By Avery Owens | Staff Writer
One fashion student at Baylor is using her experience of creating a small business to catapult her into a career post-graduation.
Pittsburg, Kan. senior Hope Coleman runs her business, Hope Coleman Designs, out of a creative studio in her home. She said she makes and sells things that she would want to buy, such as pencil bags, hair scrunchies, tote bags and masks.
“My first product that I developed for Hope Coleman Designs was tote bags,” Coleman said. “I just did that because I had some scrap fabric that I wasn’t using and I kind of needed to get rid of it, they sold out in like 10 minutes. Since then, I’ve added macramé, scrunchies, illustrations, PopSockets, coasters … there are about a billion things.”
Coleman said she begins her creative process as soon as an idea pops into her head.
“A lot of times I will be laying in bed and I’ll think ‘I should try this.’ I’ll go to the studio and pull all my materials together and put something together,” Coleman said.
Once Coleman gets an idea to create something, she said she feels a strong desire to see it through.
“If I crochet one square for the first time, I have to crochet a whole blanket. When I started macramé, I just made a little weave for my house and now I’m making giant things. I start small and then go huge,” Coleman said.
San Antonio senior Claire Boston said she is glad to see her friend expressing creativity through her small business.
“She is very just inherently creative and just finds the art in everything,” Boston said.
Coleman said she hopes to use get a business license soon and she has plans to rebrand her business.
“After I graduate and get married, our plan is to have him working full-time and me do basically full-time,” Coleman said. “I’m hoping to rebrand.”
Her creations are sold on her Instagram account as well as her website. Coleman also sells her products through pop up shops, like the student-run fashion blog, Buttoned Bears holds every year.
“I’ve done the Buttoned pop-up both years that I’ve been in business, then I did one at Common Grounds that was actually super successful,” Coleman said. “I sold out in probably three-quarters of my inventory.”
Coleman said her business is built on the foundation of finding joy in unique styles and creative pieces.
“My philosophy is if you love it, wear it, never allowing oneself to be defined by one certain style,” she said on her website.
