ILLUSTRATION BY: TIM GOH/THE HOYA
Fashion at Georgetown University gets versatile — the university has produced designers and business directors who are sending their clothes out into the world. This year’s fashion issue spotlights three up-and-coming brands.
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Clemente Concept Collaborating with her mother and younger sister, Ana Lucía Marín Jaramillo (MSB ’21) founded Clemente Concept in 2019 while she was studying operations and information management at Georgetown. Marín Jaramillo saw an opening in the fashion industry for a brand that created beautiful multipurpose scarves, and as the cofounder and corporate director of Clemente, she has turned the lessons she learned at Georgetown University into a successful fashion line. Scarves in Jaramillo’s Clemente x Gtown capsule collection (pictured above) cost $70. In preparation for the brand’s Nov. 20 New York trunk show, Marín Jaramillo sat down with The Hoya over Zoom to discuss the inspiration behind Clemente. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
Tell us about your brand. What inspired Clemente Concept, the brand’s business model and the inspiration behind the products you have created? “One tradition that my sister and I have is whenever we go to a new country or city, we have to go to see the artists. We love getting fabrics or
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artisanal jewelry or scarves — like that’s how it all started. So I went to an artisanal market, and I was getting scarves. I always tie my scarves as tops, which of course now is a very common trend. But back then, in 2019, it wasn’t really as prominent. That is something that me and my sister have done since we were like 14 years old. My sister is 20 now, and she’s a student, to give context. She goes to SCAD in Savannah — art school. “We were so amazed to see how a single square of fabric would be worn in so many ways. You can turn it into anything — into a blouse, into a dress, into skirts, belts and even hairbands. “So I pitched the idea to my sister and I said, ‘Hey, Laura, do you want to create a scarf brand?’ And she said, ‘Let’s do it. I’ll paint the designs.’ So that’s how it started, and from there, we just started some market research. I realized that Clemente would perfectly close the gap between the two ends of the spectrum in the scarf market. So on one end, you have brands like Hermés that are known for their super high-quality scarves, but it’s not necessarily targeted or positioned as Clemente. And then on the other end, you had
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stores like ZARA that offer scarves. And that’s not the reason why you go to ZARA. “Now there are many competitors at the market, and there’s tons of scarves brands and similar concepts to ours. But back then, it felt like it was really just starting. And that’s where we got our most inspiration from: just by realizing that there was a need for these freestyle pieces that you can take with you on any occasion, in any style.”
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What role has Georgetown played in your experience in the fashion industry thus far? “Georgetown is a place where many doors of opportunities are open. All of a sudden you’re connected to all these people, to all of these amazing professors. “My career at Georgetown, and more specifically I think in the MSB, has played an essential role in the preparation of launching my own business. If we look at it from an academic perspective, it allowed me to be educated in financial literacy and entrepreneurship concepts in various administrative aspects that are very much needed for Clemente’s operation. From the practical perspective, I would constantly apply the lessons that I learned in the classroom by taking my company as a mini case study. “Switching it off to a social perspective, the school has a very diverse network. It allowed me to pitch my business to an international audience at the earliest stage, which doesn’t really happen if you’re from another country. So this meant that by being exposed to different cultures, different strings of thoughts or interests, I was able to receive valuable and constant feedback for my business. “By being part of this diverse network, I was able not only to start having a potential global clientele for Clemente but I was also able to secure very valuable connections to providers. So for example, my first provider was in Colombia and the way I got to that provider was through my former roommate who was also from Colombia. “Had I started, for example, the business two years before when I was still in Panama, it would have been harder to reach that international level at that early stage. And then one thing that I think that from Georgetown truly played an important role in Clemente’s development and in myself as a person was GRLA, the Georgetown Retail Luxury Association. It allowed me to better understand the trends and the practices of the fashion and the art fields.”
What impact do you believe you can make as a young person in the fashion industry?
“Something that truly moves me and Clemente as a brand is just the inspiration behind everything. So not only inspiring with our collections, but inspiring others with our business and in knowing that you can be both creative and corporate. I think you need a bit of both to be successful. “Another impact that I want to make in the fashion industry is connecting more Latin American professionals and talent to the overall international market. So I envision myself in a few years from now, when Clemente has a longer journey, helping others, just like I received help from many others. “That is one of the main reasons why I also launched the Clemente for Georgetown scarf. I was hoping to inspire emerging Hoya entrepreneurs to dream big, work hard. The Georgetown connection reflects or honors the spirit of Georgetown, of the Hilltop, and what it taught me the most is that a college education goes way beyond an academic diploma. It taught me that what truly matters is walking out of the main gate feeling fulfilled from the inside out. And I think that was the main motor behind why I wanted to launch that collection for Georgetown, that Hoya Saxa scarf. Because I think that being a Hoya — it means believing in everyone’s potential, recognizing the value of meaningful relationships and hoping to make the world a better place by supporting each other.”
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invisible string co. Stylish college merchandise is hard to come by, and Claire Wang (SFS ’24) was not having it. In 2020, she collaborated with her two friends to start an embroidery company that would provide cute college sweatshirts ($40). Their brand, invisible string co., features sweatshirts and T-shirts embroidered with iconic collegiate buildings, as well as pop culture references. As the co-founder of the brand, Wang told The Hoya about the birth of invisible string co. and the future of the clothing line as she prepares for its second drop over winter break. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
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Tell us about your brand and the in- want a cute Georgetown sweatshirt that’s not suspiration behind the clothing pieces per overpriced, so we’ve done some of that. We’ve also made sweatshirts for other schools — for you have designed. “In terms of our branding, I really think that we’ve just been trying to make pieces that we ourselves, the founders, would wear. The original inspiration behind this was that I just wanted cute clothes, and so I don’t think that we’ve ever said ‘This is our specific brand touchpoint’; it’s really just stuff that we would wear. If there was a brand, I guess it would be more young, Gen-Z, a bit more on the feminine side. “We try to do some cute, more indie designs, like things you would find off of Etsy. In terms of our inspiration, it’s really just that I would really
example, UVA and Virginia Tech. We’ve also done some more pop culture inspired clothes as well. For example we did Jujutsu Kaisen, which is an animation that is really popular that my friend at home really likes, and she’s one of the people in our business. We’ve also done some stuff related to ‘Avatar the Last Airbender’ and Frank Ocean. “Also, our name is technically titled after ‘invisible string’ by Taylor Swift. I think we’re trying to do a lot of stuff that’s pop culturally relevant that we enjoy. We have yet to create a Taylor Swift design, so hopefully that will be coming up soon.”
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What role has Georgetown played in porated the places that we normally travel your experience as a designer thus around. Another thing that I want to incorporate from college life is that I’m actually in far? “I think a good way that Georgetown has played a role in this business is I’m able to sell to a lot of Georgetown students. It’s been really fun meeting other Georgetown students through this. For example, when I was at SHIP over the summer, I was literally distributing sweatshirts to customers in the VCW common room. Now when I see them I’m like, ‘Hey! You bought my sweatshirt!’”
You have an adorable Georgetownthemed sweatshirt, as well as a couple of other universities. How do you incorporate college life into your designs? “Obviously we have incorporated a lot of really pretty buildings into our designs. For example, obviously here we have Healy, and at UVA there’s the rotunda. I forgot what the building’s called at Virginia Tech. We want to wear this pretty merch, so we’ve incor-
a sorority — DPE, the foreign service one. So I’m actually going to be making DPE embroidered merch.”
What impact do you believe you can make as a young designer? “In terms of our impact, I honestly have not thought about it that much. The reason why we started this was because we wanted our own cute stuff to wear, so the impact on the community has kind of been an afterthought. Over the summer, when we finished up most of our sales, we were thinking about philanthropy. “I’ve also considered using proceeds from our next sale, which is going to be over winter break, to go to Georgetown Mutual Aid. I think now, we’re looking more philanthropy-driven. With the first batch, we were having more fun, like paying off the machine, but now we’re thinking more about how we can impact the community.”
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Paisan Clothing Phillip Cantarazo (COL ’23) spent the first few months of quarantine dreaming about the beach. When he heard the call for a sustainable and charitable clothing brand in May 2020, he melded his love of surfing with an entrepreneurial spirit and created Paisan Clothing. Paisan features surf-inspired designs from hats to sweatshirts, and with each online sale, the brand donates $5 to the charity of the customer’s choice. Cantarazo spoke with The Hoya over Zoom about the ideas that created Paisan and his vision for the social impact of the brand.
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kind of got into surf culture through that. “I was the only kid in Cleveland, Ohio, who looked like I was living in Hawaii 24/7. I’ve also been playing beach volleyball since I was super young because that’s something from my mom’s side of the family in California. “I’m also Italian American, so that’s where The following has been edited for length and clarity. ‘Paisan,’ the actual name, comes from. The Tell us about your brand and the inspira- whole idea behind it is that it’s basically like tion behind the clothing pieces you have calling someone your brother or amigo or mate. I thought it was a pretty fitting title for designed. the brand. It started in May 2020.” “I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, which isn’t necessarily the surfing capital of the world, What role has Georgetown played in your but there’s Lake Erie. When the wind picks experience as a designer thus far? up, there’s actually mini waves that you can “Not much of a role. I started it when we surf, and then when it gets really stormy, there’s large waves that you can surf. So I were at home, and I wasn’t in D.C. last year,
either. But I did reach out to Laura Clark; she works in the Georgetown Entrepreneurship hub, and she has a lot of experience in that, so she helped me out a little bit.” Many of your clothing pieces are beachand surfing-oriented. In contrast to this, how do you incorporate university life into your designs? “I feel like college is a time when everyone wants to explore a little bit and be independent and try different things, and I feel like that is very much tied to surf culture. It’s very independent, and you kind of do your own thing and figure things out, so I think it goes hand in hand. I think that’s why younger people like the brand.”
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What impact do you believe you can make as a young designer? “I think the biggest one is the move from the model of clothing brands right now, which is that you get a bunch of clothes, you hold inventory, you sell them. What you don’t sell usually ends up in the trash. I know that last year H&M got caught; they burned thousands and thousands of pounds of dead stock clothing. What I tried to set up and what we’re trying to do now is this kind of on-demand model, where you place an order and once you place the order, it goes to the factory that we have partnered with and then they produce it and then they send it to you, so that way there’s no waste or dead inventory. I think that in the future could be a much better model of doing business as a clothing brand.”
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