Industry panel (presented by I+W): WHAT MAKES A BRAND?

Industry panel (presented by I+W): WHAT MAKES A BRAND?

Time: 1:00pm- 2:30pm
Location: Frist Center for the Visual Arts
Buy Tickets: Click Here
WHAT MAKES A BRAND?
The focus, hard work, and strategic thought required to define, build and market a fashion brand. Special emphasis will be placed on the importance of social media and issues concerning propriety.

Panelists: Rose Apodaca, Susie Crippen, others TBA
Moderator: Dr. Dave Gilbert, owner/founder, salttt

ROSE APODACA is a writer, text and exhibition editor, consultant, and half of A+R, a source for modern design from around the world. Apodaca and partner Andy Griffith founded A+R as a design retail lab and leading launch pad for modern designers to the North American market. Before opening A+R, Apodaca headed the West Coast bureau of Women’s Wear Daily and was a contributor to W magazine for six years. She continues showcasing rising and undiscovered talent, and her features have appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Glamour, Style.com and Paper, and she spearheaded the launch of “Image,” the Los Angeles Times style section. Her first book, Style A to Zoe: The Art of Fashion, Beauty & Everything Glamour, hit the New York Times bestseller list in September 2008 and continues selling worldwide. Her biography on Fred Hayman, co-founder of Giorgio Beverly Hills and marketing architect of Rodeo Drive, was published in 2011. The oversized “coffee table” book also serves as an exhaustive history of L.A. and Hollywood style, the evolution of the perfume and beauty industries, and the retail business (and weighs seven pounds). Apodaca is currently writing a DIY beauty book with neo-burlesque queen and style icon, Dita Von Teese. Read more about her at www.roseapodaca.com.

SUSIE CRIPPEN was the co-founder of J Brand and served as creative director of the iconic jeans company for six years. Since leaving the company after its sale in early 2010, Crippen has been traveling and working on her next creative endeavor. Prior to J Brand, Crippen was a wardrobe stylist in Los Angeles for six years.

Panel moderator DR. DAVE GILBERT specializes in product design and development, retail anthropology, and IP strategy management. He recently founded salttt, a product development agency and consultancy that assists companies in the development of new products with a focus on consumer electronics and retail experiences. He is also a founding member of Jumpstart Foundry, a venture capital micro-fund, where he helps to fund and advise startups. Gilbert spent six years at Nashville-based Griffin Technology, the world's largest manufacturer of iPod, iPhone, and iPad accessories, where he built the Griffin Co-op program, leading to co-branded accessory lines with Chilewich, Colonel Littleton, Aimee Wilder, Prophetik, and Threadless. On Griffin's behalf, Dave conducted shopper-marketing and brand research in the UK, France and Germany. A former professor of communication at Denison University and Marymount Manhattan College, Gilbert's work with students designing Art Mobs, crowd-sourced museum guides for mobile phones and iPods, was the subject of a front-page story in the New York Times. Gilbert has a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Texas, Austin. Learn more about Gilbert’s latest venture at www.salttt.com.