The Blueprint of Apparel: Applying Architectural Thinking to Fashion

A When I was practicing, finding a detail meant digging through old models. That's why I'm glad to have Puros sponsoring this episode. They make every detail family and standard searchable across your firm and ensure that nothing gets used blindly. See it@pyrdos.com that's P I R R O S.com. Welcome to Practice Disrupted, a podcast exploring how architects can build better businesses, embrace emerging technology, and more sustainable, fulfilling practices. I'm your host, Evelyn Lee, architect, angel investor, and founder of Practice of Architecture. Whether you're running a firm, starting your career, or reimagining what's possible, this podcast challenges you to think differently about the future of architecture. Hello disruptors.

A Welcome to this week's episode of Practice Disrupted. My guest today is Aidan Turner, founder of the Garment Architect, an apparel design and manufacturing studio that runs every collection through phases. An architect would recognize blueprinting, design, sourcing, testing, production and finishing. He calls a tech pack a blueprint for a garment. Aidan is one year out of school from the Syracuse School of Architecture and he was already running a clothing brand before his first day of studio. As he puts it, he was an entrepreneur before he was an architect. We get into how that actually worked. A sophomore year conversation with Dean Michael speaks about whether capital a architecture was the only path.

A A fifth year thesis comparing architects to entrepreneurs, a real estate miner, the vice president seat at Syracuse's Fashion and Design Society, and the night he ran a pop up shop and went straight into an all nighter for his studio final. We talk about what transferred from school, what didn't, and the leap he took this past December to leave the architecture firm he was at and go all in on the garment architect. We also get into quality supply chain and his line against fast fashion. Aidan's argument is that apparel is one of the most intimate physical extensions of a brand a person can carry and that cheap throwaway merch quality erodes the thing that it was meant to celebrate. Let's dive into the conversation. Hi Eden. So happy to have you on the show. Thanks for joining us on Practice Disrupted.

B Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to chat and share more about what I'm doing.

A Yes. And before we get into this unique career path that you've carved out for yourself, immediately, right after school, pretty much about six months. About six months. That's pretty, pretty fast. Let's talk about just your love for architecture and why you pursued an architecture degree in the first place.

B Ever since I was a kid, I grew up on Legos. I was building LEGO sets, according to to the instructions, taking them apart, buying custom molded pieces online, huge LEGO guy that later translated into Minecraft, where my friends were the go gather resources, make diamond tools. And I was the, I'm going to run 10,000 blocks to find this specific wood and bring it back so I can build a house. And so between those two passions of mine growing up, I later found a basically a free version of Photoshop and would just make graphics. There was no purpose to them, it was just for fun. All of that was a culmination of how I was raised. My parents are both teachers and my mom is an art teacher and my dad is a math and science teacher. So I have the, of course, you know, very logistical side of things, the very creative side of things, and they mesh together all throughout my childhood.

A Well, my kids are into Legos and Minecraft too. I kind of hope that they don't pursue architecture, but we will see. Is there any point in your life where you're just like, this is what I'm interested in, and it translates into architecture?

B I was always a builder. I've always been a creative person and have always been building things, whether it's creating something with my hands or just thinking of these ideas. I would create these storylines for my LEGO guys and build these creative, these, these massive almost cities in Minecraft, all with very similar, very similar themes. But it wasn't until I took an architecture class in high school, which I was very lucky for them to have offered an architecture class. It's very rare, but I took actually two drafting classes my junior year and then another one my senior year of high school. And that is when I knew that architecture was a perfect way to use my creativity in a interesting and unique way.

A So I would love, Aidan, for you to tell everyone what you're doing today as the garment architect. And when this kind of happened, because it actually kind of happened in school. And I was speaking to Michael Speaks, who I had as a professor when I was at Sci Arc and he was the dean, or he still is the dean at Syracuse. So it started when you were in school.

B So my background all started in 2020 when I created a clothing brand called Grater Things Greater, as in a cheese grater. And we are all about making your life greater by being cheesy. And I ran that brand all throughout college while I was at Syracuse, the School of Architecture. And that's where I was introduced to the world of fashion, entrepreneurship, business, and where I started to practice garment architecture without even really knowing it. So that is Where I started and I was able to leverage my architectural training, my education to build off of, but also learn from my experience there.

A What made you interested in starting greater in the first place? I mean, architecture school is not a light load. Most people would say studio takes up a lot of time. So what made you miss all of your studies? Decide, I'm going to start a business.

B It was honestly just a physical way. It was a creative outlet for me. It was a physical way of showing my creativity and became an outlet for how I use my design skills. The few that I had and actually the brand came before the first day of architecture school. It was actually the summer before. So I'm an entrepreneur before I was an architect technically, but they really just grew from one another.

A Where do you credit getting your entrepreneurial spirit from?

B I honestly think it was just growing up and learning by doing. There's nobody in my immediate family is directly entrepreneurial and not many people in my circle are. And it really, I really didn't sit down and say, I'm going to start a business, I'm going to do this to make a living one day. It was really just a, a passion project. It was something that I had fun with. Buying and selling sweatshirts was interesting. I was learning something new. And like I said, it was a great way to practice a lot of my design skills, which weren't so great starting off, but also build my relationships with people.

B And so a lot of my entrepreneurial mindset comes from my approach to conversations, making friends. I love meeting new people and just building relationships that eventually blossomed. And just the support that I was given throughout this journey was incredible.

A At what point throughout the journey did you decide like, this is the right path for me rather than going into a practice after school?

B When that idea first popped into my head, it was probably sophomore maybe, it was probably late sophomore year. And that is when I started having conversations with Dean speaks about maybe capital. A architecture isn't the direct way to go. And I was always set on the classic get an internship at a firm, work there after college. And I was always imagining the clothing fashion side of my creativity to be something that I would build on the side. I did not forecast jumping into it full time, but I was comfortable with that idea just because of all the amazing people, colleagues, classmates, mentors that I've had all throughout college until this very day.

A I feel like a lot of people are having that epitome earlier in their progression through school. At what point did you decide, like, I'm going to stick it out and finish architecture school versus should I be taking some business courses and switching over to a graphic design major? I don't know if Starcase has anything related to fashion, but what made you continue to pursue the architecture degree then?

B For me, it never was an or so it never was a decision to change majors. It was always an and it, it was always, how can I step outside of studio and learn something new and practice something new? And so I was very, very involved with the entrepreneurship circle at Syracuse. I picked up a minor in real estate where I learned a lot more of the business side of the AEC industry. There were a couple accounting, finance, entrepreneurship classes thrown in there which helped, but I had already had my business for three years by that point. I started branching out and eventually became the vice president of the Fashion and Design Society at Syracuse. And so I was, I remember one time I was, I had a studio final due. It was on a, on a Friday and that Thursday night before I had a pop up shop that I was running. So all day Thursday I set up, ran the pop up shop and after that I stayed up all night working on my studio final for the next day.

B So it was always an ant because I truly believe that my skills and background in architecture were and are still are extremely valuable. They're foundational to me and I wasn't ready to give up on that side of it. But I went and continued through school knowing that I can apply my education in an abstract way.

A So why don't you tell us a little bit more about the Garment Architect and the evolution from Greater Things.

B So all throughout college, I was running Greater Things as a retail brand. I was walking into stores and asking if they wanted to sell the garments. I was partnering with student organizations and doing collabs. And it eventually became apparent that selling retail is very, very difficult. I believe in the, in the message and the brand of Greater Things, but I had to put that aside and focus more on the, the bulk orders, which eventually became the Garment Architect, especially because that was, that's what was bringing in the most revenue immediately. And it was a natural pivot. I am still leveraging all of the same connections, skills and relationships that I made during that time selling retail and instead am now focusing on creating garments for other people. So I like to say to dive into what the Garment Architect is.

B We are a white glove apparel design and manufacturing company. And so I say we. It is me and sometimes other members of the team that I'll add on project from a project to project basis. But I help with the conceptual development of the apparel all the way through producing the garments, managing their production, and having the finished product shipped right to your doorstep, packaged and ready to go. I like to say that we approach every garment collection with the same principles that define successful architecture, which are aesthetics. The garments have to look good, they have to be something people actually want to wear, longevity. So they have to last, they have to wash well, they have to have a long life cycle and intention. There needs to be meaning and connection behind the garment.

B And it can't just be something that you slap a logo on and call it a day. I love saying, and I'm proud to say that my goal and my passion in life is to use my creativity to solve problems and help others. And through garment architecture, I'm doing exactly that. I'm able to use my background and my skills in an abstract way that allows me to be creative, have fun, but also help others. And that is very, very meaningful to me.

A So when you talk about bulk orders and retail, I don't think the majority of our audience necessarily understand the difference there. Can you tell us a little bit about the two and how it's a little bit of a different business model for you?

B Yeah. So to give an example, selling retail for me was going to local vendor markets at home or in Syracuse and having a table, having a tent, and selling direct to consumer. So selling one garment, two garments at a time at a retail price, or working with stores and them selling my garments versus Well, I say bulk orders over wholesale because wholesale is more in the warehousing. You know, you're talking thousands and thousands of units. But for bulk orders, it is me working with, whether it be a, an organization, a business, private schools, people who reach out to me and see apparel as an important extension of their brand. And we work together to create, whether it's one garment or 10 garments, the design and eventually manufacture that collection. So I'm selling 100 garments at a time instead of one garment at a time. And that's more business to business relationships.

A Why call yourselves the garment architect? I mean, there's so many different names that you could have chosen and I think it's obvious in a way. But why keep that connection to architecture for you?

B Architecture is my foundation, it is my background. And it has changed and formed the way that I approach design and I also, and how I approach projects. So I'm not a proper catal, a architect, but I love meshing entrepreneurship and design thinking because they are very similar. And the title to me explains how I think and How I approach a problem with a creative solution. So to me, it's nonlinear problem solving and out of the box thinking, using context and intention. That's something that I truly value about my architectural education because it really formed this creative lens for me to execute and practice. And every once in a while I had worked with a business or an organization that would approach me while I was selling retail to work on a bulk order with them. And so I took on the project and practiced garment architecture without even realizing it.

A But you take this, I think, more seriously because it goes deeper than the name. Like if you actually go to your website, your process kind of involves phases that are directly linked to phases that you might have for an architecture project. Can you talk to us a little bit about that?

B Absolutely. So I use words such as blueprinting and of course, design, sourcing, testing, production, finishing. So I wanted to be intentional as to how I branded myself. The garment architect is who I am, it is my Persona. I didn't realize the process of approaching garment design and manufacturing was so similar to the way that I would approach architecture. And so these phases and these, this process just developed from my experience, just naturally. And it wasn't until I started to become and fully brand myself as the garment architect where I realized that these phases need to call back to my name. And so what better to incorporate something such as blueprinting, which is where we create these, the technical package, otherwise known as a tech pack for short, that you, where you specify all the information about a garment.

B So whether that be fabrics, materials, weights, blends, fasteners, tags, how it's shipped, every little detail is outlined and called out in these tech packs. And I imagine that and was trained to view that as blueprint for a garment design.

A A lot of that. I mean, you say you handle manufacturing too, so are you doing that stateside? Are you making connections abroad? How are you managing that entire supply chain?

B I've been working with manufacturers all around the world since 2020. So I was a 19 year old kid just reaching out to manufacturers, primarily in China and Pakistan. I use my relationships to build a pipeline.

A Is that just literally email exchanges to build those relationships? Are you traveling out there like how, how does a 19 year old, you know, go about doing all of those things?

B It was all online, so I reached out first. I started on Alibaba and have since moved off the platform for most of my, most of my connections. But I just started by creating a mock up of a garment, throwing it up and having manufacturers contact me. Basically an RFP for creating garments. And I did that and went through a very long, long process of vetting manufacturers based off of quality, response, time, communication, price, everything that is important in any sort of business relationship. It was just me communicating online. So right Now I use WhatsApp most of the time and have a very, very close and loose communication style. It's very, very effective.

B We're very effective in the way that we communicate and have almost developed a shorthand for creating and developing garments.

A Big thanks to Pirdos for sponsoring this episode. Every firm has that one person who remembers where every detail lives, which family is the right one, and what the office considers standard. But there's only one of them, and they've got their own projects to run. Puros does that job across every project office and team. See how it works@puros.com that's P I R R O S COM. I think people can imagine that some of the graphics skills transfer over from architectural training. What are some of the other skills that you can talk about that directly translate into what you're doing that you were learned from or that you got from being a student at Starcase?

B Like you said, the easiest answer is that I learned how to use Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop or even Rhino for the design work. The real magic is translating a brand into an experience that is tangible and physical, just at the scale of garments, instead of buildings or houses. And so I think the most important elements of architecture school that I've brought into my business are things like attention to detail, project management skills, client relations, and then of course, design, taste, proportions, and a lot of the things that we that we learned directly applied to buildings, I apply to garments.

A What about the things that you didn't necessarily learn in architecture school? You talk a lot about wanting architects to be more entrepreneurial.

B Absolutely. I didn't learn much at all about entrepreneurship in school from architecture school directly within the curriculum. It was all from me stepping outside of studio. And if there's one recommendation I would make to any new student undergrad graduate going into architecture school, it's to step outside of studio. Don't get me wrong, I had good grades and I had good relationships with my professors and my dean, of course, but experience the world outside of just architecture. I feel like many students almost put these blinders on and only see this one path. And something that Syracuse really was able to help me with is to take those blinders off and see there is an entrepreneurship community, there's a fashion community, I can get involved in real estate, and just having conversations and building relationships with people outside of architecture directly was the best thing that I ever did in school.

A What was the hardest thing about building all of this out from scratch? So it sounds like you have some communities. You're not necessarily entirely on your own, but it is a new path to be creating from where you're coming from.

B The hardest challenge that I faced is when I decided to make the leap from architecture. I was at a firm, and I decided to pursue this venture full time. And so there really wasn't a story of I was making so much money with this on the side that I could jump into it. It was a leap of faith. It still is, but it's something I'm so passionate about. I'm ready to make it happen. So a challenge I'm facing right now beyond that is trying to find the right client fit. I know that my ideal customer profile is out there, and I've.

B I've been able to contact and find a few of them. But my customers and the clients that would be a perfect fit are all decision makers who see apparel as an important extension of their brand. It could be in any industry, and there could be some outliers in various industries, which makes it difficult. I wish I could say. I wish I could go to all private schools and say, this is something that you need, and then work with me, but that's just not the reality. And so finding where these people live and hang out has been the challenge for me. But I'm up for the challenge, and I'm excited to start, you know, stepping into those rooms.

A What has. Everything that has happened this year, I mean, every. Every business, I think is building, dealing with a lot of uncertainty. This year, you listed at least one country that's under, you know, that's always under scrutiny for tariffs when it comes to your supply chain. So when you think about, like, the risks that happen in a similar way that an architecture firm leader might need to think about the risks that they're taking on, what is the risk, the additional risks, other than finding the right clients for you?

B For me, it's definitely material costs, labor costs, and shipping costs. Exactly. Like you said over the. Over the past five years, since I started in 2020, prices have gone up and they've gone up, and they've only gone up and figuring out how to navigate that. Some is. Some of the burden is put on me to find interesting ways to maybe pull orders together or unique ways to ship, and the other is on my manufacturers to make sure that they're keeping their costs reasonable. And still being able to make a living and keep all of their operations going. And so finding a way to make sure that my, my services and my garments are accessible to the right people is.

B Has been a challenge. I would love to work with everybody, but as a business, I can only manufacture garments for the set price that I'm given. It's been something I've had to navigate. Other challenges are delays in shipping and, you know, huge, huge events going on that just completely disrupt the supply chain. And so, as fun as designing garments is, a lot of my time and energy goes into making sure that my clients are happy to preserve the relationship and also making sure I can keep costs low to be able to sustain my business.

A You mentioned how you were so strict on quality yourself. So talk to me a little bit about quality and supply chain. And garments and clothing in particular are, have been notorious for also like child labor and, you know, and sweatshops. But also there's this whole notion around fast fashion. And you obviously are not looking to deliver upon fast fashion.

B Yeah, absolutely. It is a very, very problematic industry that's had a really dark past. But something that I really preach is that matching your apparel to your organizations or businesses level of prestige is essential to building a community. Because oftentimes that's the only physical manifestation of your brand. Maybe you are a service industry. There's no physical way of, of giving somebody your brand. And another important thing is that it's something people take home with them. It's something they wear on their skin.

B You can't get any more intimate than that. And so I'm a huge proponent that every dime spent on low quality, unthoughtful apparel is really wasted because it gets worn once and either buried in a drawer or thrown in the trash. And not only is that hurting and destroying the environment and giving into these horrible institutions of fast fashion, but it's also destroying your brand's image and what you built so hard to create. The business, organization or school, it's. It's destroying it and it's creating a disconnect. And so creating garments that people actually want to wear that sees the light of day is the most sustainable and positive way to create brand equity and convey your message in a physical manifestation.

A How did you go about deciding price versus quality then on your garments and then obviously balancing that with increasing costs?

B I am a very quality focused person and luckily my manufacturers tend to agree with me and they're always making sure that we can keep quality as high as possible while also working within a client's budget. So, for example, there are so many little things such as the weight of the fabric, how we package the garment, the blend of the garment that we can manipulate to lower costs here and there. Even in terms of the embellishments, is it embroidery or print? Finding ways to make sure that we are able to execute the purpose and vision of the collection while keeping costs reasonable is a perfect challenge for an architect because that is exactly how buildings and budgets are created. How can we get the highest quality product that accomplishes its goal for a reasonable price?

A What has been the reaction to the architecture firm when they, when you told them that you were just going to go all in on the garment architect? Any reception from other maybe past mentors that were hopeful that you were going to pursue traditional practice in terms of

B the, of the firm, the situation of the firm, I had to make, I was very, very happy there. But I had to make a decision of diving in deeper and doubling down, working longer and really dedicating more of my time to the firm or make the tough decision to step back and pursue this. And I bet on myself. I took the leap of faith and it was a civil parting of ways. When I decided to pursue my business in terms of my mentors, I was communicating with a lot of people from Syracuse, a lot of architects who I have made connections with. And just like when I started my my clothing business in 2020, just as I did when I made this switch In December of 2025, I was provided with so much support and encouragement that it almost felt silly not to make the jump. And constantly, conversation after conversation, I was met with absolute encouragement and people telling me to just keep going, just keep building, keep doing what you're doing and don't give up. And I took that seriously.

B And here we are.

A How close have you stayed with your fellow classmates and how many of them have you seen kind of go on to do other things or stay the stay the course?

B I have stayed connected with a lot of my classmates who are interested in entrepreneurship, a lot of my classmates who ended up going into architecture firms I haven't kept too close in contact with, but I have kept very, very close contact with almost this community of like, like minded individuals that was really present at Syracuse and that ranges from people older than me who are starting their own almost design build firms, their design studios, modular housing projects, and also ranges down to students who I'm still mentoring, I'm still connected with, who don't want to become an architect. They want to leverage their architectural education in a More creative and entrepreneurial way. A lot of that has been me continuing my relationship with my peers, but also mentors like Dean Speaks. And I've also been working with and been a part of a community called the Collective by Out of Architecture, where I have shared a lot of my experience as a young entrepreneur and student fresh out of college.

A Where do you see the most interesting work kind of happening in those conversations at the edge of architecture and people that are really interested in doing something a little bit different or a little more entrepreneurial.

B I love how my generation is really starting to accept this notion of you don't have to be a traditional architect and follow the path exactly. So helping working with some of my peers who are starting businesses in the design studio space, modular housing space, some of them going into fashion, creating their own creative agencies. That is really where I see the most innovation, especially from people my age. And somebody that I really, really value, whose story is really, really close to mine is Virgil Abloh, who really did the same as somebody who I looked up to going through this process.

A I asked this question because people ask this question a lot of me, right, in terms of why I pursued this path and why I didn't stay on a regular path. But what does the profession get wrong about people who take your path and their desire to kind of remain even connected to the architecture industry?

B I think from my very limited experience of the architecture profession, I'll lead with that. But from what I've heard and what I've experienced, a lot of people, especially architects in those higher positions, don't realize that people in my generation, my age necessarily want to be in those positions. They don't necessarily want that life because they see how stressful and unforgiving the lifestyle is. And so I know I've gotten this a lot that I've wasted my education. I've wasted my five years of architecture school. And I have a lot of pushback against that because I don't think a single second would was wasted. I think there is an outdated mentality that is almost acceptable in other areas, such as marketing. There are so many students who change their majors or study one thing and don't go into that profession.

B But I think it's still taboo for an architect to study architecture and move into a different area of the profession. For some reason, I don't think that translation or that acceptance is fully widespread yet in the architectural profession. And I'm a huge proponent that it it should be. And your education in architecture is not something that should be applied literally every Single time. There's plenty of wiggle room in ways that you can apply it in very abstract ways.

A What do you hope the profession of architecture looks like five years from now? Because I think you're still hopeful, right, for the architects, and I think that's what a lot of people get wrong about us, is that we didn't all of a sudden lose our love of architecture when we step aside. So what do you hope for the future of the architecture professional or even more architecture grads coming out of school?

B I would love for architecture to become more entrepreneurial. And I say that because I spent my whole fifth year of school creating my thesis on comparing architects with entrepreneurs. And we are so similar from the way that we think, the way our design thinking, our non linear problem solving, even our Briggs Meier testing results. Whether you take that seriously or not, there's a lot of synergy and a lot of similarities and I almost want to remove those blinders and show that architects should be entrepreneurial now. I think the biggest challenge that we face is the fact that architects do not know how to communicate their own value. And we struggle almost as being a piece of the puzzle that isn't appreciated in the profession, especially working with real estate developers or contractors. And if we can find a way to almost remove this veil of mystery behind what we do and find a way to communicate what goes on in our minds, because that is the asset at the end of the day. We communicate through drawings, but our process is definitely not communicated through our deliverables.

B It's everything that goes on in our brains. I think if architecture can evolve in a way where our skills are valued as highly as they should be, then we would be able to be more entrepreneurial and more business minded instead of very, almost close minded. But I'm very, very passionate about this and very hopeful that it can be, especially because people who are coming out of college, especially through social media, see the world of entrepreneurship and see how amazing and inspiring for us to see a future that is bright and not bleak. So I think that this coming my generation can bring a lot of this fun change and really disrupt the industry in a very positive way.

A Hi disruptors, thank you for joining us today on an episode of Practice Disrupted. If you like the content for today's show, you can find all of our past episodes over on practiceofarchitecture.com podcast. Be a part of the conversation by joining me, our speakers and other disruptors in our community@practiceofarchitecture.com community. Our speaker, our social media handle is practiceofarch. That's practiceofarch. We'd love to hear from you, so feel free to drop us a DM and say hello. Tune in next week for a new conversation on change in the profession.