeks has the drive and pluck to carry on, Wilkerson said.

“She’s achieved a some unusual things thus far,” he said. “I just hopes that she remembers all of us when she becomes rich and famous.”

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt@news-record.com

THE GUIDE.

We're back in action, folks! It's been a crazy month - from fit sessions to fitness designs, a website makeover (coming soon!) to 1, 2, 3, 4, FIVE successful sales meetings... our summer's been off to a fabulous start.

As promised, our new blog is going to feature both regular posts from moi about the life and times of a social entrepreneur and her Best Team Ever, as well as regular features relating to ethical fashion, the garment biz, college culture, and much much more.

For now, we're loosely categorizing our new venture into the following features:

GARMENT GURU.
Starting a fashion company is no easy job. It requires dedication, hard work, and countless hours learning entirely too much about the shrinkage tendencies of brushed-back fleece. For all you budding "garmentos" out there, we decided we'd pass along some nuggets of fashion wisdom in this column... you'll learn about bar-coding, tech specs, strike offs, FOBs and even some SOBs.

NEVER GRADUATE.
The best part about starting a collegiate apparel company? COLLEGE. Not only do Colleen and I love to crash frat parties and ask boys to share their feelings on boxers versus briefs, but colleges are just fascinating places to get to know. Never Graduate will feature everything from random facts on universities we come across in our travels to interviews with the folks we meet, and snapshots from campus life. I already can't wait to write about my favorite university mascot to date... the GEODUCK (get ready for School House, Evergreen!).

ETHICAL FASHIONISTAS.
In just about every corner of the world, there are men and women Doing Good in the fashion business. Sometimes, it's one woman on a mission to bring environmentally sustainable practices to the increasingly complex, global apparel supply chain (Meet Summer Rayne Oakes). Other times, it's a major corporation like Gap with their hands in some pretty progressive projects, or a dressmaker from rural North Carolina with a heart of gold. In Ethical Fashionistas, we'll give these folks the School House Salute.

OUR HOUSE.
Want to meet the fabulous ladies who answer our telephones? How about Milan, our Sri Lanka Brand Manager and all-around BOSS? Or "Promise," the bell-hop who helped us transport dozens of t-shirts at the Marriot Hotel? Our House is all about School House - the people and places who have made this crazy business into the Little Company That Could.

SHOP.
Breaking news about School House products, our retail accounts, new store locations, events and promotions!



xoxo
Rachel

The New SH Blog

Dearest friends and fans of School House,

No, School House has not shut its doors and retired to the south Caribbean. We've just been BUSY! Annnd I also took a vacation. My first in a year...and it was wonderful.

Since I last wrote, SH has been flying off the ole shelves at UNC-Chapel Hill, Julian's Boutique, Wake Forest University Stores, and at Duke University Stores. Our sell-throughs have started opening doors to other North Carolina universities as well as to an association of independent college bookstores across the country, and I am thrilled to say that we will have several new school launches to announce this fall !

Now that we have our Greensboro HQ set-up, an incredible team in place, and some fabulous interns based both in Greensboro and New York, I have decided to recruit their help in posting updates on all things School House on our blog. In addition, we'll be running features on all the people and places that make our little company tick, sharing garment industry factoids for all you aspiring garmentos out there, and much more. Stay tuned, and as always... shop School House!

xo
Rachel

A&B Store Fixtures, Part II...and the best team since sliced bread

Well folks, we are launching at UNC this weekend, and you know what that means... time for another trip to A&B Store Fixtures! In case you missed my last post about this place, A&B is the warehouse store where secondhand retail fixtures go to rest in peace... and it's one of my favorite places on earth. There are entire rows of baby mannequins, plastic male crotches, "GRAND OPENING" signs, and every kind of hanger imaginable...

Once again, Buddha blessed us with the most perfect vintage locker to go in UNC Student Stores. I am including only a sneak peak here, because we need you to come to the store to check it out!

Louis at A&B was a huge help in getting that sucker out of the store and into the parking lot, where my dear, dear mother proceeded to paint it black... Louis also told Cristie that a few years before she was born, he was probably jumping out of planes in Vietnam and "making people disappear". I would not mess with Louis. Although I did convince him to take a picture with me!


The mannequin section is soooo creepy... but I can't stay away....


In upcoming post, everyone needs to get a tour of SH's new HQ in Greensboro. We are feeling like kind of a big deal now that we operate in "Guilford Corporate Park", and actually now that the "we" isn't just me asking my mother to pretend she's my secretary... there are 4 new additions to the SH-NC team who are making my life a little easier and more exciting by the day!

One of the first you'll meet is Ms. Cristie Blix, seen below living up her first trip to A&B. Cristie is the freshest thing to come out of Florida since orange juice (??), and she is already taking the reigns of SH marketing & promotions... here we come, Raleigh Fashion Week!


I have a dream team now that I'm thanking my lucky stars for. From Colleen in NY to Upali and Milan in SL, and now with Sharon, Cristie, Jane and Don in GSO... we're on our way, folks. :)

SHOP SCHOOL HOUSE @ UNC!

xox
Rachel

Carolina Girls... Best in the World.

First off, to anyone out there following my travels through entrepreneurshipland, sorry that I fell off the planet for a few weeks! Since the Duke launch things have been wild and crazy in the most wonderful way possible. Sure, my forehead is permanently wrinkled, but I really love it inside!

Now for the big news: SCHOOL HOUSE IS LAUNCHING AT UNC-CHAPEL HILL AND WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY THIS SATURDAY, MAY 9TH!

Products will be available at Julian's Boutique on Franklin Street, the UNC Student Store, and Wake Forest University Stores' main on-campus location!

We wouldn't make it through the next week without the assistance of some unusually fabulous ladies from UNC, who have been amazing to have on board. You'll meet them soon.

A little sneak peak...




xo
Rachel

... AND WE'RE OFF.

There aren't quite words to describe the feeling of seeing School House go on sale at the Duke Store yesterday. I can only say that it was a little like seeing my heart and soul explode on 80 square feet of retail space...

Now for our feature presentation, Day One In Pictures! (apologies for the quality, I'm on the hunt for a new point-and-shoot...)

The truck I drove with our store fixtures and some last-minute deliveries:

One of many things they didn't teach me in my Women's Studies classes: truck driving. Sorry for the scratch on your bumper, Ms. Olson...

Tom Craig at Duke Stores is one of my favorite people. Not only does he love Elvis, he is full of great ideas like this one: floor decals with the SH logo!


Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of all the helpful gentlemen at Duke Stores, who helped us get our 8 foot tall peg board display up the steps. A very big thank you to Willie and his guys!

Our vintage locker! Can't beat 80 bucks at A&B Store Fixtures...

I decorated with images of our amazing team in Sri Lanka, and some funny postcards:


The team!



The clothes!


Paul, my friend since way-back-when, was super helpful! All day moral support + light-to-moderate manual labor. Thanks, buddy. :)


While I'm waiting anxiously for Tom to get back from D.C. and tell me how much we sold in Day 1, let me just say that we witnessed at least 14 sales in a couple of hours!

However, sometimes people came into our nook, picked up clothes, and decided against them for some unknown, unacceptable reason. So I had to start making sure they didn't wander away before I explained just how much they needed School House in their lives.

Freaking people out...in a friendly saleswoman kind of way:


Our day ended with a final delivery to the Duke Stores Warehouse, where an employee asked, "Hey, are you Donna Karan, the new designer? We love your clothes, it's like the NEW MILLENNIUM!" I told him I didn't think Donna Karan delivered her own clothes to warehouses, to which he replied, "A step at a time, girl." I couldn't agree more. :) Besides, our Donna Karan is the one and only Colleen McCann, one of the sweetest and most talented people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. You'll meet her soon!

Can you tell that I want to give the world a hug this weekend? I think I'll do just that.

SHOP SCHOOL HOUSE!

Rachel