Richie Carranza traces his passion for fashion to his long-time interest in rap and skateboard culture. From a young age, he knew he wanted to work in fashion. The Fashion Design program at Stevenson University allowed Richie to not only explore his passion, but gain essential skills to pursue a career in the fashion industry.
Since graduating, Richie has been working as a thermal blanket specialist at Aerothreads—a manufacturer of multi-layer insulation located in College Park, Maryland. He creates the company’s unique insulating textiles that are deployed on satellites, spacecraft, and aircraft for a variety of corporate and government clients.
“I never thought I would end up anywhere near the aerospace industry,” Richie said. “A lot of the workers there have a background in some type of design or sewing. It’s a lot of precise cutting and crafting, and it helps because we’re good with our hands. It’s kind of like making clothes, but for machines.”
While at Stevenson, Richie made connections among his peers and professors, and participated in the Fashion Design & Apparel (FAD) club. In the summer before his senior year, Richie received a Student Scholarly and Creative Works Summer Grant. The grant allowed him to spend a summer working closely with Stevenson faculty to create a line of sustainable bamboo fiber T-shirts. Not only was he able to create the shirts, but the connections he made during the summer led him to an internship at Baltimore Uniforms & Tailoring, a clothing manufacturer located in Baltimore.
During his time in the program, Richie enjoyed collaborating with his classmates and professors on a variety of projects, including his capstone.
“Collaboration was natural and we definitely helped each other out,” Richie said. “The professors were always helpful and supportive. They didn’t shy away from helping. Especially if they could see students were struggling, they would always ask what we needed and offer help with the design. They helped throughout the entire process.”
In addition to studying Fashion Design, Richie minored in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development, one of the Professional Minors offered at Stevenson. Professional Minors are a unique program that allows students to further shaper their educational experience to meet their specific career goals, gain a competitive edge in the job market, and take courses tied to a specific in-demand industry or profession.
Richie credits all the experience he gained and connections he made during his time at Stevenson with bringing his dream of starting his own brand closer to reality.
“I’m working on a long-term design project, my own fashion brand,” Richie said. “I minored in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development, and it helped me realize that I don’t want to just launch another brand that’s going to die out in a few years,” Richie said. “I’m going to take my time with this, put real intent into it. I want it to grow naturally.”
