Retailing senior Ashley Reed sits with some of her new clothing at her apartment. Reed started her own clothing line in 2001 after experimenting in high school and making clothes for friends.
She spent her early high school years experimenting with gluing rhinestones on T-shirts.
Ashley Sierra Reed said, at that point, she didn’t expect to own a clothing line catering to MSU students and celebrities like Chris Brown, Lil’ Wayne and Ne-Yo in her college years.
“I was bored and just trying new things,” the retailing senior said. “People began to like the things I designed.”
The 21-year-old is the founder and designer for ASR Collections Inc., an urban clothing line that is gradually expanding in the fashion industry.
Reed ornaments a variation of designs on T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts with fabric paint and glitter. The designer also paints cartoon characters on clothing such as depictions of the Jetsons , Charlie Brown and the Flintstones.
Reed said she used her clothing line as a stepping stone for her career until 2005 when she decided to pursue it on a more professional level.
She began working with graphic designers, screen printing companies, photographers, and her assistant, Taylor Harris, to develop the clothing line into a business.
The Web site for ASR Collections Inc., www.asrcollection.com, launched last August to advertise and sell apparel from the clothing line.
Harris, an advertising junior, said the Web site is receiving orders from across the globe which is contributing to the growth of Reed’s business.
Harris said she works with Reed to assist with promoting the clothing line by networking with magazines, fashion show organizers and other publicity resources.
“It’s definitely a blessing,” she said. “A lot of people talk about what they want to do but they don’t actually do it.”
ASR Collections clothing have appeared in fashion shows at MSU, Cobo Hall in Detroit and the University of Michigan.
Reed said she met Chris Brown through her sister on a movie set last year and designed a Jetsons sweatshirt for him.
She added that the irony of her experience with Brown was the fact that he paints on clothing also.
When she’s not designing custom-made clothing, she’s taking photos of completed designs and sending them to her Web designer in Brooklyn, N.Y., Danah Givens.
Givens translates the design photos into a PDF file to prepare the designs for screen printing companies to imprint them on T-shirts, Reed said.
Reed said she gets her inspiration from fashion designers like Tracy Reese and Kimora Lee Simmons.
Most of her ideas are derived from research on trends and the pictures on her inspiration board — comprised of various eye-catching images that she cuts out of magazines.
“It’s whatever attracts me that I’m going to turn into something different and put it on clothes,” the Detroit native said.
Her prices for custom-made clothing vary, but the screen T-shirts are regularly priced at $35. She does most of her work for ASR Collections on the weekends, and she said it typically takes about three days of work to paint the designs on one hooded sweatshirt.
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“Time management is the biggest challenge,” she said. “Sometimes I have to go to yoga class to relieve stress.”
Prior to enrolling as a student as MSU, Reed attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York where she majored in Fashion Merchandise Management.
Her transfer to MSU in 2005 was sparked by her desire for a real college experience.
“We only had three dorms, and (the students) lived in the city,” she said.
This past summer, Reed interned for Tracy Reese in New York while attending FIT for summer courses.
In the long run, Reed said she wants to build an empire for ASR Collections Inc.
She plans to add jewelry, houseware and children’s items to her clothing line.
