Spring Break
Konheim offers insight to fashion
Lydia Hryshchyshyn
Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment
On Tuesday April 21, Bud Konheim, CEO and founder of Nicole Miller, spoke as the distinguished speaker at the D&M senior business plan presentation event. Konheim's lecture "Fashion's Past, Present, and Future" covered his personal experience in the cutthroat fashion industry as well as relating advice and insight into how he found success.
Konheim was more or less born into the fashion industry and was involved at a young age due to his parents' ownership of an apparel company. While this initial advantage launched him into the business, he described his career as a mixture of opportunity and luck. He suggested the idea of two investments that students will always have at their disposal, "one is {their] education … and experience. The other thing that's a constant is opportunity," and this concept of opportunity was the key idea through out the discussion.
A string of opportunities have shaped Konheim's career. He felt that whether the situation was positive or a "disaster," there was always the chance to grow from it. The anecdote of the unique way that he hired Nicole Miller, which he mentioned, has gained enough notice to "[be] in a Japanese textbook" because it was such an "interesting way to find talent."
The previous designer of Konheim's family's store chose to leave her position in order to get married to her French fiancée. Konheim placed ads in a variety of fashion publications and reviewed almost 200 applicants. His unusual interview process consisted of choosing a piece of fabric from a pile, discussing a design concept utilizing the fabric, sketching the design, as well as considering how it fit into the already existing aesthetic of the company. This uncommon way to hire a designer was an ingenious way for Konheim to be sure he was employing someone that could do more than talk the talk. It wasn't through luck or chance that Konheim chose Nicole Miller. It was through a carefully considered process born of opportunity.
Konheim was more or less born into the fashion industry and was involved at a young age due to his parents' ownership of an apparel company. While this initial advantage launched him into the business, he described his career as a mixture of opportunity and luck. He suggested the idea of two investments that students will always have at their disposal, "one is {their] education … and experience. The other thing that's a constant is opportunity," and this concept of opportunity was the key idea through out the discussion.
A string of opportunities have shaped Konheim's career. He felt that whether the situation was positive or a "disaster," there was always the chance to grow from it. The anecdote of the unique way that he hired Nicole Miller, which he mentioned, has gained enough notice to "[be] in a Japanese textbook" because it was such an "interesting way to find talent."
The previous designer of Konheim's family's store chose to leave her position in order to get married to her French fiancée. Konheim placed ads in a variety of fashion publications and reviewed almost 200 applicants. His unusual interview process consisted of choosing a piece of fabric from a pile, discussing a design concept utilizing the fabric, sketching the design, as well as considering how it fit into the already existing aesthetic of the company. This uncommon way to hire a designer was an ingenious way for Konheim to be sure he was employing someone that could do more than talk the talk. It wasn't through luck or chance that Konheim chose Nicole Miller. It was through a carefully considered process born of opportunity.
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