Ben Frische and Emma Leu both had dreams of creating their own fashion brand.

However, this process comes with time, hard work, and, most importantly, money. The beginning stages of a small business are expensive, and most businesses fail to survive, let alone generate profit within their first few years.

Achieving this task as a college student is almost insurmountable.

However, the Shoemaker Innovation Center at Indiana University Bloomington looks to solve this problem. Students seeking guidance can join the center, located in Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering with startup business ideas. The center, started in 2020 by Donna and John Shoemaker, steers students in the right direction through guest speakers, collaboration, and a workspace.

Not only can students receive business advice, they can also compete for the Shoebox Fund. Students can receive up to $10,000 that can be put solely towards creating and expanding their business.

After pitching their ideas to the board, Emmah and Ben were selected as winners and received $5,000 each.

Ben started his brand “B0otlegs” in hopes to help individuals express themselves in unique ways while provided fashionable and functional clothes.

Ideas can come from everywhere, and Ben takes full advantage of the world around him. He always carries a notebook and sketches ideas for his next piece of clothing.

“After I sketch it out, I come back to it later and put it into photoshop and send the details off to a manufacturer,” Ben said. “I can take inspiration from literally anywhere.”

Before the Shoebox fund, Ben had a vision of the direction he wanted his brand to go in, but no real concept of how to make that happen. Through the guidance of those involved with the Shoemaker Innovation Center, he was guided in the right direction.

“I had my general idea but got into Shoebox and started to get directions on how to go down the right path,” Ben said. “They taught me about manufacturing and marketing my products.”

While Ben started small with a single follower on Instagram, he hopes to see his business grow for years to come.

B0otlegs offers many different articles of clothing including a labeled t-shirt.

Ben prides his pair of shorts he designed as functional, as they can be styled just as easily as worn in a basketball game.

B0otlegs offers clothing in drops, meaning not every article designed by Ben is always available on the site.

One of the articles offered on Foster and Ozzy in their bottoms category.

Emmah Leu delivers a business pitch regarding her business Foster and Ozzy.

Emmah started her business “Foster and Ozzy” as a women’s boutique that offered other designer’s products on her website.

“I needed access to funds because I wanted to start my own designer label,” Emmah said. “To do this you need money, and I can’t really afford that on a college budget.”

The idea sprouted from a fashion blog Emmah created during her freshman year of high school where she discussed different outfits she put together. She also became interested in photography at the time, so taking pictures of these outfits also became a hobby.

After garnering interest on TikTok, and observing other similar entrepreneurs, Emmah realized she could potentially turn this idea into a business.

“What started out as a simple idea turned into me frantically packaging orders in my room,” Emmah said. “Luckily I have good friends that help me out.”

Both Emmah and Ben recommend joining the Shoemaker Innovation Center to any aspiring entrepreneur. Even without the money provided by the Shoebox Fund, the center offers priceless guidance to those looking to start a business.