The Business of Fashion: Frances Harder’s Global Legacy of Education and Empowerment By Writer and Contributor Emily McGinn
Frances and her daughter in New York Times Square celebrating her IAOTP award under the mega screen of her headshot.
From England to Nepal, Frances Harder’s career in fashion and design has taken her to a variety of places around the globe. Most recently, it has taken her to Times Square in New York, where she was recognized by the International Association of Top Professionals (IAOTP) as the Top Founder of the Year and Empowered Woman.
Harder started out in fashion design in England during and after she went to college.
“I'm dyslexic, and when I was a child, they didn't know what that was,” she says. “My parents just thought, you know, I was not that smart. You were just considered not to be that great. So I was lucky enough to have teachers who believed in me.”
After college, she started out on what she describes as “an amazing journey” throughout which she met many interesting people and saw many doors open. She started working in England and eventually moved to Germany, where she took a brief detour from fashion design to work for Boeing.
Eventually, she made her way to Southern California, where she taught at FIDM and the Otis College of Art and Design.
“While I was at Otis, I realized I started saying, we need to teach business,” Harder said. “Because it's not just about design, it's about business. If you can't do a cost sheet and you don't know how to do a spreadsheet and how much money you've got, then you can't do it.”
This realization inspired Harder to write her book, “Fashion for Profit.” The book teaches the business side of fashion to provide a helpful resource to entrepreneurs in the industry.
She also founded Fashion Business Inc., a nonprofit center in Los Angeles where she would teach job training and business know-how to new entrepreneurs. It closed in 2017 after nearly 20 years.
Harder has traveled around the world to give seminars, and these speaking events have opened doors for her, as well. One seminar led the United Nations (UN) to contact her and request that she be a consultant to fashion entrepreneurs in less developed countries in need of assistance for entering the American market. She has worked on contracts with the UN in Peru, Nepal and Egypt. This past year, she has been working with Ukrainian designers looking to enter the American market.
“I’m trying to get them to understand what they need to do to enter the American market and the different demographics,” Harder says. “It's no good just designing for one market. You have to think of California. You have to think of Texas. You have to think of New York. And they're all different. You really need to understand who you're dealing with when you're working in America.”
Harder views her accomplishments as a testament to how important networking is in opening up new opportunities.
“I've been lucky to have a very, very diverse and interesting experience in my career. I met so many interesting people,” she says. “These opportunities come up. And you think, ‘Why not? Why not go?’”
Harder is currently working on her newest edition of “Fashion For Profit,” which is in its 11th edition, to ensure it keeps up with the shifting industry and trends in fashion. She has also been invited to accept an award in Nashville in December following the award she received in New York.
Amid all her accomplishments, she views her IAOTP award as one of the major highlights.
“It's amazing how many people reacted to it,” Harder says. “I didn't realize it was going to be quite so much in the focus. It was very exciting. It was very cool.”
Bio:
Emily McGinn is a journalist based in the Los Angeles area. She enjoys reporting on and writing about a variety of topics from lifestyle to news, especially in her areas of specialty, environmental science and political science.
