NYCFashionista
New York, NY
Female, 33
I’m the Creative Director/CEO/Jill-of-all-trades at my very own cold-weather fashion accessory business. I design and market a line of knit-based fashion accessories (scarves, gloves, hats) aimed at the contemporary market. My work can be found in several specialty boutiques in the US and Asia.
Unless a brand owns its own manufacturing facility, it's a difficult and expensive strategy to implement. Manufacturers live and die by volume. Mainstream brands who have this service (e.g. Nike) typically treat it as a fringe project/business aimed at brand loyalists and for buzz. They can engage in this sort of business because their ready-to-wear business pays the bills. Niche bag company Freitag also has a custom business, but I have a feeling their ready-to-wear business props that up as well. I have yet to see a mainstream company that is built entirely on the premise of customization.
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American Apparel made a very conscious business decision to keep manufacturing in the US because it pays, period. Consumers were clamoring for US-made garments and were willing to pay a premium for it. Producing everything in their own vertically-integrated factory in the US costs way more than outsourcing, but American Apparel can respond to market demand quickly and avoid stock-piling inventory in their stores. Aside from the business rationale, US-based production also happens to make for a good brand story.
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Fashion shows were created with fashion buyers in mind. In a few minutes, fashion buyers can review the designer's best looks and place orders that will arrive 6 months later. But the clothes/looks you see on the runway are just samples. Once buyers place their orders after the show, only then would a *smart* designer line up manufacturing / fulfillment. So it's also a great way to test concepts and measure consumer demand before locking cash in production. As many as 70% of the looks shown are typically not picked up, but the 30% that do make it are usually the most commercial pieces that will go on to sell well. Competition is fierce during fashion week and it's important to stand out. Therefore many designers add "extreme" designs / looks to the mix - these are not commercial pieces but play an important role in communicating the designer's perspective that season. Stores all follow a pretty set buying calendar and place their biggest orders for fall and spring. Designers cater to these buyers so fashion shows take place during "market" week in the major fashion cities such as New York, Paris and Milan, when buyers flock to these cities looking for items to sell in their stores 6 months later. These shows attract media attention b/c people want to know what they should be wearing in 6 months! Not surprisingly, fashion show commentary and photos sell -- "fashion issues" are typically one of the most lucrative issues in a magazine's/newspapers editorial calendar.
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Have not yet tried pinterest but did hear that the interface was great and a delight to use. Visuals can be so much more evocative than words can ever be so Im grateful theres a program out there that helps me better express, share and communicate my ideas. The fashion industry is all over it because much like polyvore designers and buyers can freely pick up on trends that will translate to more sales in stores.
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Can't really speak to whether people are getting bigger but clothing sizes has become a ad hoc / relative measurement and should be thought of primarily as tool fashion companies use to sell more clothing and nothing more. If anything, clothing sizes have been dropping and you can see why that makes sense- let's say you're typically a size 8, you walk into a store and happily discover that you're now fitting into a size 6 - you feel good and more likely than not, you will end up purchasing the garment. This is an industry phenomenon called vanity sizing. Tim Gunn of Project Runway/Parsons-fame had harsh things to say about this: http://www.mamapop.com/2011/09/tim-gunn-blasts-deceptive-shell-game-of-vanity-sizing.html To be sure, fashion schools do teach students what the standard sizes are -- not sure who came up with the standards -- but these measurements are pretty dated and were probably developed using a homogeneous population that's no longer relevant to our new multi-cultural, global fashion market.
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Impact" can mean a couple of things. Sales can get a strong lift if popular, relevant, and aspirational celebrities wear certain market-ready, in-store styles: Kate Middleton, Michelle Obama, and (ulp) Kim Kardashian. The dress Kate Middleton posed in for her engagement photos 2 years ago continues to be reissued by Reiss 4 seasons later! Impact can also mean setting the course for a trend to bubble up in a couple of years. Gaga's outfits are definitely not market ready but her penchant for over-the-top crystals is slowly making it's way into styles for next fall, to give one example. But I can't really think of one celebrity pulling the shots in the fashion world today - that tells you something about how fragmented and niche-driven the fashion business has become!
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At the last Market Week, I showed infinity scarves that featured bright, almost saccharine-neon, colorways. Some of my color choices were risky, but I made sure to merchandise those with more commercial, "safer" colorways. I think buyers appreciate that kind of restraint and commercial sensibility. Anthropologie just picked up the line for the fall.
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