(Courtesy of Ron)
Recently I had the opportunity to interview Ron,
short for Rondell, and asked him about his new adventure in fashion designing. The
Louisiana native discussed the creation of his brand, who he looks up to in the
fashion world, and many more. Check it out below!
On what made him interested in fashion and
inspiration behind website process:
Nothing technically
"made" me interested in fashion, it was honestly just something that I
feel I always had an eye for since a little kid and it made me happy. Creating
is something that I am really into, and when it comes to something dealing with
me, I always like to be hands-on with it. So creating the website was honestly
just a piece of the project saying "I did it!" (Even though I am not
a website designer).
Coming up with the name “Ron Cartier”:
I honestly get this
question a lot! Lol But over the past couple of years I battled with finding a
name that I could brand. I went through several "nick names" before
Ron Cartier; "Ron" is my birth named shortened from Rondell and
"Cartier" is just a name that when I put the two together they
actually stuck and I felt it was something that actually had a ring to it and
one I could brand .
When asked about family and friends who doubted
his dreams, Ron states “I actually still do have people that doubt my dreams
and aspirations and sometimes it's hard cause that family or friend support
could be really helpful, but no one can see your dream the way you do, but in
due time I will soon turn them all into believers.” Ron was also candid about a
time where a setback almost discouraged him as an entrepreneur, but he
persevered and came out on top. The moment he overcame that obstacle:
Oh my gosh! You are
correct about the setbacks with being an entrepreneur and there are many! One I
can tell is a situation when I had an issue with my printing source flaking out
on me, at a time when I had more than a dozen of orders to fulfill. And when you
can't fulfill people's orders that leads to nothing but bigger issues. But after
weeks of arguing and having to contact my printer over the course of those
weeks, the issue was finally resolved and everything soon after was back in
order.
Ron’s favorite designers and who helps him with his
handmade, studded beanies:
Some of my favorite
designers are Yves Saint Laurent, Tom Ford, and Coco Chanel. All three of these
designers represent that clean yet edgy and simplistic look that I love in
fashion. I won't say my pieces are modeled after their work, but I do have a
Coco Chanel inspired piece on my website that has been a BIG hit! Surprisingly,
I actually don’t; I do all handmade items myself including the
packaging and shipping.
The best part about working for yourself, and taking
risks professionally:
The best part about working
for myself is that there is No Rules, besides the ones you make! And pretty
much whatever your call is, there is no one to shoot down your ideas. The
support is also phenomenal. I get a lot of support from my social media followings.
I'm not going to say I like to [risks], but sometimes you have to! Like the saying,
"it takes money, to make money" sometimes you have to take those
risks to get to the next step! So I guess it's safe to say I don't mind taking
the "professional risk" if it's worth it.
SLBWunder: What's next for Ron Cartier in 2014?
Ron: Hmm.... I'm actually working on a BIG project right
now that I can't give to many details away about it but if you keep up with me
on my Instagram (@KingRonCartier) or Twitter (@RonCartier) in due time you'll
see what I've been working on the past couple of months.
Click to Ron’s website right here and take a look!
