Wrangler has designs on KSU student’s work

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Shannon Gallagher of Garrettsville proudly shows off the men’s Western-style shirt she designed. Wrangler will produce and sell her design, beginning it its Christmas 2012 catalog. Gallagher is in her fifth year as a fashion merchandising major at Kent State University. For more about KSU’s Fashion School, visit www.kent.edu/artscollege/fashion.

KENT

Shannon Gallagher, in her fifth year studying fashion merchandising at Kent State University, designed a workwear garment in her product development class that will be featured for purchase in Wrangler’s Christmas 2012 catalog.

Gallagher says her upbringing on a farm helped to inspire the design. The lifestyle and the clothing her father and brother wore, as well as her experience raising and showing livestock, all came together in the form of the successful design.

But the 22-year-old Garrettsville resident says KSU Fashion School instructor Trista Grieder is responsible for her success with Wrangler. She liked that Grieder’s project proposal was encouraging, and Grieder submitted the design to her contact at Wrangler for review.

The work shirt for men, fashioned in a Western style, is long-sleeved and features a designed yoke, pointed collar, breast pockets with flaps and decorative stitching.

Grieder said her students learn that merchandisers and designers are partners in the creation of fashion and that a large network can be the foundation for future successes.

She helps prepare the students in using product development industry sheets, Illustrator, Photoshop and other industry-wide resources.

Grieder said an ongoing friendship with a past mentor at Wrangler helped when they embarked on a men’s Western shirt project. Because Gallagher’s project stood out, the company wanted to manufacture the design.

The student said she was very excited when she got the news. Her father and brother are proud of being part of the inspiration and are waiting to buy the shirt next Christmas, she said.

Gallagher will graduate with honors in May.

In her free time, she enjoys sewing, scrapbooking and photography. She engages in local entrepreneurship organizations, 4-H, leadership programs and scholarly groups. She works as an independent Mary Kay consultant, a teacher at the Looking Glass Learning center and a sales associate at the Longaberger Factory Store.