Student Experience: Suzanne Holmes-Myler

“I learned to sew from my parents when I was young. I can remember running fashion shows from my family’s living room with my sisters as models. 

“Fashion design has been a lifelong dream since I was growing up in northern Arkansas, and at 21, I moved to Dallas to pursue my dream. I landed a position at Howard Wolfe Apparel, where I worked closely with the patternmakers, who recommended I attend El Centro for a solid design and patternmaking education. 

“I attended El Centro for two and a half years, during which time I was sewing out of my apartment for income. Shortly after graduation, I started my own line of boutique lingerie. I leveraged a second mortgage on the house for seed money, recruited some independent sales representatives, created and distributed a promotional wholesale catalog and attended trade shows to launch the line. 

“Several years later, I formed a design and production partnership with Varsity Spirit Corporation, performing design and pattern duties for their new dance line, Co. Dance. During this time, we were selected to perform cut-and-sew production for Varsity Cheerleading, the largest cheerleading manufacturer in the United States. When Varsity decided to divest the Co. Dance line and focus on their core business, it gave me the unique opportunity to start another line of my own called Reverence, a performance dance apparel line sold to dance studios and educational institutions. 

“Our Arlington plant has full design and sample production capabilities, automated cutting, a full production crew and warehousing and logistics all under one roof. My degree at El Centro set the table for my success both through the curriculum and through the dedicated efforts of the faculty. El Centro has been a large key to my success. I would recommend it to anyone interested in fashion design as a career. 

“There are three key disciplines to fashion design: sewing, patternmaking and design, all of which El Centro efficiently planned and taught during my years there. I always knew I had the talent and desire, but El Centro gave me the tools and confidence to succeed. It was a great education full of lasting memories and relationships, and I recommend El Centro’s program to up-and-coming designers often.”

Suzanne Holmes-Myler earned an associate degree in Fashion Design from El Centro in May 1998 and started her own company in January 1999. See her current dancewear line, Reverence, online.

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