In today’s digital age many people are taking advantage of fashion e-commerce by making apparel purchases online through various selling websites.

Two ISU students, Ashley Schonberg and Caine Westergard, both seniors in apparel, merchandising and design, run their own businesses almost entirely online.

Schonberg owns her own Etsy shop, Jayne Danger, where she sells her Octo plushie stuffed toys.

“One year, I made a bunch of stuffed animals for my family for Christmas and they asked why didn’t I sell these?”

Soon after Schonberg decided to sell her plushie toys on Etsy.

Since she was little, Schonberg said she has always known she wanted to own her own business.

“I always had that

entrepreneurial mindset” Schonberg said.

When first starting her business, Schonberg utilized a lot of resources Etsy had to offer.

“The first year I was selling, I was active with the Etsy seller community,” Schonberg said

By taking advantage of these resources, her business took off. The Etsy seller community helped her promote her shop and seek advice from other sellers.

Telin Chung, assistant professor in apparel, events and hospitality management, teaches a class on fashion e-commerce and describes Etsy as a business tool.

“It is a good place to get your name out there and to get practice in customer service and getting feedback from customers,” Chung said.

Westergard also runs her own business through her website.

Westergard said she

has been sewing her whole life and started selling her own products last fall through her Facebook page, Collections by Caine Westergard, which currently has more than 1,000 fans. She sells a variety of different baby onesies, along with custom T-shirt blankets.

As college students, Schonberg and Westergard have mastered the idea of free marketing strategies.

“Facebook is just my marketing tool,” Wester-

gard said. “Which is nice because it’s free, and as a college student, that’s always good.”

Although each of them has different target markets and audiences, both Schonberg and Westergard said they use Facebook to reach out to their customers.

Schonberg’s target market is mainly young adults and teenagers, so Schonberg takes advantage of social media sites like Twitter, but she said her main focus is her Facebook page, which has more than 2,000 likes.

“I think Facebook is the best way to communicate with my target market,” Schonberg said.

The fashion industry has become immersed in technology in the past few years.

“Technology is an aspect in everything we do,” Westergard said.

More companies in the apparel industry are expanding their online stores and marketing strategies of their brand.

“A lot of companies are making efforts for easy returns or having virtual try-ons for their customers,” Chung explained.

With features like these, fashion companies will be able to expand their businesses using online tools, not to mention, more companies will be able to show off what their brand represents through various forms of online media.

“Social media is a good tool to build a relationship with their customers,” Chung said.

By building up a social media site, a company can connect more with their customer than ever before.

Chung is predicting this trend in fashion e-commerce to only grow from here.

“More people are comfortable using technologies,” Chung said, “and I see an important trend in e-commerce, especially fashion e-commerce.”