ready dress go - Professional Attire Aimed to Inspire
Jessica Kaplan and Zoe Antell, juniors at Vanderbilt University, have started their own clothing company that caters towards young professionals entering the business world.The two entrepreneurs met their freshman year after joining Delta Sigma Pi (DSP), a business fraternity on their campus. Through DSP, Kaplan and Antell attended numerous coffee chats and networking events that required that they dress in professional attire, but they found it difficult to locate comfortable and fashionable clothes for these events. Early into their college careers, Kaplan and Antell realized that women’s business attire isn’t at all targeted towards young professionals, and there is a total gap in the market. Stylish and comfortable business wear should go hand in hand, yet, professional attire is dreaded by many women in the business world who complain about blouses that fit uncomfortably and shoes that make their feet ache. Recognizing this issue, Kaplan and Antell took it upon themselves to fill this gap in the market by starting up a company known as ready dress go.
Image Courtesy: Ready Dress Go
The creative minds behind ready dress go currently work with a manufacturing partner that is just outside of Nashville, and it is a female run manufacturing facility. Kaplan mentioned to me that it was really important to her and Antell that they find a manufacturing partner that aligned with their mission. She went on to explain that “many fast fashion brands go overseas and have less personal relationships with their manufacturing partners'', however, both women wanted to choose a partner who aligned with their mission and values. Kaplan and Antell want to create professional attire that inspires and empowers young women going into the business world, and this mission has influenced their company design as well as their choice in manufacturing partners.
From my conversation with Kaplan and Antell, I learned just how important empowering business women is to the brand. Another aspect of the company is known as the ‘Boardroom’. When an individual makes a purchase from ready dress go, or makes a donation to their Blazer Fund which funds an outfit for a woman who can't afford one for herself, they get to join the Boardroom. The Boardroom is an inclusive community with exclusive promotions for like minded women in the business world. Kaplan explained that she and Antell want the clothing purchases to be just the beginning of their customers’ relationships with ready dress go. They acknowledge that starting a career is a difficult journey and they want to emphasize the community aspect of their brand. The Boardroom will serve as a network for female professionals and it will also include blog posts where members can share snippets of their lives and inspiration for other women. This can mean sharing an experience of a virtual summer internship or posting on how to put together an outfit for an interview. These blog posts will involve women through the writing process and hopefully inspire women who read and take something away from them. In the future, Kaplan and Antell hope that the Boardroom can be used as a space where women can ask questions to each other and get them answered. In addition they hope to have speakers come in and speak to the Boardroom as well as organized networking events for the members. This component of the company has a lot of potential, and these blog style posts are just the start.
The founders of ready dress go have been working hard to develop products that inspire women within the business world. I was so excited to hear that they launched their first collection Monday, February 22nd 2021. Their first launch is a work-from-home set, and it consists of a top and a blazer. With this first set, Kaplan and Antell want women to feel empowered from the top up. Due to the pandemic, a lot of professional meetings and interviews are online, making the work-from-home set the perfect outfit for virtual events.
Kaplan and Antell are two hard working professionals in the business world, and when asked what their favorite part about starting a business has been, they answered that it was constant learning. Whether that's learning how shipping works to customers or how to go through their yearly budgeting and financial planning, there is still so much to learn and that ability to continue to grow and progress has been so empowering for them. The key word here is empowerment. Their clothing designs cater specifically to young professionals who may have found it hard in the past to locate professional attire that is comfortable as well as fashionable. Kaplan and Antell want women to feel confident as they enter the business world and they design their clothes with this intention in mind. I highly encourage anyone reading this to check out the new ready dress go, work-from-home set. We should never have to sacrifice our style or comfort for an outfit, and professional attire should not be something we dread putting on. I want each and everyone of you to feel confident from head to toe, and I can not wait for all of you to become members of the ready dress go - Boardroom that aims to inspire and empower women. The launch of the work-from-home set is a big day for all women in the professional world who can now feel best in the way that they dress.
Strike Out,
Writer: Aparna Srinivasan
Nashville