Success story: Julian Nagel launches fashion line

Success Stories | Aug 12, 2014 | Claire Curry

It’s hip to be square.

That’s the inspiration behind the sleek fashion concept of a clothing label Julian Philipp Nagel (GSB’14) co-founded with his brother and two friends this June. Its name? Mepadi, for MEat PAcking DIstrict, where the business idea originally hatched.

A German business with offices in Berlin and New York, the first collection Mepadi released is a square neck T-shirt, which is nearly sold out already. “Since the shirts were such a success, we are going to start creating other clothing items that will likely come out in winter 2014 and spring 2015,” said Julian. Currently, the fashions are sold only online, but the plan is to target small boutiques in New York, Berlin and other cities across the U.S. for retail distribution.

Despite the simplicity of its design, Nagel said that creating the square neck was a bit more complicated than he and his partners anticipated. After tweaking the apparel design, production began in Portugal, and now the creators are fast at work designing new products.

Since he graduated from Fordham where he studied entrepreneurship marketing with a minor in visual arts, fashion and apparel, Julian began working part-time with a start-up in Berlin while he devotes the rest of his week to promoting Mepadi. The team has launched the second collection which features a longer, wider version of the square-neck T-shirt, available in small through extra-large in black, white or grey.

“My plan is to live in Berlin until the end of December and to use that time to bring the shirts into stores across Germany and Europe and to work with different magazines and online platforms to get our name out in the industry,” he explained. “If things go well, we will try to launch more products, and will eventually expand to New York in January when I am returning to the U.S. to use my working visa.”

To view the product line, visit www.medpadi.com.

Congratulations, Julian, and all the best for continued success!

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