Founded in 2008

Based in Downtown Los Angeles

Offers full package services for designers, and provides support for individuals and companies for any stage in the garment making process.

Utilizes TUKAcad

DLCO founder Kirsten Diel also has her own women’s line, Starlyte Ethos, and an online store, loudstarbazaar.com

About DLCO

tukatech A Case Study

tukatech

According to Kirsten Diel, the fashion industry is a place where a person can define their own destiny. Today, she has not only proved her own theory, but is on a course to redefine what can be accomplished with industry itself.Kirsten Diel is a young entrepreneur and owner of four unique businesses in the Los Angeles area. Three of her businesses are related to the fashion industry, with the fourth and newest being an outgrowth of her first three. The young designer and garment maker is a lifelong-lover of fashion, and her ever widening focus has helped her businesses become among the fastest growing in Southern California. Based in Culver City, Diel is at the preliminary stages of turning her full package production operation into a bona fide empire.Diel, who was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, has always had a somewhat unusual per-spective on the fashion industry. “When I was a teen-

DLCO’s Downtown Los Angeles based headquarters.

Fullfilling Fashion Industry Dreams

tukatech

Case Study

“I’ve been able reach all of my goals and dreams. Without help from TUKATECH rental program, the TUKAcenters and Kinko’s, and their technical support, my dream would have stayed just a dream.”

-Kirsten DielFounder, DLCO

ager, I loved fashion,” she says. “but not the modeling or the actual clothes. I was more interested in the marketing and advertising elements that surrounded it.” The following quote ran next to Diel in her high school yearbook: “After high school, I plan to move to San Francisco to attend either the University of San Francisco or the Fash-ion Institute of Design and Merchandising. But I would re-ally like to graduate from the Fashion Institute of New York to major in advertising!” This interest ultimately com-pelled her to enroll in a fashion institute, where she studied merchandising before switching her major to product development. “At that time, I felt I needed a fashion design degree.”

Learning the Important LessonsWhile enrolled in a well-known fashion design program, Diel felt that the school strongly

pushed the artistic design elements of fashion, and did not teach her enough about the technical side of garment making. At first, she thought this was what she wanted, but as she learned more about the actual production of gar-ments, she realized that she did not know nearly enough. “When I graduated, I didn’t feel adequate-ly trained. I didn’t feel like I had enough technical skill,” she said of her abilities after graduat-ing from the two year pro-gram. “I had a yearning to know about pattern construc-tion, and I had more respect for designers I knew that were also pattern makers. The in-dustry is 95% technical, and fashion students need techni-cal knowhow too.”Degree in hand, Diel began

working for several fashion companies in 1998, but found the industry’s business practic-es disheartening. “We weren’t doing much more than knock-ing off other companies and designers,” she said. “US com-panies were ripping off smaller vendors and recreating their goods overseas. People would come in to show us a line, and we would steal their designs. The more I learned about the company’s practices, the less okay I became with it.”Dissatisfied with her work in the fashion industry, Diel de-cided that she wanted to work for herself, but did not possess the knowledge and experi-ence that she needed to do so. “Most of my friends discour-aged me from going back to school. They said I didn’t need it,” said Diel. Regardless, she returned to school in 2004 to acquire a greater understand-ing of garment production, this time opting for a program at a

trade school rather than con-tinuing with a fashion school. “At that time, my main goal was to start my own clothing line and online store because so many companies were go-ing bankrupt around me,” said Diel. “Especially independent

Diel (front) and her garment production and design staff.

Case Study

tukatech

clothing lines without a lot of funding. I wanted to build my own relationship with consumers sans brick and mortar retailers.”It was at Los Angeles Trade-Tech that she first encountered Tukat-ech’s TUKAcad software. “It was the most affordable of the three systems offered at the school,” says Diel. “It also had a really easy-to-use interface, and TU-KATECH was the only company that offered a STUDENT RENTAL at $25 per month with built-inlink for plotting at Kinko’s or one of the TUKAcenters 24/7.Professor Carol Sapos, who teaches at Trade-Tech, FIDM, and several other schools, said that her students, including Diel, were able to learn garment design and production skills much more ef-ficiently when using Tukatech’s CAD systems. “We had only 30 computers in our classroom, and each student had limited time to make and grade patterns,” said Sapos. “Kirsten was so ambitious, and she really wanted to get more time with the design pro-gram, so she went out and rented her own copy of Tukatech’s soft-ware that she could use at home. That’s when she really got cook-ing! I’m so glad she connected with Tukatech.” While enrolled at Trade-Tech, Diel was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which causes constant symptoms of drowsiness and exhaustion, regardless of rest. “This delayed my progress at school,” said Diel. Despite her condition, she continued to work hard at her studies and earned money by working part-time at a friend’s clothing clothing compa-ny. In 2008, she graduated with a degree second degree.“When I finally graduated from trade school, I knew so much more about the technical side of

garment making,” said Diel. “I am constantly glad that I learned what I did.”

Fashioning Herself In the IndustryArmed with her new knowledge, Diel considered putting together a line. With years of experience in the fashion industry already, Diel realized that upstart designers are given one shot at selling a line to a major retailer, and the thought of making a minor mistake and being blacklisted from the indus-try was too high of a risk. While working for her friend’s company, Diel realized that she could use her extensive knowl-edge of garment production to supplement services to larger fashion companies. “I can’t work full time because of my CFS, so this was the perfect way to work part-time and work only when I was able to.”She continued to rent TUKAcad software at the student rate for full six months after graduat-ing, (TUKATECH offers extended student rental for additional 6 months internship period at $25 per month to help students)while working on a collection for her line, Starlyte Ethos. She contin-ued to offer package services as well, and referred her customers to the Los Angeles TUKAcenter, where her clients could print and modify their designs after the pat-terns were created and markers were made.“Whenever I work with a new designer, I find that I am always educating them about the techni-cal aspects of garment making. Many great designers don’t know enough about how their products are made,” said Diel. And it was precisely her complete knowl-edge of creating garment lines that allowed her company, DLCO,

to thrive into the booming busi-ness that it is today. She offers full package services for design-ers, and also provides support for individuals and companies for any stage in the garment mak-ing process. “A lot of times people just need a few extra hands on their projects, and I’m available to provide any assistance they might need.”As her package business im-proved, she decided to convert Student rental to Industry rental at $200 per month and then purchase TUKAcad and worked out an arrangement in which her rental payments counted toward the full purchase price of the soft-

A dress designed by Diel.

Case Study

abouttukatechTukatech is a Los Angeles-based company that provides 2D and 3D software solutions and manufacturing equipment to garment producers. It also provides web-based product development services and PDM/PLM systems, supported by brick and mortar centers strategically located in garment hubs worldwide. With over 12,000 systems sold and about 3,500 competitive systems replaced, Tukatech is the fastest growing garment CAD/CAM company in the world. Tukatech has been ranked by Apparel Magazine as the #1 Apparel software company in the world.

ware, making it more than afford-able. In addition to providing her with software, she met an impor-tant business partner after being referred by a Tukatech employee. “Pedro Mora put me in touch with a Los Angeles-based sewer that also used Tukatech software. I knew digital production, and he could make physical samples. Our knowledge fit perfectly together, and we decided to go into busi-ness together.”“Meeting the sewer was the crucial step in building my busi-ness, and it was how I was finally able to support myself financially. DLCO was able to offer more ser-vices, and this gave us a competi-tive edge in the industry. Since we started working together, we’ve become a one-stop shop for the fashion industry.”Today, Kirsten Diel’s company has four employees, and she is mak-ing enough money to fund newer businesses, including her own line, an online apparel store, and her newest venture which takes the premise of DLCO, provid-ing busy fashion designers with essential assistance, into other industries. “My new business will provide people in any industry with specially trained personal assistants that can handle mar-keting, scheduling, and just about any service a business person

could need.”“Business was very slow at the beginning,” Diel admits. “The fash-ion industry is largely a referral business. I started out just handling the tech-nical side of smaller lines, help-ing people work against tight time constraints. Eventu-ally I made a name

moneymaker for the young fash-ion mogul.“I’ve gone through a lot of trials and tribulations, and what I’ve learned is that it is a lot easier to make money charging for knowl-edge than for product,” says Diel. “That’s what I love about the fashion industry; if you have the skill level and the follow through, you will absolutely get results. You can define your own destiny.”Diel is extremely proud to be working in the fashion industry, and acknowledges that she is in an envious position. “When I tell people I’m in fashion, I can tell that they are a little bit jealous. All of my friends work full time in an office, but I am completely autonomous. I’ve been able reach all of my goals and dreams. Without help from TUKATECH rental program, the TUKAcenters and Kinko’s” and their technical support, my dream would have stayed just a dream” added Diel.•

for myself, and these days I’m constantly busy with new and returning customers.” Diel is so busy that she recently purchased a second copy of Tukatech’s TUKAcad system, and is adding more employees to her company. With her package business thriv-ing, Diel is turning her attention back towards her own line and her online store. She is currently looking to hire a full time em-ployee to manage the full pack-age business while she designs a second collection. Her online store, loudstarbazaar.com, has also turned into a significant

Diel and the DLCO staff utilize Tukatech’s advanced marker making software.