Rock Climber on Way Up in Apparel Design

Joe Hanssen is a self-described climbing freak.

“Every chance I get, I go climb a mountain or go rock climbing,” he said.

So Hanssen, a junior at Central Washington University, knows what kind of clothing works and what doesn’t in extreme conditions.

Which helps explain why Hanssen has designed a line of technical outdoor clothing and plans to launch his own company, Polar Summit, in the next year if he isn’t first hired by a sportswear company like Patagonia or North Face.

“I’m just a 21-year-old kid who came up with this jacket,” he said, displaying a bright yellow and black Gore-Tex parka, “which is basically top-of-the-market quality.”

Hanssen is just the latest student in CWU’s apparel design and fashion merchandising programs with a bright future. The programs are not well known locally but have a national reputation.

“It seems to be the best kept secret in the state,” said Carolyn Schactler, professor of apparel design and head of the department.

“It’s a small school,” said Taylor Hastie, assistant professor of fashion merchandising, “but as far as technical skills, it’s equal to any of the New York design schools.”

Hanssen is one of 23 students in the apparel design program, while 35 students are enrolled in fashion merchandising. Plans are under way to combine the two programs under the umbrella of apparel studies, Hastie said.

Hanssen’s professors say he has what it takes to succeed in the clothing industry.

“He has a creative, three-dimensional mind,” Schactler said. “He can think in terms of how to put things together even if he hasn’t done it before.”

Said Hastie: “He taught himself. He has natural ability.”

Hanssen plans to enter a regional Fashion Group International competition this summer, which is judged by professionals from Eddie Bauer, Pacific Trail, Union Bay, Nordstrom and other Northwest clothing companies.

Hastie, who worked in the clothing industry before coming to CWU, predicts Hanssen will win.

“He’s going to get a job offer from Patagonia or North Face,” she said.

Clothing companies are always on the lookout for young talent, “the new blood, the new eyes,” Hastie said.

“He’s not sitting behind a drawing board,” she said. “He’s out there testing, climbing and skiing. He knows trends. He’s right there.”

What impresses Schactler about Hanssen’s designs is the strict attention he pays to details.

“He doesn’t put a flap on a pocket unless it’s facing the right direction in terms of where the wind blows,” she said. “He doesn’t put a pocket on a garment if it’s going to be in the way of a strap on a pack he’s wearing. . . . Everything is totally functional.”

Hanssen started designing clothes and doing research for his company about two years ago, but has been in the apparel program only for two quarters. He had planned to become a commercial pilot, but left the school’s flight technology program to focus on designing clothes.

When he’s not in class or climbing mountains, Hanssen works in a cluttered back room of the Ellensburg house he shares with friends, where he built a shop with a large work table, serging and sewing machines, an electric fabric cutter and bolts of Gore-Tex and Polartec. He keeps a sketchbook close at hand to draft designs when inspiration hits.

So far Hanssen has sold his jackets only to friends and family. His plan is to enter--and win--the fashion competition, make a research trip to Europe next winter and have about $20,000 worth of jackets to display at an outdoor retailer show. He hopes to have his clothes in stores by next winter. He said he’s not sure yet how he’ll capitalize the business, but he plans to seek a bank loan for starters.

Hanssen’s jackets won’t be cheap; he said top-of-the-line technical jackets sell for about $350, and his will sell for at least that much. So he plans to market his clothes to high-end retailers at exclusive ski towns.

Hastie thinks he should take one of those job offers she’s certain will be coming his way before he gets his company off the ground. That way he can learn the manufacturing and production end of the business and use that knowledge when he starts his own company.

“You’ve got to learn the ways the big boys do it,” she said. “If you want to make a profit, you’ve got to be in the trenches.”

Or, in Hanssen’s case, on mountain tops.