Trend Forecasting in Retail: Alum Kara Fenoglietto Shares Advice with SAIC

Trend forecasting requires curiosity and a lot of lead time. What does it take for a single idea to become a product on the sales floor? The School of the Art Institute of Chicago's (SAIC) Career and Professional Experience (CAPX) office recently hosted a virtual Career Talk with alum Kara Fenoglietto (BFA 2013), trend manager at DICK'S Sporting Goods. 

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Fenoglietto studied Fashion Design and conceptual art at SAIC, a background that gave her a distinctive, interdisciplinary way of thinking. Before DICK'S, she held creative roles at Nordstrom, White House Black Market, and Anthropologie. Today she develops seasonal concepts that set color direction, print design, and product collections for the retailer's in-house brands. Alongside her retail work, she keeps an installation-based studio practice exploring fashion, sculpture, and the body.

Fenoglietto calls her research method a "sponge" approach. She takes in politics, the economy, art, and social media to anticipate what consumers will feel and need. From there, her process moves from gathering research, including traveling to see exhibitions and design firsthand, to exploring color palettes, and finally to developing products in stores.

“My job is to just absorb as much information as possible so I can take that workload off of my co-workers’ plates and help them make good decisions and inspire them and bring new ideas to them that they may have never even thought of.”

Her advice for job seekers centered on process:

• Show your process. Fill your portfolio with sketchbook scans, mood boards, and rough drawings, not only finished work.
• Meet the brand where it is. If your portfolio is more artistic than commercial, offer to complete a test project for the brand.
• Make your materials easy to open. Send résumés as PDFs with your name in the file name and a direct link to your portfolio.

This talk is one of many CAPX events that connect students with working creatives. CAPX offers one-on-one advising, workshops, career fairs, and employer talks, and alums keep lifelong access to Handshake and CAPX services. 

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