Despite housing one of the highest ranked design schools in the world, The New School’s New Store does not sell any products designed by students. Started by The New School branding team, the store opened at the start of the fall 2016 semester. The school is hoping to stock student designs in the future but cannot currently, because of legal barriers and the lack of a plan to provide students with a fair percentage of the sales.
“Our dream is to add student products to the store in a way that is mutually beneficial to the students and the school,” said Ashley Bruni, The New School’s Director of Brand Strategy.
Despite the store’s lack of student designs, there has been student and faculty involvement since the soft launch of its digital store in September 2015. Located on the ground floor of the University Center, the store was designed and constructed by both students and faculty, who generated plans, material choices, and even the store’s metal sign. Students are also running the store, which is open daily.
The products sold in the store are generally simple stylistically to allow students to update them in their own fashion on their own time. The branding team had a tie dying station at this year’s block party to further promote the store and its products.
“New School students epitomize creativity,” said the team, “any opportunity for unique ‘making’ always seems to draw a crowd! We think people appreciated the opportunity to design their own college shirt, with all natural dyes, as our gift to the community.”
The New Store has been a priority to the university for the past few years, according to Hanna Lauer, a Brand Marketing Ambassador who works closely with Bruni. They are hoping that having a space to sell New School apparel and products will help enliven spirit at the university as well as spread the New School name in a way that increases the value of its degrees.
“When well-designed New School products spread throughout New York City (and beyond), it raises the visibility of our university and piques curiosity,” Bruni explained. “The more people talk about and research the innovative work we do, the more our reputation improves, and increased positive awareness has a direct affect on future job prospects for graduates.”
There has been an emphasis on sustainability and style in the store, both physically and through the products. Most of the products are manufactured in the USA and are done so with fair labor and sustainable practices.
“We wanted to respect the academic context that this retail project exists in by reflecting the kind of thoughts and ideas floating around our University’s halls,” Lauer said. “We want to tackle serious issues like sustainability, ethical labor practices, smart design and collaboration, and to work closely with the student body, faculty, Healthy Materials Lab, Making Center staff and more.”
Many students and parents have expressed their appreciation for a New School store to Lauer and Bruni.
“It’s about time they made a store because there’s a lot of us here who want to express school pride,” said Jeromey Martinez, a junior in Public Engagement. “You see a lot of stuff out there for NYU and the other universities but it’s so much harder to find stuff for The New School.”
Photos By Julia Himmel