From Campus Manager to Assistant Buyer at Ralph Lauren

We interviewed Michael Berglass, a graduate of Syracuse University to learn about his journey from Campus Manager to Assistant Buyer for Ralph Lauren, a global multi-billion dollar fashion enterprise.

Michael had always had a passion for fashion and the clothing industry. His first job was also at American Eagle Outfitters. After graduating from Scarsdale Senior High School in 2017, Michael started his undergraduate education at Syracuse University in New York. At college, Michael decided to join a fraternity, becoming a part of the vibrant Greek Life community at Syracuse.

With a strong passion for clothing, Michael decided to undertake the responsibility of designing all of his fraternity's apparel. At this point, he did not know of the Campus Manager position at Fresh Prints, but was simply pursuing something he had a passion for.

For those of you who are wondering, what is a Campus Manager? Here's a quick rundown of the position: Campus Managers are student entrepreneurs who run the Fresh Prints business at their respective schools. Not only do Campus Managers earn a percentage of each sale, but they also learn real-life applicable skills that help them succeed far into their future. Here's Michael and other Campus Managers talking about it.

Soon after beginning to design apparel for his own fraternity, Michael’s love for designing merchandise for Greek Life began to spread. Other sororities and fraternities at Syracuse began to approach him asking for his help with their merchandise orders. 

It was at this time that the Campus Manager position at Syracuse opened up and was brought to Michael’s attention. Feeling like he already has a good grasp for designing apparel for Greek Life, he thought, 'Why not?' and sent in his resume, met in person with the Vice President of Growth for Fresh Prints, Jolijt Tamanaha, and was soon offered the Campus Manager role at Syracuse University.

Once he had been hired into the Campus Manager position for Fresh Prints, Michael began designing and selling more apparel than ever before. Because sororities are far more and far larger in number than fraternities at Syracuse, this is where he designated his main efforts. 

He also began to build strong connections with many of the sororities on campus, making it easier to stay in communication for future orders. By his junior year at Syracuse, business was booming. He was designing hundreds of designs to pitch to sororities. He learned that in order to perform well in the Campus Manager role, he needed to be able to accept criticism. With Jolijt as his manager, he had to learn that fast. Here's him talking about it.

He has a simple process nailed. He'd do a few mock apparel designs, pitch them to the girls in the sororities, and ask them to be completely honest with their feedback. He found this method of pitching his designs to be extremely successful. Noting, “A lot of people don't know what they want for merch, so giving them options takes the pressure off of them and also makes it easier for me.” 

It was at this time that Michael landed his first $10,000 order - a huge accomplishment. From here on out, large orders just kept rolling in. He was doing orders for almost all the sororities on campus, soon becoming known as the ‘apparel guy’ for Syracuses’ Greek Life. “Seeing everybody wear my stuff was just amazing,” Michael told us. 

By the time of his graduation from Syracuse University, Michael had sold a total of $72,000 of Fresh Prints Apparel. Aside from that huge accomplishment, what did Michael take away from being a Campus Manager?

He believes that being a Campus Manager taught him many skills. For instance, he learned that rejection is unavoidable and that it can oftentimes be a good thing. In life, you are going to experience rejection so many times, but it shouldn't get people down. During his time as a Campus Manager, he ran into dozens of ‘no’s’ and ‘can you redo this’, but he persevered. He learned that staying persistent was key.

“Fresh Prints really taught me that sometimes you have to take a moment and work really hard and focus on what matters”, Michael notes. He also states that the idea of working hard on something you’re passionate about does not always need to feel like a burden, but rather something enjoyable, which has carried over into his career to this day. 

After graduating college, Michael interviewed with multiple companies. During this process, he came to realize that many of the positions he was applying for required more qualifications than he had. However, when the interviews rolled around, Michael was able to leverage the skills and experiences he had gained from his many successes while acting as a Campus Manager for Fresh Prints. 

Ultimately, Michael ended up landing an interview for his dream company, Ralph Lauren. The interview process consisted of three interviews. When talking about Fresh Prints during the interviews, he made sure to touch on the art aspect of the Campus Manager position, how he understood trends and what people liked and wanted to wear. Eventually, Michael got hired as an Assistant Buyer for Ralph Lauren and has continued to do incredible things with apparel to this day.