Caroline Preibe (BFA Fashion Design 2004), whose New York–based online knitwear company Uluru has been featured in such high-profile magazines as Harper’s Bazaar, Lucky, Vogue, and New York magazine, is now a contributor to Ecouterre, a website devoted to the future of sustainable fashion design.

In Ecouterre's latest "Ask a Designer" series, Preibe offers sound business advice in her article, "How Can Eco-Designers Stay Profitable While Advocating Slow Fashion?": "It may be tough for green designers to stay profitable while discouraging consumerism, but it’s not impossible. The key is this: When it comes to developing your business model, you have to be equally if not more creative than you are designing your collection or product. I have always said my biggest challenge with Uluru wasn’t figuring out how to design sustainably. Rather, it was managing cash flow."

Preibe goes on to reveal the 11 factors for success: "I earned a degree in business before I studied fashion at the California College of the Arts, and I like to collect business models as a hobby. As part of this pursuit, I’ve compiled a list of 11 factors that contribute to financial sustainability and the success of a business. These 11 factors are not absolutes but rather common themes I’ve observed in both brands with staying power and growing companies that are surviving the economic recession." Read more

About Ecouterre

Ecouterre is dedicated to showcasing and supporting designers who not only contemplate cut, form, and drape, but also a garment’s social and environmental impact, from the cultivation of its fibers to its use and disposal. Our ethos: To follow the evolution of the apparel industry toward a more environmentally sound future, as well as facilitate a conversation about why sustainable fashion matters.