She’s from Toronto, Canada and is now residing in Orlando, Florida. Ever since Stef Tor stepped onto the wakeskate scene, she has been setting an example for women wakeskaters across the globe, opening the doors for pro women riders such as Jen GilanFarr to come into the sport. Not only is she a trailblazer for women’s wakeskating, she is also a very talented fashion designer, who has her own amazing style! Stef met up with WakeGirls on a rainy afternoon at her lakefront plantation-style digs to share what she’s been up to this past year and what her goals and plans are for the future.

WakeGirls: You have been a pioneer in women’s wakeskating. How did you get into wake sports?

Stef: I started in Canada when I was 18. In 1998, I went to a camp called McClintock’s. It was mainly water ski, I was one of the only wakeboarders. I went for a week and I stayed for four months. I just turned it into a job. I went there and loved it! I remember the first day, I called my mom and told her “I love this”. I went to the Pro Shop because all the people there were like, “Why don’t you try to work here? The lady in the Pro Shop needs some help”, because I had sales experience. So I went in, I traded my hours for riding, and I just stayed the whole summer. It was pretty rad.

WG: You did not compete in the Pro Tour in 2008. Why did you take last year off?

Stef: I missed last year because I broke my leg. It took an entire year [to heal]. The whole year I could not do contests. Instead of contests I did all the [Liquid Force] Maven sessions. This year I’m just going to do Nationals and Worlds, and that’s it.

WG: How did you break your leg?

Stef: Wakeskating in Dallas at Gilley’s, the bar. It was for the Dallas Boat Show, and they had a rail jam set up at night, and I broke my leg on the side of the decking of the rail. I broke my tibia and had to go to the Dallas hospital. After I flew back, I had like, three casts, and crutches, then a walking boot, and a cane. I think it took a long time to heal because I was on the road so much. I was in airports, on wheelchairs, trying to lug gear, doing stuff I probably shouldn’t have been doing instead of sitting at home.

WG: How did you make the transition from wakeskating to fashion?

Stef: I don’t know if there would be a transition. I guess I’d say I did the fashion first. I was doing fashion in high school. I started wakeskating when I was 18 and then I went to fashion school in Toronto and graduated when I was 21. Then as soon as I was 21 I went to Florida and went to the Hansen’s, WWC – The World Wakeboard Center. I wouldn’t say I transitioned, [fashion] was always there. Then I was wakeskating, and the last eight years all I have done is travel for clinics and demos, mostly traveling for Liquid Force. Last year when I broke my leg, and I was getting older, I realized that I needed to transition back into the fashion. Right now I’m trying to do both wakeskate and fashion, but before [wake] was fashion, all fashion, then it was all wakeskating, and now it’s kind of both.

WG: What was your first job in the fashion industry and what was that like?

Stef: The very first would probably be my internship in high school at Fabric Land in Canada. They call it co-op, cooperative education in Canada, so I did that. It was like, going in every day and cutting fabric for old ladies and rolling them on the bolts and stuff. That’s probably my first fashion job. Then, when I graduated fashion school in Toronto I worked for a company called Bruzer which is kind of equivalent to UGP in the States. They were called Bruzer Clothing for Board Society and it was all like, wakeboard wear, and there were a couple top Canadians on their team. They mainly survived doing blanks and they would put college logos on them. They still do that, they actually do all of the universities and colleges in Canada. I actually worked in-house there as a production assistant, which was amazing if I had stayed. Everything was done in house, like sample sewing, the warehouse was there, the pattern cutters, the markers, the plotters, like, everything, so that was I would say my real first fashion job. I was 20 turning 21.

WG: What was your experience doing fashion for UGP?

Stef: Fashion for UGP was good. I started out as a rider for them, for a few years. They knew I had my fashion degree and we always talked about doing some work but I was never around. I would go in to pick up a paycheck and I would stay for like, eight hours. Everyone else would just drop by, pick it up and leave, and all my friends were like, “See you in eight hours”. So I was gone a whole day ‘cause they would be like, “OK, can you sit down and measure these shorts and tell us how this fits? I would always tell them “I can help you but I can’t explain this in, like, a day. I’d have to come and work [for UGP].” So they always said, “You know, maybe one day when you have time you can come in part time.” So I knew in the back of my mind that, the whole time I was wakeskating, I said, “You know what, I want to work with UGP” . The season before I broke my leg I started thinking, “I want to make some extra money and start building my portfolio and my resume”, because eight years is a long time to not have anything but just professional athlete. I called them and they were like, “Yeah, come in” and then I started designing for them, so it was good.

WG: What are some of your inspirations when designing a clothing line?

Stef: I have a lot of inspiration! Music, definitely, I watch a ton of music videos. A lot of [my design] is like a mix between street wear and runway stuff. The only aspect that comes from sports is the comfort and how strongly the clothes hold up because I know I’m pretty rough on clothes. I want to make stuff that’s going to last, that’s not cheap. I definitely like colors, I’m really into colors. I guess mostly music and just from traveling and stuff. I really like Japanese fashion, I like the whole layered look, just tons of layering.

WG: How do you stay current with all of the fashion trends? As a designer, how do you keep up?

Stef: You have to do research all the time. Tons and tons of research. Brandon (Stef’s boyfriend) is a music video fanatic and we’re both really good at [research]. A lot of trend forecasting you have to pay thousands of dollars for, but I go to www.Style.com a lot. Traveling is another big thing, if you’re actually there, you know. When we went to San Diego we made sure we took a day to go to L.A. and we had a hit list of all the stores we wanted to go to. Also a lot of news and music, because everything affects fashion. You can’t be closed-minded, you can’t live in a box, you have to just be listening to everything all the time. Lots of magazines, too.

WG: What are some of your favorite magazines?

Stef: I like Elle and I like Vogue, I’m not a big fan of Marie Claire anymore. I like Teen Vogue a lot too. I have been reading Teen Vogue since I was so young, but it’s kind of the mix I need, because right now I do street stuff that its affordable so I need to know what that market is going for.

WG: What have you learned about the fashion industry from extreme sports?

Stef: Snow[boarding] is the most fashion-forward extreme sport. You can tell that they do the most research and pay for all the trend forecasting, and have bigger design teams. You can see that now everything is pop, colors and pop culture. And they have been with it [for a while]. Not to talk bad about wake, but we’re kind of the last ones. We don’t really have a lot, all we have is board shorts and then a vest, but the vests still have to stay kind of classic because they know people are not going to buy a vest like they would buy a t-shirt. So the vests have to stay in certain colors. So I would say that wake is definitely the last, and skateboarders don’t really care what they wear. Snowboarding just has all the stuff. The one thing that I love is that when I was first wakeboarding I had to wear guy’s shorts and stuff, so I am happy to see that they have made women’s vests, women’s shorts, women’s bindings, everything women’s so that’s a good thing.

WG: So tell us about the IADT fashion show. How did you get into it?

Stef: I graduated in 2000 from George Brown College in Toronto and the last eight years I’ve just been doing wakeskating. That’s a lot of time to be out of the fashion industry. When I was in schools there were no computers, I didn’t have a laptop at school or anything. I didn’t even have a cell phone at school. When I broke my leg I wanted to do something because I always want to better myself, but I couldn’t really do anything. I looked into IADT about four years ago and I thought about going back and doing some stuff but I couldn’t at the time because I didn’t have my green card, so I was considered an international student and it would have been triple the price [to attend]. I finally got my green card in 2005 and I wondered if I could go and take a class here and a class there. I wanted to take computer generated pattern drafting because we didn’t have that when I was in school so I called them and they said it was good, which was pretty rare because most schools don’t let you be a non-degree seeking [student]. I took two classes and then the fashion director Sarah Miller asked if I would be doing the fashion show, and I asked if I could do it, and she said, “Well, you’re a student, aren’t you?” I started working on eight designs to submit and I remember Brandon saying, “What if you get all of those accepted?” and I said, “I’m not going to get all eight.” They accepted all eight. There were different segments: “Candy Coated”, “Hardware”, “Red Carpet”, and “Avant Garde”. You had to pick which segment you wanted to design for. Candy Coated was bright, bold, colorful prints, and I picked Candy Coated because I wanted to work with colors. It was amazing, I got two awards for it, Best in Show and Most Innovative Design. I was like, I feel good because I haven’t lost it!

WG: How did this fashion show compare to others you have done?

Stef: We did a UGP one that was more like a rock and roll punk show and it was hard because I was working with BMXers and, like, a bunch of dudes, and it was at Odin’s Den, which is a dive bar where people like, spit on the floor. But that was the image [UGP] wanted. That wasn’t my favorite show. I’ve done two shows in Toronto and one in London, but this one obviously was my favorite because I got two awards. I feel like I’ve matured so much as a person and as a designer and I feel like I understand the whole fashion industry and garment construction. I feel like I understand it way more now. Being part of [IADT] is awesome, I just got an email from the fashion director and she’s like, this magazine wants to do an interview with you on Monday, and then there’s another show. I only took two classes and I’ve got these connections now. I almost want to take another class next year so I can do the show. I said that to Brandon the other day and he’s like, “So you can defend your title?” [laughs]

WG: What was the after party like?

Stef: It was pretty fun, it was at Red Coconuts in Universal Citywalk. I almost felt like a celebrity, it was weird, people wanted me to sign their programs. I was signing autographs and it was weird, I mean, I’ve done that in wakeskating, but I was like, “I’m just a student here!” I met a lot of industry people, it was awesome. There was a big difference from a wake party to [the IADT afterparty]. Everyone was dressed up and they were all into hair and makeup. It was good, it was a nice little mix. My mom and my grandma were there, they were proud, they had their little Canadian pins on. They were pretty cute!

WG: You recently tried out for Season 7 of Project Runway. What was the experience like?

Stef: I was telling Brandon, “I want to go on Project Runway and I’m going to find out when the castings are”. Two days later I got an email from the fashion director at IADT with a link to the Project Runway application. From the time I got the email to the time I had to submit everything I had like, six days. It was like, twenty pages of a questionnaire and I needed to do all this stuff for a portfolio: front view, back view, side view, detailed view of my designs. I put together a portfolio and a five minute video that Brandon did. I sent everything in on a Friday and on Monday I got a call and they said I was selected to go to the closed casting for Season 7 in Atlanta. Everything just happened at once! We got in the car with all of the clothes, my grandma and my mom helped me steam them all. Bess and Meg (from Carrie Marine Photography) helped me big time. They spent four days taking photos for me, I got my friend Amanda to model and everything. I got to Project Runway in Atlanta and I met with Tim Gunn and some other judges. I got a maybe, but then I got the call that I didn’t make it through. I can try out next year. But now I have a great portfolio and the experience of going through that on my resume. I got to do a big interview afterwards.

Brandon: So you still may make the show.

Stef: Next year, Season 8 maybe.

WG: So what do you have planned for the rest of the summer and the rest of the year?

Stef: That’s what we’re trying to figure out. Right now, because I’m home for June, I want to try to ride as much as I can for all the time I missed, you know, in my little sweatshop upstairs! Nationals is the first week of July so I definitely want to do that so I want to ride as much as I can behind our new boat. I’m also trying to focus on getting some coverage for my clothes, like doing the interview with you guys, and with Oasis magazine. I want to keep building my portfolio, I’m going to try to keep sewing. I don’t want to put a ton of pressure on myself and have a deadline, but I want to keep making stuff and building stuff up so that if there is a new fashion show I can show some new stuff too.

WG: Would you like to say anything about your sponsors?

Stef: Thank you Osiris Shoes, Dragon, Liquid Force, Jet Pilot, Rockstar, LA Fitness, Bern Helmets, Miami Ski Nautique, Bess and Meg from CarrieMarine, Justin From Own Two Hands and Brandon Parker for all his filming!

WG: What do you think should be some of the main focuses for people trying to break into the fashion industry? What are some of the steps they should take?

Stef: School, definitely. Some people say you don’t have to go to school but there is so much more to garment construction than people think, just all of the math and stuff. If you don’t go to school, you can kind of cut corners, but I would say going [to school] for at least a couple of years. Just be ready for a challenge, it is so competitive. I would say it’s more competitive than sports, it’s just a really hard industry to break through. Girls, guys, everybody wants to be in fashion somehow. There are fashion designers everywhere but it’s just really hard to get a job in the industry. One person has a job and they usually have it for years. It’s not a job that they go at and then leave in a couple of years. So you are waiting for Karl Lagerfield to like, retire or something! I’d say travel, and research and just stay on top of it. Network and just be a people person. I can’t see someone who is really quiet and shy [making it in the industry]. Maybe, but it’s just hard to get noticed. Even fashion designers have to do interviews.