Tag: fashion



Part of a series about summer internships from Olin MBA ’20 students. Today we hear from Destiny Davis, who worked at Inspiring Capital as a consulting and strategy intern.

Over the summer of 2019, I interned with Inspiring Capital, a New York-based strategy consulting firm that integrates profit and purpose within the social impact sector. Being in a joint degree program, I knew I wanted to infuse both of my worlds of social work and business together to have impact. Inspiring Capital gave me the perfect opportunity to do just that.

How I prepared for my interview and landed the internship?

The interview process for Inspiring Capital was a combination of three rounds. This included a virtual video interview, a strategy deliverable and a group business case. I made sure to be my genuine self throughout the entire process, and made sure to know about the firm to the best of my ability. This included knowing the history, past portfolio of clients and level of impact had the previous year. As a part of my preparation, I did case prep as well.

A day in the life?

My day-to-day activities at Inspiring Capital were two-fold. Tuesday through Friday were spent working directly from my client’s office on my project on evaluation in downtown Brooklyn. My project was to work with my client’s operations department to make a sustainable business strategy to enhance their impact value, evaluation metrics and data management processes.

In addition, every Monday was spent at a different company. From understanding the importance of the roles that both not-for-profits and for-profits play in achieving our nation’s sustainable development goals with the United Nations Global Compact, to design thinking with Salesforce, to comprehending the landscape of innovative impact investing with The Rockefeller Foundation, along with using Blockchain for Good with IBM and grasping the long-term impact of circular economy in fashion with Eileen Fisher Inc.

This summer was nothing short of impactful. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing what business for good looked like in all of these different spaces—therefore, helping me to understand what profit and purpose looked like being integrated together to change the world.

How did the internship prepare me for my final year at Olin? How is the internship shaping my long-term goals?

My summer at Inspiring Capital solidified what I truly want to do. I enjoy the idea of doing strategy for a firm that wants to maintain profitability, but still considers the social impact of their footprint on the world.

Understanding this, I am able to take classes that pertain to this area of work. For opportunities, I am willing to seek out connections that will allow me to use the mindset of profit plus purpose, and doing great business while having impact.




Daniel Shapiro

Daniel Shapiro

Did you see the article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Olin alum and entrepreneur Daniel Shapiro, BSBA’98, founder of Fourlaps? We profiled him last fall here on the blog, but Debra Bass gives us an update on Daniel’s athletic-wear startup, in her story, “Midwest-inspired menswear goes the extra mile.”

“He said that he knew his style struck the right Midwest-inspired chord when someone stopped him on Delmar Boulevard, during one of his trips back home, and asked him, ‘Where can I buy that shirt? It’s great, I love it. I want it.’ ”

Daniel shared this advice for entrepreneurs with the Olin Blog in December 2016:

“Being an entrepreneur is extremely rewarding and challenging.  There are no guarantees of success.  You need to love the everyday challenge, you need to love the unexpected and be able to embrace the unforeseen.  I spend so much of my day doing things that I have never done before.  It’s exciting and uncomfortable at the same time.  I wouldn’t trade the last two plus years for anything in the world.”


In her presentation at the 8th annual Boeing Center Industry Conference, Natacha Alpert, innovation lead at Caleres, spoke about the future of the fashion industry. She described how technologies such as 3D printing and body scanning are being used to manufacture consumer products with a high degree of customization, as well as how Caleres is using 3D digital design to decrease lead times and drive strategy.

According to Natacha, 3D printing, design and scanning are the new roadmap to the future.  She believes within the next five years, the footwear industry will experience a paradigm shift that will help improve the way consumers shop and, subsequently, will change how we will look at manufacturing design in the future.


For more supply chain content and cutting-edge research, check out our social media network [@theboeingcenter].

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In 1874, St. Louis was a major hub for industry. Downtown Washington Avenue was thriving with clothing and shoe manufacturers and the city was known as “first in shoes, first in booze, and last in the American league.” Today, the once thriving and populated downtown garment district has transitioned into historic lofts, retail, nightclubs, restaurants, and office space.

As part of the Olin Business School’s CELect practicum, students Emmy Caton, Shaheen Shabrou, Zitong Qiu, and Nancy Zhang are helping the Saint Louis Fashion Fund (SLFF) to revitalize the fashion industry within the community by putting together recommendations and next steps for the fund and SLFF’s fashion incubator.

The Saint Louis Fashion Fund is led by Executive Director Eric Johnson, an industry leader who has successfully launched similar programming and initiatives in New York City.

fashion-fund-incubatorOn October 27th, SLFF will celebrate the organization’s groundbreaking in a state-of-the-art building located at 1533 Washington Avenue (the ArtLofts Building).  As part of the fund’s broader education and outreach on fashion and design, six in-house designers will be welcomed as part of a two-year program to accelerate the development and resurgence of fashion within the larger St. Louis Community.

More information about the Saint Louis Fashion Fund and the incubator’s inaugural class and upcoming events can be found at St. Louis Fashion Incubator.

Blog post by: Emmy Caton (MBA’17), Shaheen Shabrou(PMBA’17), Zitong Qiu (JD’17), and Nancy Zhang (JD’17).




If you’re headed to a luxury ocean-front hotel or resort for spring break, be sure to ask the poolside staff if they’re wearing uniforms designed by Lori Coulter. Olin alum (MBA’99) and innovative swimwear designer, Coulter launched one of the first made-to-measure retail apparel concepts to successfully integrate 3D body scanning, mass customization, and computer aided design to create a fully digital and automated supply chain. (more…)