Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
November 23, 2011

The School of Family and Consumer Sciences at Texas State University-San Marcos, in conjunction with the Fashion Merchandising Association, will host the inaugural Sustainable Product Development and Marketing Forum: Where Fashion Meets Forward Thinking Dec. 1.

The forum will run 5:30-7 p.m. in room 135 of the Family and Consumer Sciences Building. Admission is free and open to the public.

This forum will feature four of the most influential people active today in the fashion and the sustainable product industry, speaking about the importance of sustainable product development and the future of eco-friendly fashion. This forum is funded by a grant for sustainable product development and marketing from Cotton, Inc.

Speakers include:

• Connie Ulasewicz, associate professor at San Francisco State University in apparel design and merchandising, with more than 25 years of garment industry experience managing production, merchandising and sales in such companies as Esprit, Joannie Char and Sourcing Partners.
• Chachi Prasad, founder and creative director of Bishop of Seventh; a clothing company whose focuses is on quality and tailoring. His clothing has been featured in top fashion magazines and worn by many celebrities including Kellan Luts and Vanessa Hudgens.
• Lauren Ashley Dalton is the on-site program manager at Eddie Bauer working for Bureau Veritas in the consumer product services division; offering services and innovative solutions in order to ensure that products, infrastructures and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environmental protection and social responsibility.
• Jan O’Regan, director of strategic initiatives for Cotton Inc., focusing on assessing new opportunities for cotton in nonwoven and other non-traditional markets and developing and implementing strategies for those markets.

Guest panelist’s presentation will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience and a reception at 6:30 p.m.

For more information, contact Pauline Sullivan, associate professor of fashion merchandising, at (512) 245-2448 or ps48@txstate.edu; or Ann DuPont, director and senior lecturer of fashion merchandising, at (512) 245-2155 or ad23@txstate.edu.