About Apparel Entrepreneurship
Need help building and scaling your apparel business? Apparel Entrepreneurship is your go-to source of tools and industry expertise.
Have we told you that we are obsessed with helping people like you run and scale profitable apparel businesses?
Keep reading, and you’ll see why:)
First of all, because we’ve been in your shoes. We’ve run 2 own apparel brands. It’s hard and complex.
But we also know the exhilarating feeling when you launch your first collection. The “yeeeeessss-high-five-feeling” when a retailer places a big order. We know the feeling when you walk down the street and see your products on actual people. And we know how fulfilling it is to run a business your way, to support your family, to run a team, and to grow a profitable apparel brand. It’s the best feeling in the world.
Is it easy? Hell no….. It’s a constant rollercoaster. There are so many moving parts, plus this industry is continuously evolving…
That’s why we launched Apparel Entrepreneurship.
What We Do
We educate and empower apparel entrepreneurs around the world to start, run, and grow profitable, meaningful, and successful clothing brands.
We are the founders of the online educational platform, Apparel Entrepreneurship.
We host the Apparel Entrepreneurship Podcast.
We are authors of the book Apparel Entrepreneurship – How To Successfully Start & Run A Clothing Brand.
We are apparel brand strategy consultants.
We are also the founders of Desinder.com, a connecting platform for brands and freelance designers worldwide.
Alongside A.E. and Desinder, we’ve also been running a Technical Apparel Design Agency for 12 years – working with mid – big sized brands on design, product development, strategy, innovation, and sustainability implementation.
This is how we stay up to date with the latest in the industry. We are in the trenches every day. We make it a priority to stay in the know, so we can give YOU the best strategies and resources to grow your business.
The Founders
Apparel Entrepreneurship is founded by Ana & Klas Kristiansson.
Ana is a former national athlete with education from Parsons School of Design in Paris and New York, Stockholm cutting and tailoring school, and Basis art school.
She has over 20 years of experience working in the apparel industry.
She has designed and product developed award-winning technical products for international brands like Haglöfs, Salomon, Peak Performance, Helly Hansen, and many more.
Together with Klas, she has also launched and run two successful apparel brands.
Klas is an IT engineer with a Master of Science degree from The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and ENST in Paris.
With over 20 years of experience in project management, business development, tech, e-commerce, and running start-ups in an international environment. His background includes working as senior project manager for Europe’s largest workwear company, as well as running two apparel brands together with Ana.
They now live in the archipelago outside of Stockholm-Sweden, together with their 2 children.
Ana & Klas have lived in Los Angeles & New York in the US, Paris & Annecy in France, Gothenburg & Stockholm in Sweden, and Romania.
They now work online, and the world is their workspace.
Our Story
The traditional education for this industry is starting out with either a fashion or business degree. Then follows internships, working for other brands, and then launching your own business.
But no matter what education you have, you will most probably lack experience in some areas of running an apparel business. Be it design, marketing, sales, strategy…
That’s how it was for us when we started our clothing brands.
Even though we’ve worked in the apparel industry, we were missing valuable and extremely important knowledge in some areas of the business. I knew design, Klas project management, and numbers. Still, we were seriously lacking info in e.g. marketing, sales, and branding.
My design education is from Parsons, but at college, they don’t teach you everything you need to know to RUN & GROW an apparel brand. You are only taught about design and conceptualizing your ideas.
We needed to find a place that combined traditional education with real-life experience from the apparel industry.
We needed tools and strategies for fast implementation to get RESULTS. We needed to educate ourselves on our terms and time.
Apparel Entrepreneurship was born to be the ONE place for everything apparel entrepreneurship.
With A. E. we approach learning the modern way. It is not a regular school. It is for everyone with a great apparel business or product idea. We don’t care what age you are or what background you have.
You can learn at your own pace, from wherever you are and at any time. The education is online, accessible 24/7, and it costs a fraction of the price compared to a traditional college education.
Apparel Entrepreneurship provides industry expertise content together with tools and steps to action. The platform gives you the information and tells you HOW to implement it in your business.