Frances Harder: My life’s journey has been a real true story of the POWER of networking! The youngest of three children, a baby boomer, with a natural love of people. Born an artistic dyslexic, I soon learned to use my love of people and art to benefit and guide my life’s journey.
Many countless jobs I have held in my interesting and very varied career have occurred from knowing someone, which then in turn opened another new door and a new experience.
IMPORTANT to note: It has not all been easy smooth sailing and I think I can say I have worked bloody hard and still do! 🙂 But it would take writing another book for me to explain and describe the amazing experiences that I have had in my life both personally and within my career.
The purpose of this blog is to help you consider how YOU can use your own network for your own career advantage and advancement. I know there are many people who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own and numerous recent graduates who are unable to find an appropriate job offer. However, it is important to consider your network from college, work, or professional organizations you may be a member of. One of these could be your link to connecting to your next position. Retraining is also very valuable these days with all the technology that is being applied to all professional careers. If you are not proficient with certain programs that are now part of the career path you chose then maybe now is the time and a good opportunity to gain these skills.
It is so important for you to consider your communication skills and people skills that may not be fully realized and developed. Learning in a classroom environment is one thing but it is also critical to understanding the value of eye contact, listening skills, and conversation. It is not all about “social networking” it is about real-time networking, with real people.
For students or even those who are unfortunately out of work a good way to start networking is through an internship. This experience should be considered as part of your education, an extension of your learning process. Of course, it is important not to be put in a situation where you are being used and abused. You must ask the following questions:
- Are you learning from your internship and getting those important network connections?
• Are you adding value to the company so that they will then hopefully recommend you for other opportunities, either within their company or to others within their network?
• Can you leverage those connections made through your internship to further your own career opportunities?
Important to understand that many businesses are often generous in taking in interns. But they first must train you and then it is up to you to make sure that you contribute and become an asset. (Important to find out the laws in each state. In California, interns must be compensated for their time, or they may work for college credit. Or they could volunteer as an intern at a not-for-profit organization.)
My first job offer from within the industry came about from my first internship as a knit wear designer for a company in Macclesfield, Cheshire. After a few months of working at this job I was invited to teach one day a week at my graduate college, Salford University. My boss/mentor at the knit wear company very kindly allowed me to take this time off from my design job, as I believe he saw this as a good opportunity for me and my career. And so it was!! These two opportunities then launched my many years in two very interesting and rewarding dual careers, as a designer and as an educator. I have been so fortunate and touch wood I still am!
NETWORKING -From Munich October Feast to Airbus A 300 – a four-year adventure!
Frances Harder: In the early seventies, I found myself living in Munich without a job. I had accompanied my first husband, an English aircraft engineer who had been offered along with many other British engineers a contract to work on the first Airbus aircraft. And of course, when living in Munich, attending the “October Fest” is a must. I was part of a group attending from the Airbus design team that had been organized for engineers and international partners from Messerschmitt Bulkow Blohm (MBB). Consequently, there was a very large group of mixed nationalities that took a number of table spaces in one of the many huge tents erected for this amazing two-week very boozy festival.
Unbeknown to me and as it turned out very fortunately for me I was seated next to one of the big bosses from the new international project to create this first Airbus. He was a very polite German who made small talk then asked me what I did for a living and I innocently informed him I was a designer, to which he immediately responded “We need designers! Can you start on Monday?” To which I replied “YES”! However, I did somehow neglect to inform him that I was in fact a fashion designer! But I quickly figured out in my head that as I knew most of the drafting equipment used by the draftspeople. Plus, I had met a few other “drafts women and men” who had informed me that they were employed to trace over design engineers’ penciled drafting work, sometimes referred to in the UK as “tracers” and in Germany as “Technical zeichnerin”) I really did feel confident that I could do the job while learning! (Remember this is before computer-generated drawings were created and everything was drafted/drawn on drawing boards.)
So, sure enough, I started work the next week working on the new massive Airbus (A300) for a temporary agency that employed me on an hourly basis. I could be let go with very little notice but was paid very well. I must admit it was a little stressful the first few weeks trying to create a sense of familiarity with all the terms that went with my new job description. But, thankfully with the aid and secretive assistance from the many British engineers that were also working there in Munich, I managed to master the job and be a fast learner. I really should add here that drafting and pattern drafting is really quite similar. After all, where a button belongs on a garment is remarkably similar to where we need to place a rivet or bolt. Plus, due to my art degree training, I had a good understanding of the use of the radiograph (fast-drying ink pen) and the need to be precise and tidy.
This sometimes boring job was also an amazing life-changing experience that I was fortunate enough to work in for four years before taking off for a one-year trip around the world. My boss did ask me to stay to take training on the new CAD computer programs, but my new life was calling me and my second and forever husband!
From My London Network Opening up the Golden Gate – To California Dreaming!
Frances Harder: After our six months of hippy lifestyle and marrying while traveling for in the Far East we flew to New York to begin another exciting chapter. Fortunately, my husband had a Green Card from his time working in Seattle at Boeing. The plan was to drive across America to the west coast where most of the aircraft manufacturing was taking place. We then purchased a used Ventura, (the same model and color blue as in the film Ace Ventura) and so began our adventure driving through the States. The driving was easy, and relaxing with amazing, spectacular vistas. The enormity and the vastness of the country was truly inspiring. The BIG Country! It was interesting for me to note, coming from old England and Europe with all the ancient towns, that in the US each Main Street looked more or less the same with the same stores, hotels, and fast food chains. We loved most of this experience with just a few scary spots in the middle of the southern states where they seemed to make it obvious that they were not overly keen on strangers and then the dry states were inconvenient! J but once we arrived in California, I really felt that this would be my new home.
My husband was offered a stressful engineering job at Northrop that allowed us to purchase our first 3-bedroom home in Torrance with a nice view. We then adopted our first dog Gabi, a beautiful hyperactive collie mix, a grateful rescue from our local pound. Now it was time to contact my only lead in the LA fashion industry from my friend in London, Alwyn who had met Lonnie Kane on her trip to the US a couple of years earlier. When I met Lonnie, he struck me very much as a Dustin Hoffman type and very California hip! Lonnie was working on a new denim line from a house in the Valley and he asked if I would be interested in working with them to design and patternmaking. It was a part-time job and I was glad about that as it was miles for me to drive from the south side of LA to the valley. But it was a fun job and we had some success in an event called “Battle of the Denim” that we won! After six months I needed to be home for the imminent arrival of our new baby boy, Hans Robert Harder.
After a few months of enjoying our new family lives in sunny California, Lonnie called and asked if I would be interested in a new part-time position designing and patternmaking for a fast-growing company that he was now working for as production manager. The company was called “Colors” but unfortunately for me, it was in the City of Industry in East L.A. and another long haul to drive. But I was fortunate to be introduced to a great part-time nanny who would take care of our little Hans two days a week. But driving became too time-consuming and I was about ready to quit when the next door opened when a newly graduated designer started work with me. Karen was her name and she would later start a new business with Lonnie and so was born their very successful label “Karen Kane”! Karen told me that she thought that the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) may be looking for new instructors for their fast-growing new fashion college in downtown LA and introduced me to Mary Stephens the head of the fashion department. As I was pregnant with our second baby Erika, I really did not want to do too much driving. However, Mary asked me to teach one day a week which consisted of a couple of classes and I managed to not deliver in the classroom! But I was a big momma and I think many thought I would pop Erika out during my classes!
I enjoyed my teaching experience at FIDM and was impressed with their leadership, faculty, and programs. But after four years of sun, beach, freeways, and a lifestyle that we all enjoyed, a new position for my husband presented itself. And with it, another life-changing experience presented itself to my husband and our new family when the GREAT Northwest and Washington State called! Stay tuned to part 4 of my life’s networking journey!
From the Golden State to the Great Northwest- Networking through life!
Frances Harder: After four years of family life in sunny Southern California, my husband Helmut was offered an exciting new position in the stress department at Boeing in Seattle. After due consideration, we decided to go for this new adventure that would be a life and career changer and we hoped for a positive opportunity. We packed everything up, got a mover to take our furniture, rented our house out, and took to the road with our two small children and Gabi our collie mix all squeezed into our old Buick station wagon. A three-day drive with two overnight stays on the way and we arrived in Redmond, Washington where we had rented a house with a plan to look for and buy our second home.
For me, the damp weather was the biggest adjustment but having been born and raised in northern England it was like going home! Not really! Unlike most homes at that time in northern England there was good heating and double pane windows to keep us warm and to keep out the bone-chilling damp! After an intensive search, we found a newly built four-bedroom house with a great view of the mountains that also overlooked Redmond. I plunged into getting the basement finished and the rest of the house decorated and making it our new home.
We found a great Montessori preschool for Hans, which also introduced us to new friends for both Hans and Erika and also for us. We settled into enjoying our new lives in the great Northwest with all the beautiful open spaces and vistas. After a few months, I began to think about the possibility of teaching work so I contacted Seattle Central Community College which had a fashion department. I was invited to meet with the chair of the department and so a new experience began teaching design, history of costume, and draping. It was a very pleasant environment and I enjoyed the new teaching challenges. For most of the classes I did not have much experience in teaching, so I had to do lots of preparation and also hours of grading at home after I had put the children to bed. However, it was stimulating and also interesting to learn about the apparel industry in the Northwest, which was and still is mostly outerwear and ski apparel. For me, this aspect of the industry was a new education and I learned much about the construction and production process for outerwear.
While teaching at Seattle Central I met one very special young student who at the beginning of the quarter confided in me that his father was not happy about his career choice. It was obvious to me that Ken had a talent and a profound passion for fashion. I invited the young man and his father to come and meet me at the college on a Saturday when there were fewer classes so I could explain to this distressed young man’s father the training and career options open to Ken. Well, to cut a long story short. Ken went on to graduate with honors and gained entrance to F.I.T. in NY. After many years we reconnected. Ken Downing was the PV of Niemen Marcus corporate office in Dallas! He was always center stage at all the major runway shows in Europe and NY and as he put it to me all those years later when we met up in Dallas where I had been invited to present a seminar, “I have a very big job!”. I was very touched that when Ken found out that I would be in Dallas he ordered a beautiful arrangement of flowers to be delivered to my hotel room, with a wonderful touching note of gratitude, for as he put it “changing my life!” Here again is another great example of the power of networking!
We really enjoyed our family living in Seattle and all that wonderful part of the state has to offer for approximately four years. Then Helmut received a call from a job agency to offer him a position back in Munich! We both discussed this new opportunity and what it could offer. We both agreed that while both children were young enough it would not be too much of a disruption for them and an amazing opportunity to experience a different culture and learn a new language. So, the planning, preparation, packing, and storage began once again!
Return to Lederhosen and Dirndls
Frances Harder: Our return to Munich as a family was quite a different experience from my first crazy time when working on Airbus! We found a great apartment in what turned out to be the Beverley Hills of Munich in Soln. Our neighbors living in the many big villas in this exclusive district had titles like Von Bulow, Von Bismarck, and Von Helberg. So began a new life and a new networking experience!
For me, the biggest challenge was the children’s schooling and the schedule, which began at 8 am and ended at noon. This made it hard to really plan any other activity and hard for German mothers to think of working outside the home. Then living in an apartment there were “Haus rules” that were supervised by the “Haus Master” or in our case the Haus Mistress, Frau Braun! She was for sure left over from the 40’s and enjoyed dictating the rules but for me, this did not go down too well with a very opinionated Brit! One rule was that no children could play outside from noon until 3 pm as they considered this to be the “quiet time” when people needed to rest. This rule of “quiet time” also included the rule of no vacuuming or using the washing machine! My poor German husband tried to make me follow rules but quite frankly I enjoyed doing my housework between noon and 3 pm. But all things considered, we loved the whole two-year experience and both our children, and we also made some lifelong friends. During this time as a “haus frau,” I began to paint in the style of the Bavarian wood painting artists. I painted wooden trays, wooden plates, wooden boxes, and any other bits of wood I could find. Through a friend, I was also offered a couple of classes a week teaching art at the local International School that was mainly attended by the American service people stationed there in southern Bavaria.
Our children enjoyed being immersed in the local German school culture. For the first few months, we had a tutor for our 7-year-old son Hans so he could learn the language and fit in with his new classmates. The class teachers that Hans and our daughter Erika had were wonderful and spoke English to help them fit in, most of the parents also spoke English proficiently which made their assimilation much easier and enjoyable. They soon made some wonderful new friends and through the children we met their parents and we too made lifelong friends. I also learned the art of constructing and sewing a dirndl and proudly created one for Erika, which is still hanging in her closet waiting for her daughter to grow into. For our son Hans, we purchased a pair of leader hosen and a “tracken” jacket. So now they both looked the part and fit in with the other Bavarian children’s traditional clothing.
After two years in Munich, we began to discuss returning to California. As much as we all enjoyed our time there, I think I knew that I could never really assimilate and work as a designer or teach at the college level. Besides the language barrier, this was also due in part to the short school days and the demands of the homework that really required a dedicated parent (mother) to help oversee their schooling. In our two years living there, our now two adult children still have wonderful memories, and both can still speak and understand German conversation! It was for sure a wonderful life experience!
In preparation for the return to the States, we purchased a new blue VW van that we had customized to have a fitted three-seat bench in the front that we knew we needed for our dog to sit in and also to stop the children from flying to the front if we stopped too fast. It also turned out that another added benefit to this bench with a wall behind that we had not considered was that our son enjoyed standing against it and asking endless questions while driving across the states! We shipped the new vehicle over to New York and then after a short stay with friends and a visit to the top of the World Trade Building we set off for our next adventure to drive across America and to our return to our home in sunny California.
From Rolling Hills to Opening Doors All Over the World
Frances Harder: After we returned to LA, we found our potential dream house that was within our price point due to it being a foreclosure. We had lots of work to be done before we could call it home, but I enjoyed the remodel. We all settled once again into the Southern California lifestyle that we enjoyed so much and returned for, and fortunately, we still do!
My first job was to return to FIDM and to teach again part-time while the children were busy with their schooling. Teaching was the perfect position for me as I did not want to work full time but I did want to work! Soon new doors opened in a variety of ways, some good and some not so positive, but really mostly good. I made new friends and. connected to many of my old acquaintances. But as happens with most of us some negative experiences often motivate us to move on and this can often turn out to be a blessing in disguise.
Over a period of years, I started two clothing businesses and managed to get screwed both times in different ways. But both of these startup businesses were a huge learning experience that helped me understand the many startup challenges, which in turn gave me so much more knowledge. During these challenging times and out of the blue, I received a call from the Otis College of Art and Design Fashion Department. They needed a studio instructor and had heard of me from another faculty member so a new door opened and 9 years of teaching as a full-time faculty member in one of the USA’s best fashion universities. I taught and at the same time, I was taught and learned! I loved the challenges this new position presented me, which also motivated me. It also opened doors to some amazing freelance opportunities. All of the below list of places and design assignments are a story on their own and many occurred while teaching at Otis, or after I started the Fashion Business Incubator as it was called in 1999. All these new experiences motivated me to create a new further educational class for Otis on Entrepreneurship. This then led me to write my first book Fashion For Profit, now in its 10th edition. It taught me that having a great idea is not enough!! You have to really understand the business side of the industry and all the colleges I taught in were not, at that time teaching business. Since founding the FBI it is now noted that most colleges have incorporated business.
While in the midst of writing my book and still teaching at Otis I met Sandy Blifer who is a talented artist here in LA. I partnered up with Sandy to start another new business venture, the Fashion Business Incubator (FBI), as it was called when we first started in 1999. Since its inception, we have grown and provided much more than entrepreneurial training and evolved our job training program. So, we changed to the Fashion Business Incorporated. Sandy taught me much about the power of networking and forced me to attend endless meetings in which we could pass out our business cards. Through these many meetings, new doors opened at the city hall, which helped to fund our newly formed nonprofit 501c3 startup.
The FBI was the beginning of more international connections and speaking engagements. One was the biggest industry-related show MAGIC International and Sourcing. Held twice a year in Vegas. My first speaking engagement there was in 2000 and twenty years later I am still invited to be a speaker and to assist with the organization of sessions held in Sourcing Pavilion. Today I am working to produce all their online seminars (36) for their new platform that opened on the 15th Sept and will close on the 15th of December.
Here is a short synopsis of some of the different experiences of the assignments I have had over the years that I listed below. I think I have made my point over the past few blogs of how my life’s network has guided me to experience amazing travel, make new friends, new work experiences, and all in all a wonderful journey.
From Rolling Hills to Opening Doors All Over the World – Part 2
Frances Harder: Istanbul – Turkey – Free-lance designer and consultant to a knitwear company. Great to work with!
Tokyo – Japan – “Frances Harder” name under license for two years. I designed a junior contemporary line. Had the patterns and samples produced here in LA then the production was made in Japan. (Two visits) I found working with them for around 3 years to be a great experience. They never signed my contract but always paid on time.
Royal Place of Brunei – Brunei- Design/ Consultant to assist with the design development for the royal sports team’s uniforms. Nike had been producing them but the turnaround was too long, plus the number of units ordered where too few. Very interesting, very amusing, and had an amazing few days in Brunei. Especially at the meetings at the palace and watching some of the team sports played with the Prince in attendance who is now I believe the Sultan.
Priscilla Priestly – Home Shopping. Designing for the middle America market that would be sold on the Home Shopping Channel. Priscilla was wonderful to work with and we sold out twice. I am sure she really didn’t need an extra income but did it out of a passion for fashion. I did a few art renderings of Elvis’s guitars to be used as a print for tee shirts to sell at Grace Land.
Guatemala City- Guatemala – Design/Consultant to a premium denim factory that was producing for a number of LA Brands. The workmanship in these factories is amazingly artistic. The city was a little scary with armed guards all over the place.
Paris, Callie, – France. This trip was an invitation from the French Government to learn about what their top brands were doing to protect from counterfeiting. Another amazing experience of first-class treatment by THE top brands in France. I was in the company of Harper’s Bazaar fashion editor and 12 other impressive fashion-related representatives from the US on this amazing trip! This first-class treatment ruined any future travels to France, indeed anywhere!
Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin – Germany – Invited along with other top fashion representatives from the US and other parts of the world by the German Government to see what they are doing with regard to green technology. As I lived in Germany in total for 6 years this was like going home and having an opportunity to meet old friends and at the same time to meet new friends from around the world. This was another incredible experience that was “einmalig” – A first-class trip!!
Hong Kong – China (Twice) – On both trips I was invited by the Hong Kong Trade and Development Association to bring a group of our FBI members to show in their World Boutique, which is part of their Fashion Week in the Convention Center that is right on the waterfront. Loved Hong Kong and the footprint that was left by the Brits. I thought the show was a good experience and a door opener for our companies. We are taking another group this September but Trish will attend this time as I will be on a River cruise in Germany with old friends.
Shanghai, Beijing – China (Twice)- First invited by the City of LA to accompany the Mayor’s office. Then the second time was due to my first trip’s networking and I was invited back by Shanghai University and a local Shanghai apparel manufacturer to speak on the US market.
Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth – Australia– Invited by the Australian government to present in each city about how an Australian company should prepare for the US Market. Some of the topics I covered were costing, Merchandising, Marketing, and Understanding Market Niches.
Lima, Arequipa, Puno, Lake Titicaca – Peru (Two trips) This project was through a division of the United Nations. They found me from my 16 years of bi-annual presentations at the MAGIC show in Vegas. I was hired as a consultant to assist companies that were ready with product development for their wonderful Alpaca products to expand sales into the US market. This was a wonderful experience and at times I had to pinch myself. Loved these people and hope to work with them further.
Kathmandu – Nepal – (Two trips) This project was my second assignment with the UN to assist a third-world country. This project was basically the same as my Peru assignment, to assist their Cashmere producers from Nepal who needed more understanding of production methods, merchandising, product development, and the US market.
University of Salford – England. Invited to lecture on the US market. Interesting to return to my home city on a family visit and talk about the basic differences between the UK and the US apparel market.
Industry Expert Witness
Frances Harder: Approximately 15 years ago I was introduced by a colleague to the lucrative world of being hired as an industry expert. What this means is I would be hired by attorneys who needed qualified experts. “An expert witness is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as an expert. The judge may consider the witness’s specialized (scientific, technical, or other) opinion about evidence or about facts before the court within the expert’s area of expertise, to be referred to as an “expert opinion”. Expert witnesses may also deliver “expert evidence” within the area of their expertise. Their testimony may be rebutted by testimony from other experts or by other evidence or facts.”
Working as an expert witness has been at times stressful but at the same time a learning experience, very lucrative, and a whole new view of the legal side of the industry. Most of the cases involved copyright or patent infringement that concerned stealing or adapting copyright prints, graphics, and lace designs and stealing patented designs.
Then in the past couple of years, new doors opened.
Shanghai SIFIC (University) Has asked me to teach my Fashion for Profit curriculum online. We are working on the agreement of IP protection issues. Stay tuned!
2020 – I started a new assignment with the UN to assist Egyptian apparel manufacturers in understanding the best way to sell in the USA.
Frances Harder: Visiting Egypt has long been on my bucket list, so I was thrilled to accept this new assignment. Then the Pandemic hit! So now all our meetings are virtual Zoom meetings with the companies I am assisting. I am sad to say that this method was not that effective and many morning meetings were no-shows by companies.
Through my 20-plus years presenting at MAGIC, they asked me to organize their online seminars for MAGIC Sourcing for their new online virtual platform. Their platform is now permanently open online. This is a virtual networking opportunity!
2024 – I have been invited to assist 10 Ukrainian designers enter the US market.
They are very professional, and their products are really very impressive. They have been invited to present on the runway following the Oscars. I have advised some of the companies to change their company names as they are too hard to pronounce. Important to have a name that resonates and can be remembered.
Footnote: My realization of each network connection only was realized after networking happened! Doors open when YOU preform.
Look for the next story of Networking with my assistant Rebecca, who connected with me through my manicurist. She was at the time a 16-year-old student wishing to enter the fashion industry. Four years later she has now moved on to graduate with a college degree and new assignments. She is also a talented artist herself and I will be excited to follow her networking journey.
Stay tuned!
Website: Fashion For Profit
LinkedIn: Frances Harder
