COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio-based designer Andrew Shields is making a comeback of his own these days. 

What You Need To Know

• Shields describes himself as a futuristic designer who likes to explore the imagination and things that haven't happened yet 

• Shields’ siblings are helping him in various aspects from music to modeling with his new collection


• He spent years helping to build the brands of others before putting a spotlight on his own


• His mom helped him create pieces while battling breast cancer

Andrew Shields, who describes himself as a futuristic designer who likes to explore the imagination and things that haven't happened yet, envisioned himself showing his first fashion collection in New York, but life took a few turns and shifted that vision.

During his senior year in college, Shields was working on a thesis and creating a collection with his mom.

The collection was inspired by his favorite video games.

“She was helping me with a lot of it," he said. "A good portion of it was knitwear, and she was doing a lot of the knit stuff for me.”

Valuing the time spent with his mom, things got tough.

“I wasn’t able to finish my senior thesis in school cause my mom passed away,” Shields said. His mom died after battling breast cancer for years. 

Shields worked other jobs and helped to build the brands of others until the pandemic came around. At that point, he’d been furloughed. It was then that he said something just clicked, and he turned back to sewing.

"I actually took my clothes that I used to wear to the office every day and I just ripped ‘em apart and I sewed them into something else,” he said.

Moving back home to Ohio, Shields said he was forced to process his feelings around the furlough and the passing of his mom.  In doing so, he could finally create his new collection that is inspired by his mom. For him, he said it became like therapy. 

Now, he’s ready to show off his first full collection at Fashion Week Columbus. He’s excited because the collection is dedicated to his mom.

“Being able to do it here where a lot of my family's nearby and able to celebrate with me and be a part of it in any way that they can… it means a lot," Shields said.