Self-taught local designer empowers women through fashion

Fashion designer Chanel Scales wasn’t allowed to watch television much growing up. Instead, she read fashion magazines, like Vogue.

“You wouldn’t just sit around and watch no TV,” Scales said. “So magazines [were] just my thing that kind of kept me entertained.”

Scales, 42, recently announced a new collection with global fast fashion company SHEIN. It will be the fifth collection of her work SHEIN, called SHEIN X SHINGO and is set to release in early 2025.

Scales, who is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, worked for years in fashion retail prior to designing her own collections. She worked across the Midwest and oversaw retail expansion for brands like Forever 21 and H&M. She launched her brand, SHINGO, in 2014 and moved to Charlotte in 2023.

In 2022, while searching for opportunities to help her grow the brand, Scales applied to SHEIN’s incubator program, SHEIN X. The program is designed to help emerging brands reach a larger audience, according to the company’s website.

SHEIN handles manufacturing, marketing and retail, while designers are able to keep ownership of their creations as well as make commission on sales, Scales said.

The single mom of one told QCity Metro the program has allowed her to reach markets she otherwise would not have access to.

“This opportunity has been amazing for me because it has allowed me to touch areas that I feel like I just wouldn’t be able to touch on my own,” Scales said. “Some of my biggest customers are in Mexico.”

A creative process

Scales had no formal training before entering the fashion world. She said she didn’t attend fashion school because her family couldn’t afford it.

Instead, she found other ways to access the knowledge she would need to become a designer.

“I would literally go to Half Price Books, and I would go to the library, and I would get the actual college textbooks that the kids were using in fashion school so that I would at least understand the terminologies,” Scales said about her learning process.

She said she was inspired to design clothes for women to be expressive and not limited by what was only offered in retail clothing stores.

“I started doing custom clothes because I wanted women to be able to wear what they wanted to wear and not what retail told [them to wear],” Scales said.

While many brands cater to trends, Scales said she prefers to create from within. She said she is influenced by her emotions and her lived experience.

For example, her most recent collection with SHEIN, called Urban Jungle, was inspired by a what she described as a rough patch in her mental health.

“I literally felt like I was in a mental jungle,” she said. “But then I thought, ‘Okay, well, if I’m in a jungle, what would I wear?’”

She said the fourth collection featured animal prints, pleating and vibrant colors.

In 2025, she said she plans to use colors inspired by Pantone’s color of the year, Mocha Mousse.

“I’m definitely going to stick with that brown color, that natural tone,” Scales said.

The value of self-confidence

SHINGO, meaning neck in Kiswahili, Scales said, represents self-confidence.

“When you walk, you should be walking with your head held high, and your neck should be elongated because that’s going to tell people who you are when you enter into the room and how you feel about yourself,” Scales said about her brand’s name.

Her favorite part of designing, she said, is seeing that self-confidence in people rise.

“It’s the excitement, it’s the smiles, it’s the confidence that they have when they’re walking around in the SHINGO brand, because they know what SHINGO stands for,” Scales said.

Scales said she wants to encourage others to build self-confidence and see the value of self-expression. In Charlotte, she has held community events, like panel discussions centered around identity and self-confidence, at the sneaker shop, Social Status.

Looking ahead, Scales said she also hopes to expand her brand and create collections targeting higher-end markets and retailers.

“One of my ultimate goals is to be sold in a Sak’s [Fifth Avenue] or Neiman Marcus,” she said.

Scales is also developing a contemporary collection that will be available for purchase directly through her. The price point will start at around $200.