Northfield's Bri Seeley Making a Name for Herself in Seattle's Fashion Scene

There’s one word Bri Seeley doesn’t want used when describing her fashions: Trendy.

“I design things that don’t adhere to trends,” she said. “I keep my designs more consistent. I have clothes in my closet that I designed in 2002 that I still wear and look great.”

A 2001 graduate of , Seeley is making a name for herself as a clothing designer in Olympia, WA. And, she is promoting her designs on the Internet.

She is the brains behind www.briseeley.com, a website she kicked off in 2009 to market her clothing line. The site—which she turned over to a professional website designer in 2010—expanded to e-commerce this year, meaning people can purchase her designs directly from her.

And her clothing is getting noticed.

For instance, one of her coats received the “best coat” honor in the Seattle Magazine Seamless in Seattle clothing competition.

“My garments are very feminine,” Seeley said. “I work hard to choose quality fabrics, so my designs come in at a higher price point. I work hard to make quality clothing.”

Fashion design may be Seeley’s full-time passion, but it isn’t her full-time job.

When she isn’t designing clothing or marketing her brand, she works in Washington’s workers compensation system as a vocational rehabilitation specialist. She helps determine what training or programs injured workers need to return to the workforce.

While she lives with her two cats in Olympia—the state capitol of Washington and a city she says has similarities to Northfield—Seeley spends a majority of her marketing time in Seattle, about an hour north.

“My designs fit better in Seattle, and I have had success there,” she said. “I love it there.”

Seeley’s journey from Northfield to Washington as been an indirect one, making stops in North Dakota and Italy. After high school, she earned her bachelor’s degree in apparel and textiles from North Dakota State University and her master’s degree from the Academia Italiana in Florence, Italy.

As part of her undergraduate work at NDSU, Seeley spent a year in Florence in a study abroad program.

“It was an amazing place to study,” she said.

Seeley returned to Northfield for a few months after receiving her degree. But on the encouragement from her mother, Eileen, she returned to Italy to continue her studies.

Seeley moved to Olympia after college to do design work, but not in the fashion industry. She got a job there as a professional theatrical costume designer.

“I studied costume design in college, so I really enjoyed do that,” she said. “But, I found out costume design in college is much different.”

The big difference between college costume design and professional costume design, she said, is money.

“In college, we had a huge budget and could make everything from scratch,” she said. “But the reality in America is there isn’t a budget for costumes. We had to pull our costumes from other shows. And, there was one show that I had to redo costumes three days before opening. It was too much.”

So, she moved into a career she said was a natural progression for her: fashion design.

“It was something I was supposed to do.”