Today we’d like to introduce you to Rob Younkers.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
STITCHED Fashion Camp started out as an idea I had while realizing there was a void in the kid’s market for fashion and design-related options. I was sent to sports camps as a kid, but was not an athlete! STITCHED is the camp I wish was available for me as a child! Inclusivity and an ‘even playing field’ have always been important to me…I designed the camp so that all you need to bring is a snack and lunch! All supplies are included and campers have access to all the same sewing tools, machines, fabrics, and design supplies. Fashion is a broad category and we work to truly cater to each individual’s skill level, clothing interests, and design sensibilities! While some campers are making fancy dresses, others are making surf shorts and sometimes pet clothing! Stitched is for everyone! STITCHED began ten years ago in East Hampton, New York. Over the past ten years, we have worked with so many talented young designers…..some who have gone on to study fashion at the college level and graduated with varying design degrees! We have had the opportunity to collaborate over the years with exciting brands like Target, Tory Burch, Tulip, Herschel, Swarovski, and Singer to name a few! Each year we try to keep our curriculum fun and modern, bringing out the best in each camper!
“The earliest memories of my love for all things design and fashion began with several muses…Barbie and my troll dolls…I was Barbie’s stylist and the go-to designer for a fashionable group of trolls. I would get inspired, beg my Mom to stop whatever she was doing to drive me to the Shelby’s department store where I would convince my little sister why she had to spend her allowance on the Barbie outfit I liked, pop into local antique shops for me to look for inspiration and notions, and of course Mars’ Five & Dime where I would be eyeing up the stacks of colored felt squares that would be cut and sewn into the seasons latest looks for my furry headed pals! I was incredibly lucky to have my two grandmothers nurture this creativity. Bema was an excellent seamstress, and Grandma Tiny had “closets” full of beautiful dresses….ok, the dresses were everywhere…hoarding is a relatively new term! I loved spending hours in those closets, examining each and every silhouette and detail as Tiny told me the memorable stories behind each piece!
My Saturdays ran like clockwork. Bema and my grandfather, Poppie, would pick me up in their big white boat of a car with blue plush interior and steer it to the arts and crafts store a few towns over to purchase everything I needed for whatever project I had dreamt up that week. Poppie would escort me around, shaking his head and getting such a kick out of my unique choices in fabrics, threads, and trims. We would head back to their home, Poppie would boil up some hot dogs for lunch, while I would run down the basement stairs to sift through Bema’s vintage Simplicity and Butterick patterns. A bit of a musty smell didn’t bother me! I would find one I liked, we would pull out her heavy sewing machine and tomato pin cushion, turn on the am radio and spread the fabric and patterns out on the linoleum kitchen floor and start cutting! Together we spent countless hours making clothing and Halloween costumes. This continued throughout my childhood and even into my college years. I was a wide-eyed freshman at Parsons with countless crazy ideas…Bema didn’t bat an eye when I brought home blue vinyl to make a pair of pants for my first-ever fashion show in New York City! Fast forward and I was a Parsons graduate, designing in Milan, teaching part-time at an Italian fashion university, and bringing my childhood dreams to life!
As a grown-up designer and maker, I realize what an incredibly lucky child I was to have people always willing to do whatever they could to support my creativity. In my late 20s, I asked myself, “With my background and fashion industry experience and passion of teaching, how can I offer creative kids the same experience I had?” I picked up a notebook and started sketching, daydreaming, and organizing ideas for what would become STITCHED Fashion Camp!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
All small businesses go through their ups and downs! Fortunately for us at STITCHED, we too love to learn and grow each and every year. We work to keep the curriculum fun and challenging for designers ages 8-16. I have a solid foundation as an educator, having studied at Parsons and teaching there, and had created camps for other art programs. STITCHED is a great balance of fun, challenging, and rewarding!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Rob Younkers is a fashion designer, educator, media personality, and former Professor at Parsons School of Design.
He has designed and consulted for Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, Patricia Field, Mattel, Vogue Magazine, Elie Tahari, Elle Magazine, and Threadymade. In 2007 he began designing a custom women’s tailored collection under his own label. Rob has been instructing up-and-coming designers for over fifteen years. He has taught internationally at Istituto Marangoni in Milan and for over 15 years at Parsons, his alma mater, where he began teaching three years after graduation, having been scouted by Tim Gunn. His involvement with a younger generation of designers began in 2006 when he mentored a 14-year-old designer on MTV’s “MADE”. Afterwards, Rob created fashion camps for several art studios in and around New York City. These ventures were the initial spark for what would become STITCHED Fashion Camp, started in 2013.
What sets Rob Younkers apart from others is how he has developed three careers simultaneously as a designer, fashion personality, and educator. He has a natural ability to connect to future generations of designers of all ages and teaches the skills to take them to the next level. Rob was a cohost/fashion expert on LOGO’s Secret Guide to Fabulous for 3 seasons as well as the LOGO Minute Man. He has appeared as an on-air Style Correspondent for Yahoo Style, E! Television’s Who Wore it Better!, ABC’s Fab Life, and Canada’s The Marilyn Denis Show. His latest work can be seen at Annabelles Book Club in Studio City, a dress make of books! He is also a consultant and the sewing instructor for THREADYMADE, a make it yourself sewing brand. He is currently based in Los Angeles, California. This summer, we are hosting camps at Hollywood Schoolhouse in Hollywood and Moving Thread LA in Culver City!
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
The most important lesson I have learned along my journey is to be organized and prepared, have a plan. BUT also be willing to go with the flow and allow things to change and evolve as they often do in design! A sketch is just the beginning of an idea….but design is a process and the evolution of an idea as it is being created is part of the process.
Pricing:
- 1800.00 for 2 weeks
- 900 for 4 day workshops
Contact Info:
- Website: stitchedfashioncamp.com and movingthreadla.com
- Instagram: @stitchedcamp
