Success takes students from UNC Greensboro to all sorts of jobs, but sometimes they follow a pattern. And one of the longest-running patterns is the track from the Bryan School of Business and Economics into the apparel industry.
Spartans fill many positions in design, patternmaking, manufacturing, and corporate leadership of Kontoor Brands, a Greensboro-based company that houses some of the most iconic names on the clothing racks, including Wrangler, Lee, and Helly Hansen. Thanks to a history of networking among faculty and alumni from the Department of Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies, UNCG students are well positioned for internships and job opportunities at Kontoor.
Department Chair and Burlington Industries Professor Nancy Hodges, Ph.D., says, “Kontoor Brands has helped sponsor CARS student competitions, provided case studies and guest speakers for classes, assisted faculty in the adoption of innovative technologies used in the industry, and hired CARS interns and graduates.”
She explains that the partnership goes back more than three decades, when Kontoor was part of VF Corporation. “Kontoor Brands is an invaluable partner,” she says, “helping the CARS department offer meaningful career and professional development opportunities and ensuring that our students are industry-ready when they graduate.”
UNCG alumni who work at Kontoor were eager to share the unique ways they moved from fashion as a hobby to full-time careers.
Ana Mena ’20
Global Product Associate Merchandiser, Lee Female
“You can’t always get what you want,” The Rolling Stones song goes, but there’s another saying: “Good things come to those who wait.”
In the case of Ana Mena, good things came within minutes of hearing her first-choice internship was not available.
“Opportunities are opportunities,” she surmises. “So, I went in with an open heart and did my best.”
Mena’s love for fashion began with dressing Barbie dolls. “I would take tissues, make them into a little bow or cut it into a dress,” she says.
Mena’s designs while in CARS.
On top of that, her mother let her dress herself at an early age. She learned to sew from her grandmother, then took apparel classes in high school. “I’ve had this love of fashion since I was 3 or 4 years old,” she says.
She looked for colleges with high-ranking apparel-design programs, and UNCG’s CARS ranked highest and fit her goals. Talking with coworkers now, she realizes that the UNCG coursework was at another level compared to other design schools. The internship preparation classes with Internship Director Anne Wood ’14 M.S., are one such example.
“Her class is so good at setting you up,” says Mena. “She knows a lot of people in the industry and how it’s evolving.”
Mena says she got an early start applying for internships during her sophomore year, sending out multiple inquiries. She wanted a design internship, but she applied for a patternmaking internship, just in case. She says, “It’s so funny. I got an email rejecting me from the design one. Then two minutes later, the same recruiter asked me to interview for patternmaking.”
Not only did Mena succeed at pattern-making – in part by knowing how to use their software VStitcher thanks to her classes – she also got her foot in the door to keep an ear out for other work.
“Kontoor is very cross-functional,” she explains. “I would see our design and merchandising teams once a week in a fit session. Then, their intern in design got a full-time job, and the internship was open. I said to my boss, ‘Hey, I really want this internship. I really want to try design.’ She said, ‘Go for it!'”
Then Mena hit another snag. The year she graduated, COVID-19 became a global pandemic. Kontoor, like many companies in the United States, had to grapple with the transition to remote work and an uncertain hiring landscape. Once again, Mena relied upon her connections to reach out as soon as restrictions eased, and a full-time design position became available later that year. “They kept their promise and reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in interviewing for it,” she says.
Five years later, she still jumps at the chance to try new things and bring her skills to another level. It’s what led her to apply for her current role in merchandising. “It’s a lot of everything I’ve already done, combined,” she says. “Much of my role is filtering things to run correctly for all the teams – product development, tech design, design, marketing. I’m the voice for all that.”
She hopes students following her will embrace the strong network options with places like Kontoor to find their own success. “Put yourself out there,” she says. “Go to Threads events. Go to Bryan School events and talk to people. Opportunities come, but if you don’t ask, you’ll never receive. There are so many people willing to help you.”
Marya Sorn
Assistant Designer, Wrangler Traditional Men and Youth Woven Bottoms
As a designer, Marya Sorn ’23 is always looking at trends. Her team plans out styles years before they hit store shelves. They keep tabs on social media and what coworkers’ children want to wear.
“It’s about understanding what customers like and how to translate that into our products,” she says. “Ideas come from everywhere, not just looking at high fashion brands. You pull it from your everyday life. Everything is a trend to me.”
Like Mena, Sorn’s own interest in fashion began with her dolls. “I started out with tube tops and tube skirts, which was all I knew how to do at first. That was my childhood,” she says.
She was also deeply interested in trends. She grew up in Cambodia, but even before her family immigrated to the United States, Sorn liked to watch what came out of Western fashion while also being influenced by her native country’s traditional garb. Even now, she finds ways to work both styles into her designs.
“Cambodian fashion is very colorful,” she says. “We like beautiful gold jewelry, a lot of beautiful prints. That’s been passed down in my culture for generations. When I design, I like that very sophisticated and elegant look. Lots of lace, using fabrics like satin or silk.”
Sorn’s designs while in CARS.
The CARS department is one of UNCG’s oldest programs – more than a century old – and she says it always felt like a close-knit community. “I still catch up with the faculty – Dr. Bang, Professor Carrico, Professor Karpova – every now and then. It truly felt like a home to me while I was there.”
Sorn, a first-generation college student, graduated from its accelerated master’s program. “My mom always had a dream that her kids would finish a master’s degree,” she says. “And I’ll say that the program does a really good job of teaching the overall business of fashion.”
Whereas Mena dealt with the fallout of COVID-19 just before graduation, Sorn faced it during her early semesters. She learned how to take advantage of modern technology to keep CARS students active and engaged when they couldn’t meet in person. “I was secretary of Threads for three years. We faced the challenge of keeping the club active and how to do a fashion show during COVID. Everything moved to virtual, so we used our social media a lot. We did creative videos to teach incoming freshmen how to make certain things.”
Sorn did not start at Kontoor. With Wood’s guidance, she interned with Simply Southern. Later, she got hired by Kohl’s and spent two years in Wisconsin making knit tops for teens. Then a design job opened within Wrangler, bringing her back to Greensboro.
In the period between getting the job offer and her first day, her team made some changes. When her recruiter informed her that she would be designing denim instead of tops, Sorn was able to pivot and learn to work with a very different fabric.
“Whether you’re in the retail side or the design side, CARS is really well-rounded to prep you for corporate jobs,” she says.
It’s exciting to go from a little girl making tube tops for Barbies to making outfits that people all around the world want to wear. “I’ve just truly enjoyed the process and designing for Wrangler. I feel connected to the consumer every time we begin creative direction and talk about what’s new for the season.”
Story by Janet Imrick, University Communications
Photography by Sean Norona, University Communications
Additional photography by Allen Nop Photo, Jaden Nichol Photography, Alycee Byrd Photography, and courtesy of Ana Mena and Marya Sorn
