Today, we’d like to introduce you to Meghan Hogrefe.
Meghan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Well, I have told the story of how my clothing line began by surfing and going into my corporate office right after. I needed to find clothing that was resilient, that story! However, I didn’t share where I am today. The hardest part of creating a clothing line is that you will run into production issues of having to overproduce to meet factory minimums.
This means that any feedback or changes you would like to make to your first product are always met with excess inventory. So today, I have an excess of clothing that is not necessarily a failure, yet the feedback leads me to want to rework what I have already created. Much of what I created was based on the convenience of the person wearing the clothing. For instance, the material, a neoprene blend, was chosen for its resilience to environmental factors of an active person in Southern California: the salt, the seaweed, the sand, and the sweat, what I call the 4 “S”s of dressing in San Diego!
They are demons when you are dressing for an office! So, as I was saying today, the material was the right choice; however, where I am today, I would modify the material and perhaps some of the details of my design. The original zipper pull will still remain on all garments as it is a nod to my inspiration, which is surfing. All this to say, where I am today is sort of a reset.
We are now at a point in our other businesses where I can focus on Work in Process more closely. I knew our other business would be our primary focus for quite a few years; today, I am on a reset mission with WIP. So much to do, and I am ready to do it!
Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
No, nothing is/was smooth. From the get-go, I felt an initial feeling of failure because my focus was not where it needed to be. It couldn’t be. My husband and have this massive portfolio of business in Sandusky, Ohio, that is so far from fashion that you can imagine.
From Redevelopment to property management of commercial and residential space to high-end restaurant dining to axe throwing and craft beer, to name some businesses that took/take the lion’s share of my time! At the time of the launch of my line in August 2018, we were just at the beginning of all our major and massive projects in Ohio. Our time was not even split, and still is not, between Sandusky, Ohio, and San Diego, CA. It made it more difficult for me to spend any time on WIP. It was not without effort to do so, however you can’t just dip your foot into fashion you have to be all in.
It is fast-moving and ever-changing. Even though my clothing line is meant to be staple clothing with a classic undertone, it still has to shape shift, literally! So, time management had been my biggest barrier. Next, I think because it is a new line, not established in the marketplace, telling my story to anyone who would listen was easy; it was the ability to show and tell. I could tell, but not show.
I appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have talked about this before to you, however my primary role is working with my husband, I call him My Scientist, so I will refer to him as that as I talk! My Scientist and I have been investing in his hometown of Sandusky, Ohio.
He had sold his biotech company in San Diego with his business partner; however, they were both too young to retire, so My Scientist decided to give back to where he got his whole foundation, Bay View and Sandusky, Ohio! Whaattt right? Where? So yes, we split our time between San Diego and Sandusky over the last several years! Initially, we had invested in redevelopment projects because our really good friends Ryan Whaley and Nikki Lloyd had gotten us very excited about the emerging growth of Sandusky as they themselves had been propelling business ideas forward as well, both with roots there and lived elsewhere to return back to what gave them a foundation as well!
We actually met them through Bill, the Scientist’s best friend from childhood, and it was just a meta moment. We got to know all the like-minded “thinkers” who are investing personally and professionally in the community. From there, it was a whirlwind of everything all at the same time. His cousin Mike and wife Sharon worked alongside us to run our property management projects. Then, as we got very excited and involved in this beautiful, forward-thinking community as if we weren’t already involved in, we opened an Axe Throwing and Craft Bar called Noble Axes, and of course, as if our portfolio wasn’t already fully stacked, we added a restaurant that we had bought in 2018.
We slowly transitioned it from a casual breakfast eatery to a full-scale destination dining restaurant with an elevated higher-end menu offering. The restaurant is on Lake Erie, so our Bay Bell Restaurant is a hidden gem! So all this to say, our love for our “sandy” towns remains; however, this midwest sandy town has been getting more of our love recently. We are planning our return to normalcy once we get to a comfortable place with all, however, have you ever seen the show The Bear, it is based on some very real things! So, if you know, you know.
So, our transition back to San Diego full-time is a slower one. What I can really appreciate is that we don’t specialize in any one thing clearly and specifically. We have had our hands in everything and I mean everything, from community involvement with our Hogrefe Foundation which focuses on education, enrichment and serving children and young adults in the Sandusky community to Axe throwing, I mean we are managed chaos. Well-managed chaos! Our foundation was similar to what I had been doing in San Diego with the Girls Rising Mentorship program since 2017/2018 when I termed off that board early in 2024.
Hard as that was, it was time for me to explore new philanthropic opportunities. Volunteerism has been a huge part of my life for most of my adulthood. So, for me, having our own foundation and having the experience from Girls Rising really has impacted me greatly for some big things to come. I want to involve my clothing line into something where the intersection of practical workplace fashion and the need to help underserved women. I am still figuring out this path. It merges what we are doing in Ohio with what I have been dreaming of and hoping to do in San Diego with my clothing line. It is my time to mentally focus on what I tried to start in August 2018. Merging what I have been involved in over the last few years with what I am going to involve myself in now!
The future is layered with a lot of projects; however, all have a path back to San Diego and ultimately back to my clothing line and what I hope to create for women and their busy lives! I feel like being a crazy busy businesswoman has given me the inspiration for what kind of clothing needs to keep up with the ever-changing hour-to-hour needs a woman encounters within 24 hours. Life is no longer just a 9-5. The world we started working in has transitioned so greatly that our clothing should continue to transition in a classic yet cool way! I am here for that!
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Fashion is ever-evolving, and so are people. Fashion is no longer about big labels and flashing those labels. It can be, however, for the majority of people, it is about the conscious shopper. It is about value shopping. Whether that means value on where and how you create and/or source your product or value meaning you are affordable.
Fashion is all about who you are marketing to and what is important to them. Our role as designers in this community is to listen to what is important to our marketplace. If we believe we can deliver what they are asking for and it makes sense for our own alignment, that is where I see our industry going. It is not fast fashion, but it is a responsibility to be able to shift and change as our marketplace or, should I say, our consumers change. We are under no obligation to be who we were, even yesterday.
Why should our business not shift and change, ebb and flow based on constant evolution? That is why I called my clothing line Work in Process. Aren’t we all ultimately working in the process in the best, most positive way possible?
Pricing:
- WIP Clothing ranges between $100-$200 on average.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://workinprocessshop.com
- Instagram: @workinprocessstyle
- Facebook: Work in Process
- Other: https://h2property.com
Image Credits
Gerard Harrison – Image Theory, @thegerardharrison, and Wesley Klain wesklain.com
