Since its inception in spring 2012, The Fashion School Store (FSStore) was launched as the School of Fashion's live retail laboratory in downtown Kent. This unique lifestyle boutique environment allowed faculty and students to research and test design ideas, prototypes, production methods, buying, marketing, sales and planning models —while also bringing exclusive merchandise designed by faculty, students and alumni to the Northeast Ohio community.
The Fashion School Store is currently on sabbatical and working to hone, test and develop a successful re-launch within the next 18-24 months. The ultimate goal is to have the Fashion School Store and the Museum Store combine as part of the future Rockwell Hall expansion. The previous location at 201 E. Erie St. B in downtown Kent, through generous support from the Burbick Foundation, has provided a rich body of experiential knowledge that will be used in this new business innovation development; the provision of an immersive, commercial experience; an industry facing environment for state-of-the-art teaching, learning, research, knowledge exchange and impact.
For the time being, Fashion School Store merchandise will be available at in the KSU Museum Store, located in Rockwell Hall (515 Hilltop Dr., Kent, OH 44242) and there will be additional opportunities to purchase items in the upcoming Fashion Store pop-up shops! Should you be interested in working with us to boldly experiment and creatively develop a new model, please contact Kendra Lapolla at klapolla@kent.edu.