Student Spotlight - Nevaeh Hearn

Fashion Industry & Merchandising Senior and Drexel Finalist for NRF Foundation’s Most Prestigious Scholarship Shares Her Passion For Adaptive Fashion and Retail Innovation

Nevaeh Hearn (Fashion Industry & Merchandising ’25) is a Top Five Finalist for the 2025 NRF Foundation Next Generation Scholarship. The competition will culminate in New York on January 12, 2025 at the NRF Foundation Honors, with a top scholarship prize of $25,000

Nevaeh spoke with Alyssa Johnson (Graphic Design ‘27) about her journey to the finals, her passion for adaptive fashion and her hopes for a future career in retail.

Alyssa (A): How did you decide on going into the fashion industry?

Nevaeh (N): When I was 12, I was a competitive gymnast, but I experienced an unfortunate injury during competition that caused me to lose my ability to walk for two years And during that time, I really fell in love with art as a coping strategy. Painting, drawing, graphic design, film, photography, makeup. I was just expressing myself in everything I could because I didn't have gymnastics anymore And so, I kind of went through an identity crisis I couldn't walk But I don't want to be pitied It turns out I had a really rare condition called complex regional pain syndrome If you have a traumatic injury, your brain can almost lose its connection with you, with the nerves. So, it was just a bad ankle injury at first, but over time it just progressed until that connection with the brain and the nervous systems just got lost And it was just like, “oh, we forget how to walk now” I’ve found belonging again in fashion, and I discovered that I’m passionate about wanting to help others.

A: Would you say that you were always sure about going into the fashion industry as a major, or did you have other options that you were thinking about?

N: At first, I was really into film, but film is a little tricky when it comes to the industry. So I felt my love for fashion was kind of an overshot film and also just career opportunities There's fashion design and then there's also the business side of fashion So I wanted to kind of have a mix of both the design side and the business side Right now, I'm working on my senior thesis I’m passionate about adaptive fashion, so I'm creating a program that can help brands create adaptive fashion lines. They can either do this by taking their existing lines for ablebodied people and creating modifications for people with disabilities, or by creating a whole collection specifically for people with disabilities.

I want to provide resources, support and guidelines for brands It will walk them through the entire process of how to create adaptive fashion, and it will give them background information on what adaptation is, why it's needed, the type of consumer it's needed. And then I want to have a resources tab to help them get in touch with brands that already do adaptive fashion There will also be a design tab, so they can input their item and then play around with settings to modify it

A: What keeps you inspired in the ever-evolving industry of fashion?

N: I would say the people and the consumers are the priority when it comes to fashion Although many brands don't really care for the consumer, they mainly care for profit The consumer is the root, and you wouldn't really have these products without a consumer to get them to. I think the consumer is what motivates me since my passion really started with wanting to help people with their design Although the fashion industry has a lot of problems, I can see how much it can also help people That’s a huge factor in why I really like fashion and the retail industry in general, because it's so broad and just wonderful

A: Turning to the competition in which you’re a finalist: What is the NRF Foundation and their mission? What do they do?

N: The NRF Foundation is part of the National Retail Federation, but they're the nonprofit wing. Their goal is to give access to more resources and jobs and opportunities in retail, especially for students With this competition, they collaborate with universities to recognize talented students, develop business skills, and help launch careers in retail.

A: How was the application process?

N: The application process was long. It started in March. Well it started in January, but my professor reached out to me in March asking me if I want to do it Which is funny, because she reached out to me last year about it, and I told her no I just was not in a place to do it And then a year later, she again asked me if I'm interested It was a sign, the fact that she's asking me again, that maybe I should just say yes. And it's my last year.

The first round was an essay, a video, transcripts and letters of recommendation. By June, I found out that I was in the top 25. That’s when I had to move on to the case study, the biggest part of the phase, which is a collaboration with a retailer We worked with Uniqlo this year, and we had to design a collaboration with an artist or another brand to create a whole new product launch for them. That includes marketing, merchandising, financials and key performance indicators (KPIs). It was so long, but it's only allowed to be 10 pages After that was submitted, I found out that I was in the top ten After a round of interviews, I made the top five Just last week, actually, I had my last interview with the NRF board.

A: What are your project details?

N: The artist that I chose to collaborate with is Yinka Shonibare He’s a British artist who lives with a disability called transverse myelitis My brand partner Uniqlo has a product line called “Made for All LifeWear” They say that they have clothes that are made for everyone, but I felt they were missing people with disabilities. I thought this was a great opportunity to combine my passions I created an adaptive line with Yinka’s work He's a very vibrant contemporary artist, and he does lots of bold and colorful sculptures and paintings He also works a lot with fabrics, so I thought he was perfect for this When you think of Uniqlo, you think of clothing staples, which is fine, but I think they can expand more, and they often do so with their collections I thought this was a good opportunity for them to be more fashion forward with more bold patterns, prints and colors, especially for people with disabilities The collection I made has different adaptive components: magnetic zippers, Velcro closures and things that make dressing easier and create more independence.

N: My personal experience played into it, but I try not to go into it with a bias of, “I want to put my passion into this” Once I did research on Uniqlo and really saw what they stood for, I felt like they already resonated with my passion Then I had to choose who to collab with, which took forever At first, I was looking at brands, and I just could not find a brand that fit. Then I was up all night trying to find an artist, and I finally came on Yinka I learned about his disability, and just seeing his art and comparing it to Uniqlo helped me decide.

A: How has this competition shaped or influenced your approach to design?

N: It's taught me a lot about myself about just the industry in general but especially myself. I didn't think I could do half of this Although I've done some of these types of things in my classes, this kind of project that's so complex and has so many moving parts is usually something we would do on a team I've always loved working individually rather than in a group, but because there were so many parts, I didn't know how I was going to do it at first I guess I showed up for myself in a way that I didn't know I could It taught me that I can work under pressure more than I think I can.

And also, just with my design process, it taught me more about technical design, using Illustrator and Photoshop to create patterns and then doing the sketches and inputting the patterns into the sketches That was something that I already kind of knew from one previous class in my Co-op, but creating an entire collection The patterns were mainly Yinka’s art, but I had to resize and split some of them up to fit a shirt or pants or change the colors on them That part was just fun I also connected back with how I combined both design and business, because I was creating all these designs, but I also had to think about how I was going to market it, how I was going to merchandise it and how I was going to price it.

A: Other than the business side of things, are there any other skills or lessons you've learned throughout the process?

N: Definitely! I had to do a total of 4 interviews, and that taught me so much about interviewing skills I already had some practice from Co-op, but this got me real experience: a real executive board with presidents for Macy's and Old Navy That's intimidating! It gave me more experience communicating to professionals. All the finalists have the same passion for retail, so I really had to think of how I could make myself stand out.

A: I heard you'll be on stage with Tommy Hilfiger. How do you feel about that?

N: I'm really excited! I'm hoping I get to talk to him, especially about adaptive fashion.

Pictured: Nevaeh Hearn and Fashion Industry & Merchandising Associate Teaching Professor Maureen DeSimone, MBA, who serves as faculty lead and mentor to students competing in The NRF Foundation Awards. Photography by The NRF Foundation.