Detroit entrepreneur goes from engineer to successful fashion designer
(CBS DETROIT) - August is National Black Business Month, and CBS News Detroit is highlighting a Metro Detroit entrepreneur who built his business from the ground up, taking the skills he learned while studying to become a mechanical engineer and applying them to the fashion industry.
Andre Franklin is the CEO of Engineered By Dré. His pieces have been worn by Detroiters and international celebrities alike. Now, he's on a mission to ensure his clothing gets into the hands of people who might need it most.
"I started off with two racks, that's all I had," Franklin said.
But those two racks quickly turned into Franklin's full-time gig, fulfilling thousands of online orders within his first year of business.
"Now, there's multiple racks and I have multiple warehouses," he said.
Franklin's brand, Engineered By Dré, is a reflection of his career pivot, clothing design wasn't a part of his initial plan.
"I just, honestly, thought that life was crazy," he said. "'I'm like, who would want to be an entrepreneur? You don't know if you gon' make money. You have to figure out how to make money, and it's like you gotta do that every day.'"
After graduating from Eastern Michigan University, Franklin started work as an engineer for General Motors, but three months later, he left to pursue entrepreneurship full-time.
"That whole time that I was finishing out my college degree, the whole time that I had started at General Motors, my brand was already paying all the bills," he said.
That brand is now a booming business in Detroit, and it's sweeping the internet by storm. But this isn't a self-serving endeavor, Franklin gives back, custom designing shirts and putting them in the hands of the unhoused.
"Those are people, just like me, you, and everybody else," he said. "So, [I] don't treat them any differently."
It's a motto Franklin says he lives by and hopes those who support his brand follow suit, giving when you can because you never know when you might need a little help of your own.