{"id":56435,"date":"2024-01-18T16:30:32","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T21:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/?p=56435"},"modified":"2024-01-22T12:11:44","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T17:11:44","slug":"agee-leinberry-ftm-14-sustainable-solutions-in-luxury-fashion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/news\/2024\/01\/agee-leinberry-ftm-14-sustainable-solutions-in-luxury-fashion\/","title":{"rendered":"Agee Leinberry FTM \u201814: Sustainable Solutions in Luxury Fashion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
From a young age, Agee Leinberry knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur. Following her time as a fashion and textile management<\/a> (FTM) student at the Wilson College of Textiles<\/a>, reflection on the problem of textile waste in the fashion industry sparked an idea for a standout business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had a strong desire to create and innovate, and the idea of starting and running my own business always intrigued me,\u201d she shares. \u201cI always liked to march to the beat of my own drum and had a knack for building a brand concept and bringing it to life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In August 2022, Leinberry and her co-founder, Caroline Gilroy, launched Couper<\/a>: a bold luxury brand that prioritizes sustainability and tackles waste by using deadstock fabrics<\/a> and leftover materials for many of their exclusive capsules. Deadstock fabrics are those that are undamaged and in good condition but are not sold or made into ready-to-sell garments. Couper uses deadstock fabrics and unsold garments from high end retailers to curate capsules of one-of-a-kind artisan pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen we were building out the concept of Couper, we knew we didn’t want to just start another fashion brand. The landscape is incredibly inundated, and we found ourselves personally becoming interested in companies that had sustainability as one of their core pillars,\u201d she explains. \u201cFashion is not an environmentally friendly industry, but we’re trying to take steps where we can by alleviating brands of their leftover materials to ensure they don’t go to waste.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we were building out the concept of Couper, we knew we didn\u2019t want to just start another fashion brand.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n During her time at the Wilson College, Leinberry majored in FTM with a concentration in fashion development and product management<\/a> (FDPM) as a First Union Textiles Scholar through the North Carolina Textile Foundation<\/a>. While earning her degree, she developed creative skills, such as computer-aided design (CAD) and Adobe Illustrator, and learned standard business principles within the context of the fashion industry. In her senior year, Leinberry participated in the Threads Senior Collection showcase<\/a>, which allows FDPM students to display designs from their classwork on the runway. Undoubtedly, this knowledge and experience aided in the development of Couper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo this day I’m so happy I took CAD classes. I use Illustrator on a daily basis and gained most of my expertise during these courses,\u201d she says. \u201cAs a business owner, you can’t just depend on your top skills and talents \u2013 you have to immerse yourself in every part of the business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n