I don’t care what you say. As a matter of fact, I really don’t care if you

cannot paint like Picasso, play like Tchaikovsky, or elocute your words

like Maya Angelou. Too often, we dismiss such artists as God-like

individuals with an innate gift to create. But aren’t we all human beings?

Don’t we all have an innately unique perspective of the world. All of

you sitting here today are artists whose voice needs to be heard. For

once, there is a clothing company that allows that very voice to be heard:

R. Youell Fashion.

We realize that not everyone wants to dress the same EVERY day. Hell,

I sometimes change clothing in between classes (which some of you can

unequivocally attest to). But why? Some might label it as a byproduct of

materialism, selfishness, and even vanity. Far from it my friends. Simply

put, our environment, mood, and goals are constantly changing… and so

should your style.

Feeling introspective, philosophical, and mysterious? Check out our

chrome collection. Trying to feel confident, comfortable, and

sophisticated? Try wearing our brand-new midnight blue blazer. At R.

Youell Fashion, we believe that identity should be displayed through

self-expression… and there is no greater medium to demonstrate such

self expression than one’s clothing and fashion choices.

Although the branches of this brand are constantly fluctuating, growing,

and changing direction in accordance to your growth as a human and

creative being, its roots are nonetheless consistent and stable.

Specifically, there are five pillars that R. Youell Fashion is built upon:

SLIDE CHANGE 1.) Seasonal Colors 2.) Organic idioms 3.) Made in

Virginia 4.) Playing creatively with textures and fabrics, and 5.)

Sophisticated simplicity. With this interweaving juxtaposition of

fluctuating improvisation with concrete stability, R. Youell Fashion is

both foreign and familiar, modern and classic, rugged and formal.

Simply put, R. Youell Fashion is—and will always be—about being

sophisticated. Being you.

Now, I know what you are saying. Why start your own fashion line?

Why not… Say, finish college, get a stable job, and live happily ever

after? First and foremost, I have a PASSION for clothing. This is not

passion in lowercase letters, but PASSION in all caps that forces your

heart to skip a beat. That forces you to stay awake until the wee hours of

the night with utter excitement. And yes, this is the same passion that—

sorry mom and dad—occasionally forces you to skip class for more

“important” and “pressing” matters. I believe in the future of this

company because my passion for fashion will NEVER wane.

Second and even more importantly, I am partaking in this journey

because I believe in the power of fashion. Certainly, fashion will forever

transform the body. However, fashion also has the potential to turn the

powerless into the powerful. The pessimist into the optimist. The weak

into the strong. R. Youell Fashion will give you the confidence required

to transform mind, body, heart, AND spirit.

Third and most significantly, I am trekking my own path within the

realm of fashion because I love to give. As a global development studies

major here at UVA, we are taught that “making the world a better place”

is much more difficult than one can ever fathom or imagine. Indeed,

variables such as cultural stereotypes, racial biases, and even

longstanding patterns of societal hegemony greatly inhibit our ability to

“help” those less fortunate than ourselves. Realizing this, I have decided

to make a difference through another medium: fashion. In particular, it is

my inherent belief that the garments made and released at R. Youell

Fashion will increase one’s self-confidence, subconsciously give respect

to the surrounding environment, and provide an affordable yet quality-

driven product to an incredibly diverse demographic of individuals.

These are beliefs that I will always have, and beliefs in which all of you

are soon to experience firsthand.

As I have slowly but surely found out, achieving these maxims is quite a

feat. In fact, without the burning desire that I have for fashion, I

undoubtedly believe that I would have given up by now. Therefore,

before deciding to embark upon your own fashion line, ask yourself one

question: Do I have an undying passion for clothing and fashion? If your

answer is yes, be prepared for weekly—if not daily—ideas and revisions

for your brand.

As a concrete example, R. Youell Fashion has evolved tremendously

over the past two years. In fact, my first instinct was not creating

clothing; rather, it was to write about it. Therein started my first project:

a blog dedicated to “coalescing” young men’s fashion and music.

Although I still write on this blog and garner a decent amount of traffic,

I nonetheless yearned for more artistic control and creativity… not to

mention some form of monetary gain.

Therefore, I decided to shift from writing to designing. To capitalize on

this new shift of strategy, I began with an idea and plan of attack that

was overtly simplistic and elementary: sell a t-shirt—made from an

outsourcer but designed by me, bundle it with a poster of my very own

photograph, and sell it for $20. Sounds like a good idea, right? Not so

much. You see, instead of producing these t-shirts and posters as they

were purchased by interested consumers, I instead chose to bulk-

purchase these products in order to save on the per-price cost of each

item. Oh how naive I was. In this particular example, I harshly learned

that a like on Instagram is NEVER the same as purchasing a product

with your own money. It therefore comes as no surprise that I STILL

have a surplus amount of shirts and posters that have yet to be sold.

0 for 1. Back to the drawing board. Keep in mind that as I was tossing

and turning over what to do next, I was slowly but surely building up an

impressive photography portfolio that was constantly updated via social

media—more specifically, through Facebook and Instagram. Therefore,

although clothing was not necessarily in the forefront at this moment and

time, I was nonetheless showing others that my creativity and passion

for design was never-ending. As I continued to think and brainstorm

about what to do next, school and classes always seemed to inhibit my

free time. Finally, around the same time as spring break this past year, I

was fortunate enough to have a lull in my academic rigors… and, as a

result, able to create my own full-fledged website, ryouellfashion.com.

Created through shopify, I have since used this website to release new

and exciting products, while simultaneously increasing the diversity of

my brand. Instead of one basic “Sophisticated” tee, there were now

graphic tees, crewnecks, tank tops, and even photography prints created

and sold by yours truly. The highest-priced product was a mere $40,

while the lowest was only $15.

In comparison to my previous endeavor, the website layout of R. Youell

Fashion has greatly increased sales. Indeed, although sales were never

“booming,” there has always a steady stream of interested buyers.

With that being said, there were two immediate drawbacks to this

particular strategy. First and foremost, I was limited creatively.

Although the products were my own creation, my outsourcer—

uberprints.com—forced me to use preexisting templates, design patterns,

and products. In addition to this, my net income per product was

extraordinarily low. As I have already mentioned, having ONE product

made per order is economically ineffective. Specifically, upon selling a

$40 crewneck sweatshirt, I was lucky if I would see more than $5 of

profit.

Although many of you here today might scoff at such a low profit

margin, keep in mind that my intention has never been to solely sell t-

shirts, crewnecks, and tanks. Rather, the creation of R. Youell Fashion

and its affiliate products was—from the beginning—created to

demonstrate to others that I was fine-tuning my craft and constantly in

the midst of producing tangible products. Not only that, but these

products also achieved the goal of being cost-effective for both buyer

and seller.

Regardless, 0 for 2. Back to the drawing board once more. Unlike my

first endeavor, however, ryouellfashion.com has demonstrated that

individuals find my products stylish and chic. Certainly, they are not

buying R. Youell Fashion merchandise in bulk, but the positive reactions

have provided me with a consistent wave of self-confidence and belief in

my skill as a designer and trend-setter. Inklings of success were on the

imminent horizon—I just needed to revise my approach.

Before delving into this third approach, I must interject and say that my

current ideas and business propositions have greatly been influenced by

work experience. First and foremost, my time as a sales associate at

Brooks Brothers provided me with a groundwork of what quality-driven

products and services look like. It is my expectation that future R.

Youell Fashion stores and services will (similar to Brooks Brothers)

treat everyone—regardless of physical appearance, demographic, or age

—with the utmost of respect, sincerity, and humanity. Just as the future

of R. Youell Fashion is driven towards creating the best consumer

experience possible, so too will it be obsessed with garment quality.

Every detail, garment texture, and button placement will be carefully

observed and taken into account. However, unlike luxury-brand stores

such as Brooks Brothers, R. Youell Fashion will combine economic

affordability with garment and stylistic quality.

Moving past the lessons learned at Brooks Brothers, my time in

New York City as a fashion advertising intern for Avant Collective this

past summer greatly increased my awareness and appreciation of social

media, artistic creativity, and high fashion. Now, I must be frank and say

that the time spent at my internship was predominately spent pouring

over Excel spreadsheets and sending out press releases via email… also

keep in mind that this intership was UNPAID… and as we all know,

living in New York is neither cheap nor FREE. Nonetheless, I was

fortunate enough to create an entire social media platform presentation

for infant accessory company Pemberley Rose. Immediately, it became

clear in my research that social media was a vital tool for drumming up

excitement and buzz. In particular, the most successful companies and

competitors to Pemberley Rose posted content on a weekly—if not daily

—basis. Therefore, since returning from New York City, I constantly

post relevant photos, sketches, and news pertinent to R. Youell Fashion.

As a direct result, the excitement towards the company has exponentially

increased, while my readership and followers have more than doubled

on Instagram and Facebook.

Beyond the realm of social media, New York City gave me an

appreciation of high fashion. When not slaving away on a Microsoft

Excel spreadsheet, I was usually perusing the streets of Manhattan and—

in particular—5th Avenue. Now, it is one thing to see high fashion

products on a tv screen, but quite another to feel, touch, and experience

high quality garments firsthand. More than once, I frequented the likes

of Bergdorf Goodman’s, Saks 5th Avenue, and Saint Laurent Paris.

And… More than once, store employees stopped me in my tracks and

asked if they could help… not because I looked interested in buying

anything, but because I was LITERALLY spending hours touching

every single garment in the store, writing down notes in my journal, and

taking pictures of garments on my iPhone. Only now do I realize how

CRAZY that must have looked to anyone without the name “Ross

Youell.” Regardless of how absolutely insane my careful observations

appeared to outsiders, time spent in these stores gave me an undying

appreciation of garment textures, fabrics, and materials… one in which I

hope to mimic in the near future.

Third and lastly, the most quintessential lesson New York City

taught me was this: there are a lot of people. With a lot of money. With

very few creative and revolutionary ideas. In other words, dream big and

don’t mistake wealth for artistry.

With these lessons in mind—coupled with the readings of Steve

Jobs’ biography and “The Men’s Fashion Reader”—the next stage of R.

Youell Fashion is already in the works. In particular, I am currently in

the stages of releasing two handmade garments: The midnight blue

blazer and Kangaroo Pouch Rain Jacket. As both garments are sketched

by myself, there is no longer a creative limitation to my products.

Rather, the only limitation is my imagination. Specifically, the midnight

blue blazer—made from a midnight blue canvas material and featuring a

modern cut— stems its inspiration from Asian military wear.

Meanwhile, the Kangaroo Pouch Rain Jacket includes a polyester suede

pouch, a green goretex exterior, and a flannel interior, while stemming

its own inspiration from high fashion men’s urbanwear. After these two

products are made, I will then embark upon the most ambitious project

to date: a full-fledged fashion show. With the help of curating director

Jeffrey Allgood, my dedicated seamstresses from Song’s Fabric Shop in

Staunton Virginia, and various other individuals who are too numerous

to name, R. Youell Fashion is scheduled to release its Fall 2016

Collection during an April Fashion Show at Eunoia Student Center here

on Grounds. This 20 piece collection is varied in both garments and

styles. Ranging from crewnecks, to suits and blazers, and even mao

collar button-downs, the collection emboldens the notion of the modern

man as complex, constantly evolving, and one who cannot be tied down

to a particular clothing style. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the

show’s selected theme is “Identity through self-expression.” In addition

to the 20 piece collection, there will be a live DJ, a photography exhibit,

and even a blank canvas wall for audience art. In effect, this is not a

fashion show, but an all-inclusive artistic event that you surely do not

want to miss.

Now, I would like to think that this ambitious project will run

smoothly and without any bumps along the way. However, logistical

issues and difficulties have already arisen. In particular, I am in need of

pattern makers, an increasing number of seamstresses, and some degree

of financial support. However, I am confident—scratch that—I am

certain… that my team and I will transform this mere idea into a reality.

In conclusion, I hope that you found this talk helpful and beneficial

in your own entrepreneurial journey. To summarize this talk, I have

selected five particularly salient pieces of advice that are necessary in

achieving a successful and groundbreaking vision within the realm of

fashion:

1.) Never settle. In other words, if you have a dream, go for

it. I wear this wristband—because I said I would—as a

daily reminder that actions are indeed louder than words.

If you say you want to do something, don’t just think

about it… act upon that idea and DO IT.

2.) Find your passion. My passion is making and designing

quality clothing for the modern male. If this is not your

calling, no need to worry—find what you love and go

after that passion with an undying vigor.

3.) Use social media to your advantage. Specifically, use

INSTAGRAM. It is perhaps the one social media app

with the greatest traffic and ability to become recognized.

If you are artistic, post your drawings and sketches—you

never who is looking.

4.) Do not let your major DEFINE you. I am a GDS major

who should be going within the nonprofit sector of

employment. With that being said, my passions and

extracurricular activities have steered me in another

direction… and that is more than okay. This is combined

with the fact that my educational pursuits have actually

emboldened my own creativity journey. Indeed, I

constantly find myself using an anthropological

perspective on clothing… a perspective which makes my

own designs, ambitions, and vision unique to my

competitors.

5.) Do not worry about failure. Start your journey. Make

something. Sell it. If individuals do not think fondly of

your product, that is OKAY… you will eventually get

better if you keep persevering. Moreover, in the words of

Steve Jobs “People do not know what they want until you

show them.” You have your own unique perspective.

Therefore, share it with the world.

Thank you so much to FIFA, the crowd in front of me, and

everyone that has aided and supported me along the way. I hope

my words have helped your creative and entrepreneurial vision in

some connotation, and please do not hesitate to contact me—either

directly after this event or via email—with any comments or

questions. This is only the beginning of R. Youell Fashion, and I

cannot wait to see what the future has in store.