Hi, My name is Prangchat, friends call me “Deedee”. I am a men’s wear designer by day and a men’s accessories designer by night based in NYC. Originally, I was born and raise in Bangkok Thailand. I have Art and design background. In 2006, I decided to move to New York. At that time, my plan was only for attending a graphic design program then after I graduate I was supposed to go back to Thailand. My plan was changed on the last semester when I landed my first position as an intern in a fashion company.
Things are totally different in New York. It’s so competitive, however there are also much more experiences that I can learn. After 3 months internship with this fashion company, they offered me a job as a assistant designer. Like many people say ” if you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere”. This is why I decided to pursue my career here.
2 years later, while I have been working with another fashion company as a men’s wear design. I have started my side business called “W.B.THAMM”. I have named it after my parents initials (Wasana + Boonsong) combined with our last name in shorten version. It’s the way I’d like to honor them how lucky I am to be their daughter and to remind myself that I will never forget my root. I do bow ties, neckties, and pocket squares. All are handmade in my studio apartment. I am mostly working on it night time and over weekends. Hopefully, I could work on it as my full time job in the future. That would be the sweetest thing!
W.B.THAMM is “Playful, classic and yet contemporary” haberdashery based in NYC. All items are handcrafted and individual cut with high quality of fabric. Fabric are from local sources. Wide range of vintage and new fabric. I am providing bowties, neckties and pocket squares. Custom orders are also available upon requests.
Feeling lack of creativity on my full-time job, I tried to find my creative outlet- something that could reflect my personality. Planning, doing researches and sourcing materials for several months, then I started W.B.THAMM in May 2013. I like to collaborate designs and stories then flourish them to collections. My biggest challenge is about how I can work with limited sources. – when you are running small productions, material sourcing are not cost efficiency. How to control my budget and making it relatively to retail pricing are very crucial.
In the future, I would like to expand my business into wholesale, making more connections with potential buyers, having crews to work on production lines. This is to build up my way to take more attentions on marketing strategies.
The loan will be for investing more on fabric inventory and adding some cash flow into my business. This year, I am planning to do more business locally such as local handmade markets, wedding events. – this will be an instant revenue , adding to my current online sales. I design collections 10 months to 1 year ahead before launching, buying fabric inventory ahead of time is A-MUST. I am a big fan of supporting local. I buy fabric and all materials here in New York. Many times, my items were sold out and I didn’t have more fabric to produce. I cannot go back to purchase the same fabric either because until then the fabric that I bought 10 months ago would not be available any more. I felt that I missed the opportunity. If I could have more budget to secure more fabric in stock, I would have had more opportunity to sell.
Besides expenses for inventory, the partial ($1300) of this loan will be going toward to my visa legal fees. Because I am not a US citizen, to live and work here I will need to maintain my visa. Despite of paying taxes like everyone else in US, I also have the extra expenses; the lawyer fee for running my visa application and many other fees to Government for the application processes. I am always willing to work hard, the loan will add a little ease for me and it will really impact to my life, giving me chances to accomplish my goal.
A loan of $5,000 helps me to purchase more fabric and materials for our new collection.