Fashion Site Inspirare.com Launches Collaboration the Academy of Art University

Local e-shop founder Sean Peng and his company Inspirare teamed up with the San Francisco fashion powerhouse Academy of Art University (AAU). Inspirare's business model is selling San Francisco produced garments designed by emerging designers from over 20 countries in their e-shop set to launch in the coming week. Academy of Art University is known to churn out hundreds of talented designers annually from over 90 countries. The school just wrapped up their Spring 2013 presentation at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York City.

Sean Peng sought an opportunity for discovering new talent when he decided to collaborate with the school's arsenal of innovative and unique designers. Many of these students (even after school) do not have the resources in the Bay Area to get their collections into production for retail. Students will now have the opportunity to begin experiencing commercial success while still mastering their skill and degree.

The collaboration program with AAU launched this Fall 2012 semester. The Inspirare team and the AAU Fashion team have outlined specific guidelines for the students. At the end of the semester, a selection of the Spring 2013 garments will be placed into production. Students must operate under The company's retail price range.

Inspirare is not the only one to benefit from the city's rich resource for great fashion designers. Selected students whose garments are produced will receive a 10 to 15% royalty. Students receive guidance and develop awareness in creating production-friendly collections. Inspirare ships and sells these garments in its e-shop that reaches over 30 countries.

Gladys Perint Palmer, Executive Director of the School of Fashion, and Simon Ungless, Director of the School of Fashion, have been leading the fashion school since 1996. "Inspirare is a perfect opportunity for our students to have their designs exposed to an international community and be put into production. We see a bigger potential with Inspirare as the collaboration grows," said Ungless.

About Academy of Art University

With more than 18,000 students, Academy of Art University is the nation's largest accredited private art and design university. Established in 1929, the school offers accredited A.A., B.A., B.F.A., M.A., M.F.A., and M.Arch degree programs in Acting, Advertising, Animation & Visual Effects, Architecture, Art Education, Art History, Fashion, Fine Art, Game Design, Graphic Design, Illustration, Industrial Design, Interior Architecture & Design, Landscape Architecture, Motion Pictures & Television, Multimedia Communications, Music Production & Sound Design for Visual Media, Photography, and Web Design & New Media. Online degrees are offered in most areas. Academy of Art University is an accredited member of WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges), NASAD (National Association of Schools of Art and Design), NAAB (National Architectural Accrediting Board, Master of Architecture), and CIDA (Council for Interior Design Accreditation offered for BFA-IAD, MFA-IAD).

About Inspirare

Inspirare is part of the San Francisco fashion scene and is dedicated to supporting the next wave of emerging fashion designers by offering them 100 percent production funding. All garments are manufactured in the U.S.

Inspirare offers an open dialogue between customers and designers, connecting them through an online community. It provides designers the opportunity to gain exposure and form a solid foundation from which to launch their label. Consumers benefit by having access to cutting edge design not available anywhere else.