Cornell students have teamed up with one of the nation's best-known textile companies to create an experimental menswear clothing line.

Mac Bishop '11 and Jeff Aziakou '10 in the College of Agriculture and Life Science's Undergraduate Business Program have launched Feedbak, a project in partnership with Pendleton Woolen Mills of Portland, Ore. Bishop is the son of Pendleton President Mort Bishop III '74.

Bishop and Aziakou collaborated with seven students from the College of Human Ecology's Fiber Science & Apparel Design (FSAD) program to create the Feedbak Collection, a menswear line. The collection of 12 original garment styles was crafted from fabrics donated by Pendleton Woolen Mills.

The line will be featured at the Cornell Design League 25th Annual Fashion Show on April 4 in Barton Hall.

"Our vision for the line was wearable, comfortable, innovative clothes with approachable silhouettes," said Max Gengos '12, one of the designers on the project. "As a group we wanted the line to have a relaxed, youthful appeal."

Originally, Bishop and Aziakou planned to work with Pendleton to provide market research, product testing and analysis of current industry collaborations. After reaching out to Anita Racine and Van Dyk Lewis in FSAD, they decided to expand their focus to include design and production and to showcase the resulting collection in the fashion show.

The team that developed the clothing line includes:

• Susan Ashdown, the Helen G. Canoyer Professor of Fiber Science
• Van Dyk Lewis, associate professor of apparel design
• Anita Racine, senior lecturer in apparel design
• Hwa Kyung Song, graduate student
• Jen Wu '08
• Mayra Alatorre '09
• Nicole Castelli '10
• Elizabeth Esponnette '10
• Max Gengos '12
• Jesse Ruoff '12
• Jeff Aziakou '10
• Mac Bishop '11

"Given our goal of providing Pendleton with information aimed toward a younger market, we have worked hard to keep our creations young and exciting but also homogenous with the design framework of Pendleton," Aziakou said. "Working with student designers, professors and industry professional has been a great experience; they have taught us the language of the industry and given insight into the complex process needed to produce apparel."

Collaborating with students focused on the business side of the apparel industry also provided a unique learning experience for the designers, Gengos said.

"They really knew what styles of clothing are popular in our target market, and they helped to create a balance between fashion pieces and styles that could be commercially successful," he said.

After the fashion show, the team will send their designs to Pendleton for review. "Ideally, Pendleton would want to integrate our design ideas into their line or use them to collaborate with other apparel companies," Bishop said.

Sheri Hall is assistant director of communications in the College of Human Ecology.