Have you checked out Ann Taylor’s “Style for Students” website yet? In the past I reviewed the brand’s social media efforts, and the brand’s new site addition, to me, comes across as one more way for Ann Taylor to both jump further into the fashion conversation online and focus on an even younger audience than in the past.
The site is split into different parts, including a great section where readers can find interviews the brand has done of women across a wide range of industries, including one with a woman in the finance industry just two years into her career. The interviewee answered questions pertaining to interview tips, what her job entails, and what role fashion plays in her work life. Oh, and the ever popular question of what to wear to an interview.
Interviews can be searched by industry, and it’s nice to see that the brand went beyond the style of women working in the fashion and entertainment industries.
Readers may also explore how other college girls from across the country are styling their Ann Taylor pieces. So far only 10 schools are listed (glad to see BU represented!), but I imagine this list will only grow.
If you “like” your favorite looks on the site, you’re automatically entered to win a $1,000 gift card to Ann Taylor. My only question now is, with all this focus on students, what about college girls on a college budget? Do student shoppers get a discount?
pretty-innovative.com 
I LOVE that you’ve touched on a hot new trend in the apparel industry…
Brands ranging from BCBG to Guess to Victoria’s Secret through their PINK collection are aggressively working to expand their presence in the campus market. Keds has even recently jumped on this new trend, as they see students as an untapped market and hoped to launch their iconic brand back into cultural relevancy.
There are even full service firms like NY based ad agency, Mr. Youth that manages their client’s campus marketing efforts through a campus rep program. FANATTIK, a company that allows students to design fashion forward campus apparel with a more subtle, vintage look, brings students into the design process so they can wear their campus marks with a personalized touch of their own style.
What’s not to love? This new business model allows brands to increase presence on campus while students gain experience that makes them look like a rock star when they set out to interview for the real deal.
Thanks, Lisa! I think fashion brands that offer a campus rep program are miles ahead of the rest. If students are exposed to brands in a fun and tangible way, they will be more prone to gravitate toward those brands, as opposed to others, when shopping. A brand like Ann Taylor is particularly smart, because this isn’t a brand the students will grow out of- graduating students’ need for professional clothing will only grow with them.