B-Schools Q&A September 26, 2006, 7:56PM EST

The MBA Designer

Fashion designer Julie Chaiken earned an MBA from NYU and uses those skills to succeed at the money part of a celebrity business

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It's easy for women to get into a suit-and-blouse rut in the business world. But it doesn't have to be that way, according to Julie Chaiken, founder and designer of Chaiken clothing. Chaiken, who earned her MBA at New York University's Stern School of Business, has been operating her company since 1994, a year after graduating from B-school.

Chaiken's clothing is all about wearable pieces that make a woman feel confident—without being overly sexy. The spring 2007 collection, shown at New York's Olympus Fashion Week in September, was a mixture of simple yet sharp pieces in subdued tones and unbelievably bright colors (see BusinessWeek.com, 9/15/06, "New York Fashion Week: Undressed").


	Julie Chaiken Founder and Designer Chaiken Clothing New York University's Stern School of Business, Class of '93

Chaiken, 38, recently spoke to BusinessWeek.com reporter Julie Gordon. Here are edited excerpts of their conversation.

When did you know you wanted to be in the business world?

I went to business school and I came out and I was ready to go out in the big wide world. And I've always wanted to run my own company. The opportunity came up over time to do this. It was kind of being in the right place at the right time.

How so?

Years ago, I had a business partner, and for years she had wanted to start her own design thing. So we started talking about it. Right when I got out of business school, she said, "What do you think? Is this something you think you would want to do?" And I said, "Actually, this could be perfect for what I want to do." So I started doing some market research and talking to people and going to trade shows and looking at opportunities that were out there, and it all ended up falling into place and it just made sense. It was just the right thing to do.

You always knew you wanted your own business, but did you know it would be related to fashion?

No. When I was younger, I thought I was going to end up working in television or film.

Did you have an interest in fashion growing up?

As a teenager, I was always scouring the magazines. I was the one who tried to be first on a trend. When you live in the suburbs, that's actually harder than you would think. So there was always an interest. When the opportunity presented itself, it was a natural fit. It was like something hit me over the head and said, "Why didn't you think of this before?"

Why did you get your MBA?

I've always been interested in business and there was no question. I took the GMATs even before I did my senior year undergrad. I just knew that's where I was headed.

How was—or wasn't—your degree helpful in starting Chaiken?

Even though we all get caught up in the fashion aspect and the front end of the product and the beauty of it, the core is still a business. I need to be able to meet with a banker and different people within the industry. To be able to sit down with confidence and be able to speak the same language with regard to business gives me a huge advantage.

For example, seven or eight years ago, I was presented with an opportunity to do a Japanese deal for distribution and licensing. And I was able to really evaluate the deal from the numbers and the analysis perspective, and not get caught up in the dream of it, [in order to] decide it wasn't for me.

When you were starting out, what were the biggest challenges?

One of the biggest challenges was getting a lot of the fabric reps to take us seriously.