Donna Karan Talks Philanthropy at Harvard Business School: MBA News

Fashion industry designer and creator of the DKNY label, Donna Karan, left an audience of over 400 at Harvard Business School spellbound by her thoughts on living and breathing fashion as well as her belief in the need to integrate philanthropy into a business model.

Donna Karan was speaking at the 10^th annual retail and luxury goods conference, staged by members of a Harvard Business School student club. This year’s event came with the tagline, ‘The Consumer Revolution: Redefining Retail & Luxury for the Next Decade’.

“The students were interested in how to help others most effectively. I said it wasn’t just about helping another country, but about collaborating with them. That’s why vocational education is so important - it’s the key to helping others to develop and build sustainable businesses,” she said.

A key topic was Donna Karan’s work in founding Urban Zen alongside fellow designer, Sonja Nuttall. Urban Zen sprung from a desire to preserve traditional culture in the face of globalization and is currently supporting and working with Haitian artisans in the wake of the devastation caused there by 2010’s earthquake.

Fashion industry trends and retaining loyalty

In addition to Donna Karan, keynote addresses at the Harvard Business School fashion industry event were also given by Fifth & Pacific chief executive officer William McComb, and Sephora’s chief marketing officer and chief digital officer Julie Bornstein.

Panelists comprised of fashion industry leaders sparked intriguing discussion on current trends, at a time when fashion week continues its globetrotting tour across some of the fashion industry’s most influential cities. A further key focus came on the idea of customer engagement and retaining loyalty through brand management.

The event was seen as an overwhelming success by its MBA student organizers at Harvard Business School. “10 years ago it was just about fashion, art and creativity but across different panels we can really see how it’s integrating with technology and we really get to see how it touches everything from real estate to capital structures and philanthropy,” said Emily Wang, one of the co-presidents at the school’s student club for retail and luxury goods.

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