Fashion Site Inspirare.com Launches Collaboration the Academy of Art University

Local e-shop founder Sean Peng and his company Inspirare teamed up with the San Francisco fashion powerhouse Academy of Art University (AAU). Inspirare's business model is selling San Francisco produced garments designed by emerging designers from over 20 countries in their e-shop set to launch in the coming week. Academy of Art University is known to churn out hundreds of talented designers annually from over 90 countries. The school just wrapped up their Spring 2013 presentation at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York City.

Sean Peng sought an opportunity for discovering new talent when he decided to collaborate with the school's arsenal of innovative and unique designers. Many of these students (even after school) do not have the resources in the Bay Area to get their collections into production for retail. Students will now have the opportunity to begin experiencing commercial success while still mastering their skill and degree.

The collaboration program with AAU launched this Fall 2012 semester. The Inspirare team and the AAU Fashion team have outlined specific guidelines for the students. At the end of the semester, a selection of the Spring 2013 garments will be placed into production. Students must operate under The company's retail price range.

Inspirare is not the only one to benefit from the city's rich resource for great fashion designers. Selected students whose garments are produced will receive a 10 to 15% royalty. Students receive guidance and develop awareness in creating production-friendly collections. Inspirare ships and sells these garments in its e-shop that reaches over 30 countries.

Gladys Perint Palmer, Executive Director of the School of Fashion, and Simon Ungless, Director of the School of Fashion, have been leading the fashion school since 1996. "Inspirare is a perfect opportunity for our students to have their designs exposed to an international community and be put into production. We see a bigger potential with Inspirare as the collaboration grows," said Ungless.

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