HOST INTRO: And in fashion news, two Baruch students have begun creating their own products at home as a way to share their creativity and make a profit while doing so. Thanks to apps such as Depop, where users can buy and sell fashion related items, many people have begun to start their own shops by selling handmade or pre-owned products. Here’s Sebastian Botero with that interesting development.
AMBI: (Arianna screenprinting an order)
TRACK: I’m here with Arianna Abdul. She’s a student at Baruch College who has begun designing and distributing her own clothes out of her garage in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn. She’s one of the many young adults who have started selling their own goods through the use of Depop. Today, she’ll be introducing us to her brand, 6oblin Apparel, which has a 6 instead of a G, while discussing how a typical order is made.
ACT: ARIANNA: 6oblin Apparel sells screen printed tee shirts and hoodies which are all designed and screen printed at home. The process is pretty long but it starts out with a design that I’ll usually hand draw. But once I have my design, I’ll probably transfer it to a computer program. I tend to use Photoshop and once I’m happy with my design, I will transfer it onto different templates to see how it looks on different colored hoodies or tee shirts and different styles.
TRACK: After revising the design, she’ll print it and transfer it to a screen to start the exposing process. This is often very time consuming, which can take up to 24 hours. It starts by having a certain size screen and pushing this substance called emulsion onto it. It’s best done in a setting where there’s no exposure to light in order to prevent it from being ruined.
ACT: ARIANNA: So once you push on all your emulsion, you let it sit for 24 hours. You’re ready to take your drawing or your design that’s on your clear piece of paper, you put it on top of your fully dried emulsion screen and you let that expose in sunlight and the UV rays will allow my picture to burn onto my emulsion screen. I will clean up the screen, wash it and when you wash it, your design will be burned into the screen and you’re ready to transfer all your ink or any colors that you want to put onto a shirt or piece of clothing.
TRACK: She says that the actual screen printing itself isn’t that time consuming, but in fact the opposite. Once the stencil is completed, all you have to do is push the ink through the stencil a few times and undergo the process that is called “curing.”
ACT: ARIANNA: And then after you transfer your ink, you wanna cure it, which you do by adding heat. You can either use a heat gun or I personally use an iron because that works the easiest for me and I mean I’m pretty much doing everything at home from my garage, so it’s what I have accessible so I like to use the iron.
TRACK: The concept of designing and selling your own clothing items and accessories straight from home has become popular as of late. In the past year alone, Depop saw a 300% increase in items sold and with quarantine preventing people from physically visiting stores, it has allowed people like Arianna and Ariel Sklyarevskiy (sclarefski), another student from Baruch, to open their own shops and share their creativity through fashion. Ariel creates handmade jewelry and pottery from Staten Island and uses her shop as a way to express and share her hobby with her customers.
ACT: ARIEL: I decided to start my shop as a way to get my art out into the world. With the added benefit, of course, of a little extra income. I’d be making my products regardless of if I were selling them, just as a hobby because it’s something I enjoy doing. So it’s always a good way to give my art a home.
TRACK: While many people like Ariel only do this as a hobby, others such as Arianna would love to expand and become an even bigger brand. Popular streetwear brands, such as Supreme, started out as small businesses that grew into coveted and iconic fashion brands, which is what inspired Arianna to start 6oblin Apparel. If the opportunity arose, she would love to turn this hobby she loves into something even greater.
ACT: ARIANNA: And it would be a goal to expand 6oblin Apparel and be a bigger brand because I mean I’m doing something I love and something that interests me and if I can make money off that, that would be great. And I mean if I was to expand I’ll add in more things like hats, pants, bags, just streetwear in general. All those fun things, you know?
TRACK: If you’ve ever thought about designing your own clothes or opening up your own shop on Depop, now’s the time to do it. Don’t forget to check out Arianna’s shop, @6oblinapparel, that’s with a 6 instead of a G, as well as Ariel’s shop, @arielskly (spell out s-k-l-y.), to pick up something for yourself or a friend. This has been Sebastian Botero for Baruch College from New York. Thank you.
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