Fashion, the city, Auburn Tigers, oh my!
Two Auburn alumni continue to expand their fashion label, Jordan Wolk, in the Big Apple.
Sara Brosious, 2004 Auburn alumna, and Aimee Mars, 2003 Auburn alumna; Tara Germino started Jordan Wolk in 2010. The name Jordan Wolk is a combination of Sara and Aimee's maiden names. Sara's maiden name is Jordan and Aimee's maiden name is Wolk.
"When we first started the company, we just wrote down Jordan Wolk Incorporated because that was easy, but when we were thinking of a strong, powerful name, we decided to just keep using Jordan Wolk and it had some meaning behind it," Brosious said.
Jordan Wolk's target audience is usually the working woman in her 30s, but Brosious said their targeted consumer has changed a bit.
"We still target that power woman, but after looking at a couple of seasons and seeing who buys, we found out that people like it more for social wear," Brosious said. "Our main target consumer is socialites in New York City for when they need a special dress for a charity event, client dinner or a fancy wedding shower."
Although the line targets women in their 30s and older, Brosious said students willing to pay more money for a piece would be able to wear their pieces to a campus event.
"It's a higher price point, so I don't know if a student would want to spend that much. That's why we target women in their 30s, because they already have a career started and have that extra money," Brosious said. "But we've had younger women wear it as well."
Brosious said she and Mars get most of their inspiration for the line from the women of Manhattan.
"Our third partner, Germino, came on board with us because she felt like there weren't clothes for her to wear to work that were high quality and sophisticated and classy enough to wear to the office," Brosious said. "That's where the concept came from, something you can wear to work or transition it to after work or an event."
Three words to describe Jordan Wolk would be polished, classy and sophisticated, Brosious said.
"I wouldn't say we're trendy because we're pretty classic," Brosious said. "When someone buys a piece they know they'll be able to wear it for a couple of years and it's not going to go out of style."
There is no such thing as a typical day at Jordan Wolk.
"One day could be doing accounting all day long, which is something I never thought I would be doing," Mars said. "You set your day up and then you could be doing something completely different at the end of the day."
So far Jordan Wolk has been featured in Women's Wear Daily, Scene Magazine and on Halsbrook.com. Celebrities such as Alex McCord van Kempen, New York housewife, and Heather Thomson, New York housewife and owner and CEO of Yummy Tummy, have been seen in Jordan Wolk pieces.
"[Thomson] has been wearing eight or nine of our pieces all summer and she's been wearing them for the filming of the reality show for the new upcoming season," Brosious said.
Brosious said the line's goals are always changing.
"Ultimately we would like to grow the brand into a lifestyle collection with accessories, bags and shoes," Brosious said. "We would like to have our own boutique one day and become a member of the CFDA."
Brosious and Mars have had their foot in the door in the fashion industry before starting the line.
Brosious held various positions in the fashion industry such as interning at Rebecca Taylor, working in product development at Tibi, being an assistant designer at Walter Baker and associate designer at PKO Apparel until she got laid off, which gave her a chance to start Jordan Wolk. Mars' past experience included interning at Donna Karan, working for a small suit designer and working a couple of years at a Swatch Watch group doing visual merchandising.
Eloise Saber, 2013 Auburn alumna, interned with Jordan Wolk in 2011.
"The things I got to do a lot of interns wouldn't get to do in a larger company. Sara and Aimee would design the clothes, but after that I got to do everything," Saber said.
Saber helped Brosious and Mars with various jobs around the office.
"The greatest part of the internship was they wanted me to learn as much as I wanted to learn," Saber said.
Mars' advice for students wanting to make it in the fashion industry is to do whatever it takes.
"If that means working as an assistant in a position that you don't want to be in, but it gets your foot in the door, take it," Mars said. "The harder you work the more chances you have to grow."
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