I recently met with Rachel Weeks of School House, LLC, a college apparel startup located in downtown Durham. I walked into School House HQ on Mangum St. and was surprised to see the front half of the building set up as a storefront, with racks of apparel featuring local universities. Rachel explained that this was not the original plan, but the shop is a welcome addition to downtown Durham. The building has been beautifully renovated recently by Center Studio Architecture.
National Launch and Fall Tour
The big news from School House is that their new fall line will have a national presence in 50 university bookstores. After a test line that went well at Harvard and Yale, School House made a deal to have their line appear in Barnes & Noble campus bookstores. This fall, Rachel will be hitting the road for a college tour of the entire fall line. Over four months, she will be making a stop at each of the colleges to speak, host fashion shows, or just tailgate a football game and see School House products in action.
School House is different from other college apparel companies in that they pay a living wage to their over 70 factory workers in Sri Lanka. Weeks and Fashion Designer/Creative Director, Colleen McCann, have made their goal to “bring ethical fashion to universities everywhere.” A recent New York Times article about apparel companies using non-sweatshop labor mentions School House’s work in Sri Lanka.
Why Durham?
Rachel says Durham is “a great place to live and start a company” and has a different feeling than the “rat race” of New York City. Weeks graduated from Duke in 2007 and realized she was returning to Durham often for meetings. She decided to headquarter here and moved School House into their current location in January 2010. Rachel says that the Duke community, alumni, and staff are great resources for her as a Duke alum. She is excited by the changes she is seeing in Durham and hopes it attracts more young, women, and minority entrepreneurs.
Big Sale Tomorrow
Tomorrow (7/30), School House is having a big sale at their Headquarters. There will be 50% off all in-store merchandise, $2 samples, and free beer. The sale is from 6pm to 9pm at 407A N. Mangum St.
Be sure to check out the shop and the sale. More info can be found on their facebook event page.
