Career Profiles
January 29, 2007
http://www.brandchannel.com/careers_profile.asp?cr_id=76

Emmett McCarthy — tailored by reality

The tremendously popular, Emmy-nominated reality show Project Runway puts a select few of the nation's most talented fashion-designer hopefuls through rigorous challenges for a chance to show their wares at Olympus Fashion Week alongside the world's biggest fashion brands. The winner also gets a high-profile editorial spread in Elle magazine and US$ 100,000 to launch his or her own brand. Coming in sixth place in season two, Emmett McCarthy may not have won the big bucks or the show at fashion week, but he took advantage of his enormous media exposure to launch his own brand. Having worked as a designer behind the scenes for more than 20 years, McCarthy's own foray into fashion begins with his premier retail outlet, EMc2, making his brand available to the masses.

McCarthy joined us for a cappuccino and candidly discussed his journey from FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) to your TV and beyond.

I loved fine art, but I always thought design would be the perfect fit for me because it's the marriage of art and commerce. I went to the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven, Connecticut, for high school, and it was there that I was first encouraged to go into fashion design. I went to FIT and eventually met Susan Duffy, who worked for Oscar de la Renta. She told me that I had to go to Parsons [The New School of Design] to get the best training. Also, around that time, I met Antonio Lopez, the famous fashion illustrator, who was my mentor and a huge influence on me. It was the synergy of all these different influences that guided me into my fashion-design career.

My first job in fashion was working for designer Alexander Julian. I became design director for licensing by the age of 28. It was a major job, and I figured out that there was a formula to building a mass-market brand.

After that, I went to work for a large, privately held company called the Publix Group, a huge menswear manufacturer, designing dress and sport shirts for specialty stores. But they wound up in a financially precarious situation and eventually went out of business.

From working in menswear, I got a better understanding of building fashion brands because it wasn't as trend-driven as womenswear. I got to understand the mechanics of the business in a very solid way. With womenswear, you are so absorbed in putting out fires, it's harder to focus on building a brand.

After designing for Supreme International (which aquired Perry Ellis), and designing for Krizia, I went to work for Kellwood, designing outerwear for Nautica. Sandy Cooper, the strategic planner I shared a copier with, taught me a lot about brand positioning, brand analysis, and how to figure out your place in the echelon of fashion brands.

After that, I went to work for Ron Chereskin for six years, doing all the shows for him (at the Council of Fashion Designers' [CFDA's] Seventh on Sixth in Bryant Park). I also worked as the design director, did all the licensing, and oversaw the ad campaigns. I worked with Ron to cultivate his brand, but he was struggling because he was privately owned, and it was difficult for him to compete with bigger brands. So, during the last year I worked with him, I suggested that he hire Sandy, my friend from Kellwood, to help. She sat down and tried to rebrand his 30-year-old company, but he wasn't into doing what it took to reinvent his brand identity.

When Project Runway came up, it was a life-raft from a sinking ship. I'd been working behind the scenes since 1988, so the opportunity to be on a national, hit TV show was also the perfect opportunity to start on a new track in this business. I had been away from the process of making women's clothing for some time, but if you are well trained, it's like riding a bike.

After Project Runway ended, I did some soul searching and realized I finally could focus on what I really wanted to do—build my own brand. I knew from my work experience that brand awareness was everything, and I was lucky enough to have consumer interest from the show.

EMc2 was conceived as a self-financed retail prototype, wholesale incubator, and creative laboratory where I could innovate the old-fashioned way: one product at a time, face-to-face with my clients.

My brand is based on who I am. I live and work on the same street I've lived on for 27 years. By starting with a retail outlet, consumers have a first-person experience with my brand.

I never knew how many friends I had until left my old career behind, took a chance on a reality TV show, and risked everything to start my own brand. So many opportunities have since come my way! The first thing I'm going to do is design shoes and handbags. I'm going to create a high-end luxury line, a mid-priced line, and a more-affordable line for mass consumers on QVC.

Women—especially American women—have so many choices that shopping for clothes presents a challenge; it's hard work to look beautiful, appropriate, and fashionable. I want my brand to present them with the solution.

Vivian Manning-Schaffel is a freelance writer who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

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