The first fashion internship on my career path was a production internship at a small atelier in New York City’s Meatpacking District, a few months before the global financial crisis imploded. At the time, the neighbourhood was vibrant with contemporary fashion brands during the day and the hottest clubs in Manhattan at night. While my friends were sweating it out at investment banks until 2am, I was organizing the fabric library for Rebecca & Drew Manufacturing, hoping to learn the fashion business.

Founded by Rebecca Matchett and Drew Paluba, the womenswear brand was known for pattern-making that rivaled (and some would say surpassed) Brooks Brothers. To this day, I’ve never worn a better-fitting shirt dress than the one I kept after that internship. Top-notch tailoring required equally top-notch fabrics, and I spent my days browsing swatches from some of the best fabric mills in Italy.

Around the world in 30 days

Six years later, I went fabric shopping for the first time, buying entire yards of fabric instead of asking generous shop managers for swatches with the polite excuse of “being a fashion school student”. I was in Singapore, exploring Arab Street in Kampong Glam on an around-the-world trip to write a case study in Japan. My gregarious Harvard classmates were recovering from a New Year’s Eve party in Dubai.

Coming from the West, the textile selection I found in Kampong Glam was spectacular. I was enthralled by the drape of the bamboo rayons and the artistry of the laces. I filled my suitcase with fabric and got on a plane to Japan to listen to firsthand stories of the aftermath of Fukushima. One greenhouse in particular captivated us with beautiful chrysanthemums, and when we arrived to Boston we wrote a case with their story, “Ono-Kashouen: A Farm Reborn from a Single Yellow Flower”.

As a luxury retail student traipsing across Tokyo, the pleats of Issey Miyake were nothing new to me, but the second-hand finds in thrift stores were breathtaking. (Even after spending the prior summer in Milan!) Browsing archival CHANEL skirts in all manners of wools, left me with a lot to think about.

Wheels down in Park City

My last stop before Boston (and my New York City retail career) was in Park City during Sundance Film Festival. Coming from my home in Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood, I was familiar with the TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) scene and wanted to see the American side of Hollywood.

Nothing takes the wind out of a retail student’s fabric fantasies like the icy feel of snow in the face on the slopes of Park City in winter. I got a sunburn from the wind and had to buy an extra pair of gloves to double up the warmth on my hands.

It still seems like yesterday that I was learning the ins and outs of textiles at the Rebecca & Drew atelier, café au lait in hand from a little Latin bakery off of Gansevoort Street. It took years of travel, design studies, and hard-earned lessons to finesse the techniques we use to create the ultra-soft warmth of Apricot’s Home fabrics. You have to feel them for yourself and I hope you do!