Fashion and Retail Style Institute fulfills a dream – The Philadelphia Sunday Sun

Ebony Pratt stands with merchandise.
Photo: Constance Garcia-Barrio

By Constance Garcia-Barrio

“When I was 16, fashion saved my life,” said Ebony Pratt, 46, owner of Fashion Dealer Society, an e-commerce store that features women’s clothing. Now, Pratt has launched the Fashion and Retail Style Institute in Kensington to share her knowledge of fashion and entrepreneurship.
Pratt grew up in North Philadelphia.

“My dad worked for the Budd Company until it closed,” Pratt said, who has three younger siblings. “My mom was a homemaker.”

Ebony Pratt wears a coat emblazoned with uplifting sayings.
Photo: Constance Garcia-Barrio

Pratt’s mother occasionally worked in retail clothing sales, which may have influenced some of Pratt’s choices.

Pratt’s mother may have also kindled her love of fashion in other ways.

“My mother modeled a little,” she said. She also made clothes for Pratt’s Barbie doll.

“When I was a little girl, you couldn’t go to the store and buy Barbie clothes,” Pratt recalled.

Pratt’s father became a real estate investor after he left Budd, exposing Pratt to the business arena. Her future would be shaped by the interests of both her parents.

Always drawn to matters of style, Pratt was doing hair by age 12.

“I did finger waves, pineapple curls, and French rolls,” she said.

A neighbor’s comment caused a seismic shift in Pratt’s life. In the 1990s, much socializing took place on the front stoop or the porch, she recalled. One day, a neighbor woman told Pratt that her daughter waited outside every day until Pratt passed by.

“My daughter wants to see what you’re wearing,” the woman said.

That comment was worlds apart from the remarks of her peers at Germantown High School, who saw Pratt’s distinctive style as weird. She embraced her neighbor’s daughter’s esteem and found a radical way to declare her changed self-image. She came home from school one day, cut off her long hair, and dyed her remaining hair blond.

“When my father saw it, he went into shock,” she said. “But fashion let me express myself. It got me through being dissatisfied and depressed. Some people go to drugs or take tranquilizers. I never feel lost when I’m working with fashion.”

People began approaching Pratt in stores, seeking her advice about what to buy. Neighbors would also ask her where she got her sunglasses, handbag, belt or something else she was wearing, then request that she obtain the article for them. Procuring such items for others got Pratt’s foot in the resale door.

Pratt also developed a clientele for whom she became a personal shopper. From 2000 to 2016, she also did pop-up fashion shows.

Ebony Pratt, left, with prospective student Honesty Williams.
Photo: Constance Garcia-Barrio

“I would set up in my client’s living room,” she said. “They would invite their friends over and have a sip-and-shop.”

Motherhood changed Pratt’s life.

“I got pregnant at 20 and had my son at 21,” she said.

Eight more children — now ages 13 to 25 — would follow, although Pratt was a single mother.

“They all have the same father. We were young then. We were city kids living our separate lives,” said Pratt, now married to her children’s father. She often cared for the children by herself and sometimes landed on welfare.

“[The children’s father] is part of our lives now,” Pratt said. “We’ve been through a lot in 26 years.”

During that time, Pratt could count on steadfast help with childcare when she did a fashion party or found a retail clothing gig.

“My husband’s mother, the children’s grandmother, would keep them for days at a time,” Pratt said. “I would drop the kids off with a load of groceries. My mother-in-law supported me 1,000 percent.”

Pratt struggled in her 30s, unhappy as a welfare mom.

“I had all these kids,” she said. “I had to figure out how to maintain us in a more comfortable style.”

Pratt started working in a boutique as a stylist, which provided a steady paycheck and a 40-hour workweek. It also allowed her to continue being a personal shopper, a side business that supplemented her income.

For the last four years, Pratt has rented a huge fourth-floor loft with a view for miles on West Allegheny Avenue. It houses her inventory and provides a space to give entrepreneurship seminars and handle other business aspects.

“When my friend Priscilla first saw the loft, she said, ‘This is a school.’” Pratt said.

That conviction led Priscilla to present Pratt’s program in branding and entrepreneurship to the Philadelphia O.I.C., where Pratt taught the course in 2023.

“After it went well, I began to ask myself how I could be of more service to the community,” Pratt said.

That questioning led Pratt to launch the Fashion Retail and Style Institute at the Kensington loft. Set to begin on January 20, 2025, it offers a 12-week program focused on all aspects of fashion design and merchandising, including fashion fundamentals, textiles and apparel, retail operations and technology, visual merchandising and store design, fashion buying and merchandise planning, and marketing and brand management. As a capstone project, students will create a brand, design a website to introduce it, and start doing business.

“In Philadelphia right now, there are about 5,000 open positions in retail,” Pratt said.

At $6,300 for the course, the school offers an affordable way to gain a job market foothold, Pratt added, pointing out that it can cost about $16,000 to attend school to become a licensed cosmetologist.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education has certified the institute. In addition, CareerLink, the state agency state that provides employment and workforce development services, has approved the curriculum.

“It means that qualified students are eligible for up to $6,000 in tuition scholarships,” Pratt said.

Payment plans are also available.

Like much of Pratt’s life, the institute has meant going out on a limb. Pratt said that she paid $10,000 for the institute’s license alone. However, she seems to welcome risk.

“Your dreams will take you a lot further than your fears,” she said.