From Sewing Classes to a Growing Franchise Brand—Kerri Quigley, Founder, The Fashion Class

One thing I found interesting, we were talking pre-show a little bit about this, is STEM accreditation.

When I hear STEM, I don't necessarily think of fashion, so I'd love for you to talk a little bit about that.

I am super proud of our STEM accreditation.

Sewing is, is considered technology because they are using this machine, and they are learning this new technology, so it, it kind of checks that box.

But outside of sewing, what we have at The Fashion Class that I'm super proud of is all our other curriculum and lesson plans.

So outside of making things, we teach lessons on textile science and fashion history and retail math, how to price your product, how to create a brand's logo, who's your ideal customer.

We do, we do all these really cool things around fashion branding, the fashion industry itself, and many of them touch on different STEM principles.

So our students are learning STEM.

They're learning math.

They're learning science.

They're learning tech without even realizing it because it's all wrapped up in this, you know, pretty pink Fashion Class bow themed around, you know, hands-on lessons where they're making things.

Congratulations on that accreditation.

That does not seem like that would be an easy task to accomplish.

And what, what are some trends that you see happening right now in children's enrichment and in this space?

There's, there's definitely a lot happening in the maker movement, specifically to children's enrichment, so you see a lot of, you know, craft classes, art classes, jewelry making, things like that.

There isn't a whole lot around fashion designer sewing.

Just in general, we seem to be going towards a screen-free, like, desire for our children, right? As AI starts to kind of take over, and, like, my kindergartner's been on the laptop all year learning, having, like, a screen-free activity that they love, that your children love, I think is crucial.

So they're huge, you know, big push towards that.

And then for an older group, just being able to, to have a skill, a lifelong skill where you can make something and do something with your own two hands.

And I don't mean necessarily just sewing, just as a trend in general, you know, whether it's pottery or gardening or, you know, Mahjong, [laughs] pickleball, sewing, fashion design.

I, I think that's kind of a big trend right now as people try to get away from all the tech, you know?