Every little girl plays with Barbie’s they are young, but Marlene Bond took it one step further. Ever since she was young she had a fascination with fashion. Bond at a young age began to create the clothes from scratch that she was dressing her Barbie’s in.
As she grew older, she started to create clothes for herself, DIY some of her purchased items and added patches to jean jackets. As this continued, her friends and family started to notice and wanted some items for themselves.
Bond created clothing for her friends and family as well as herself of a while. Realizing that other people wanted her personalized clothes, one of her friends suggested that she could start selling her clothes for a profit. At that moment, she created an Etsy page.
She started getting sales from not only within the country but all over the world. She was getting orders from Florida, Seattle, London, and many locations all over the globe. This was when Bond realized that this could actually be something.
Hand sewing from scratch Bonds Etsy page turned into her own website and company, Just MB Designs. Bond keeps up with the trends by constantly keeping an eye on what’s coming out in the stores as well as keeping up with all fashion magazines and social media.
Trends are simple for Bond because if she’s walking down the street and sees a piece she likes she usually thinks to herself “I could make that,” and then does. Something she struggles with is keeping it unique. It would be too easy for her to just recreate a piece, she likes to make her clothing stand out.
While Bond is keeping with her company she is also a student at the University of Arizona. While she is now majoring in Retailing and Consumer Sciences she originally started on the path to be a nurse. After starting her freshman year, she began to realize she was not following her dreams.
After joining the TREND Fashion Club on campus, she started to realize that she was on the wrong path. What helped her make her decision was hearing her biggest inspiration, former CEO of Macys, Terry Lundgren speak to the club.
Lundgren graduated from the University of Arizona so he visits often to speak to the club. Bond says that she gets inspired again each time she hears him speak because he says the same thing every time and “each time it gives me chills” she says.
As she continues to grow each day within the Fashion program she is constantly working hard, while balancing school, her company and a job at Banana Republic. Bond has worked many different jobs and has had multiple internships as well, and all this helps keep her going and growing.
In the future, Bond’s ultimate dream job would be to buy and pick what goes on the racks for a department store. Ideally, she would also like to design her own clothing for large stores as well.
But for now, she will be finishing college and running Just MB Designs.
Follow her at:
Instagram: @justmbdesigns1
Visit her website at: