Faculty
MPD Alumna and Instructor Melissa Triber Is Creative Director at Sage The Label
Merchandise Product Development Alumna Melissa Triber visited the Premier MPD Group this week to share her fashion journey and to talk about her newest venture as the Creative Director of Sage The Label which she launched two years ago in Los Angeles. She also announced that she'll be teaching at FIDM next quarter.
Melissa started her fashion journey with a degree in Fashion & Merchandising from Central Washington University. She moved to Los Angeles to gain experience in the industry as a design intern at Cal-Mart. It was then that she toured FIDM, applied, and got accepted into the Merchandise Product Development program.
As a student, she interned at Trends West and gained experience in trend forecasting. She worked as the Assistant Manager of BOXeight Studios and played a strong role in LA Fashion Week. Around that time she also started her own styling business and began freelancing for Paper Magazine as a wardrobe stylist. Next, she was hired at Stylesight (acquired later by WGSN) to work on their editorial and trend teams.
Young Fabulous & Broke hired her as the Creative Director of On the Road where she gained experience in brand development. After a year at YFB, she pitched the idea of a new fashion brand to a private label company and they hired her as their Creative Director. That was April of 2016, and by August that year, she launched Sage the Label.
As the Creative Director of Sage The Label, Melissa wears many hats. Not only does she design and produce the entire line from concept to creation, she travels to China and India to source materials and visit manufacturers, shows at MAGIC in Las Vegas, sources fabrics at textile shows, and travels on location to direct and style her photoshoots. She’s also built up a whip smart creative team she relies on for photography, production, and design.
She walked the students through some of the typical milestones in the development of a line—getting feedback from the team to find out what’s selling and what colors are working well for the customer base, trend research, making samples, doing fit model sessions, and planning and executing the creative in terms of styling and photoshoots. The students viewed recent line sheets, patterns, and samples to give them an inside look at the nuanced work involved.
Melissa will be back at FIDM next quarter as an instructor teaching Trend & Design Application (MPDV 2300) on the Los Angeles campus.
Follow Melissa Triber on Instagram @tribecalledmel and Sage The Label @sage_thelabel.
Categories: Merchandise Product Development Alumni Faculty
