Wiksten's "Tova" And A New Path In Fashion

One of the most interesting things in fashion that the Great Recession seems to have spawned are designers with new visions of what their company should be.  With a combination of social media and good taste, they've created businesses that are a hybrid of a traditional small-scale designer and a dressmaker.  My favorite one of these is Wiksten by Jenny Gordy.  She's managed to turn a blog and her social media accounts into a viable way to sell her designs and vision.  Mind you, unlike traditional fashion designers, she doesn't just sell you her dress.  She will also sell you the pattern so you can make it yourself and fabric to use to make it!  Let's face it, that's a great idea.  In the world of blogs and pinterest, there are legions of women who want to try their hands at making it themselves and capturing that market can help reduce start-up costs.  This seems to work in Gordy's favor--it lessens the strain of trying to have enough stock on hand and manage the sales since a certain percentage will just download a pattern, but she also can give classes on how to make her designs!  This is such an interesting turn in the fashion world--a designer has a chance to sell her ideas in an accessible way and to capture a higher percentage of the customer's spend.

This model allows for designers to get a start and put their ideas out directly to consumers with far lower start up costs and lower barriers of entry.  In social media, if you do some level of self-promotion and your ideas catch on, they spread themselves.  You would not need to worry about the risk of a large factory production order of your line.  The most interesting part is seeing how far this catches on and to what extent this method of start up leads to "hitting it big" and turning into a household name.  Only time will tell, but given the popularity of Wiksten, it may in fact be possible.  

In the spirit of this new design company model, I bought the "Tova" pattern and decided to give a whirl.  I am in no way an expert, just an average home hobbyist. Fabric is from nani iro by Naomi Ito

I like to render the pattern in Swedish tracing paper since I can create a pattern with the modifications I want without ruining the origional--this time I shortened the length to 17.5 inches to the hem from the armhole.

This seems to be the photo missing from the directions of how to assemble the front.  Pin liberally.

Iron the folds of the seams on the placket, collar and cuffs ahead of time instead of as you pin.  Much less frustrating!

Finished product!  Took me about 4 hours and fits nicely.  I put interfacing in the collar and placket.  

I used vintage ceramic buttons with iridescent glaze, looks great with the fabric.  Yes, they are vintage repurposed ones!

Simple pattern that is easy to follow and actually makes a great product that doesn't look like a craft project.  If supplying consumers great home-use patterns is part of the future of fashion, I can't wait!

The Changing Landscape of American Organic Cotton

I live in a cotton producing area.  In October I drive past miles and miles cotton fields.  Bits of white fluff line the road like frost.  Yet, I've repeatedly heard "there are almost no cotton fabric mills in the US, much less one that makes organic fabric."  Really?  We grow mountains of cotton, I drive past them regularly.  Do we really ship it all to be processed overseas?

Turns out that since all of the stories that the American textile company was on its last legs, much has changed.  While thousands of factories closed in the last 20 years, they have also consolidated, improved technology and benefitted from being close to the major world markets.  In the last 3 years, the industry has expanded by almost 40% according to the New York Times.  No, it did not bring back the thousands of jobs that they once provided--much of the production is automated--but the ones they brought have decent pay and safe working conditions.  Imagine that!  Many of these revived factories have started oroducing organic cotton fabrics.  In 2010 all of the news stories seem to indicate there was only 1 organic cotton fabric mill in the US.  Now, I can find evidence of at least 4 on this site, not to mention the many others I was able to find through product references.  For instance, there is a mill that now produces organic cotton sheets here.  And another makes custom t-shirts--I bought one from TS Designs  and will write about it after it comes.

Be skeptical if you hear that the US doesn't produce organic cotton fabric--we have factories churning it out by the ton!

Photo from New York Times article linked to above

Cambodia Has Trouble With Their Cash Cow

The fashion industry is one of the largest industries in the world.  Our choices about what we like to wear effect millions of people and drive the economy.  That choice about what shirt you like seems slightly less insignificant, yes?

Currently in Cambodia the garment workers are on strike for a doubling of their pay to $160 a month.  That means they currently make $80 a month, about the UN's standard for poverty.  Do you know that virtually all of the garment workers in Cambodia are women?  And, only about 5% of the factories they work in are owned by Cambodians?  Sure, Cambodia is far away and not seen by the West as anything to think about other than a possible cheap vacation destination.  So, why should it matter to you that there is a country far away that makes 80% of its exports from women working in factories owned by foreign investors?  And that their government is now shooting them in the streets for asking to live in less abject poverty?

This matters.  You are part of the swirling system in this world that gets your shirt to you that also thinks that women need not be paid enough to be able to buy adequate food.  Think about it, the government there values the opinions of the foreign companies over the well-being of their citizens to the point that they are literally willing to simply kill them.  Treating those who work in legitimate trades in this manner does not bode well for economic progress, stability and development.  And, if the workers aren't in the factories, how do you think you will get your new shirt?

References:  http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2014/01/cambodia-garment-workers-strike-turns-deadly-2014134464180721.html

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Cambodia

Photo from
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/world/asia/cambodia.html?_r=0

Pound of Flesh

There are somethings about the fashion industry that bother me deeply.  One is the issue of worker safety.  It has been over 100 years since the Triangle Shirtwaist Company disaster--seamstresses burned to death in their NYC factory with no escape route.  The sad part is that it still happens.  We like to think that whoever made our clothes got to go home from work and hug their kids.  Reality says likely not.

Just because you bought something with a "Made in Italy" stamp does not mean that whoever made it was exempt from exploitation.  Reuters reports that on Dec 1, 2013, 7 workers burned to death during a nightime fire in their factory/dorm.  They slept in an area made of cardboard walls.  No wonder they never had a chance.  The factory had illegal building occurring that was not up to standards.  The article hints at that fact that the workers were working in near "slave-like" conditions and were probably illegal.  Too bad it doesn't elaborate on what life was like for those workers or what company they were producing garments for.  No dress is worth such suffering.

The worst fact is that this is not an isolated incident.  Tragedies of this nature seem to be regular occurances world-wide, like in Bangladesh, by WalMart suppliers, in Pakistan, and even factories in the US burn down.  Workplace safety is important, no worker should burn to death in a garment fatory.  What should you and I as consumers do about this?  Quite farnkly, I don't know.  Post comments of any ideas!

Higher Commodity Prices Hit Fashion

One of the things that makes the fashion industry so great is the fact that it is global.  Ideas and people swirl around the world and normally it equals better fashion.  Well, it also equals higher prices.  Commodity prices have soared lately.

Fashion is the "textile industry"--I think they give it that name so that men in suits don't feel like they're talking about "womens' concerns", but that discussion is for another day.  The cost of your favorite new dress directly correlates to the price of raw materials around the world.  In the last 12 months, prices have skyrocketed.

Cotton prices are the highest they've been since the US Civil War.  In the 1860s, prices were so high due to war and blockade.  Now, it is a combination of ruined crops in Pakistan and Australia, coupled with growing demand around the world.  Higher demand plus lower supply equals higher prices.  That means your dress is going to be more costly.

Its not just cotton that is pricier.  Silk, leather, cashmere, fiber for synthetics, etc.... have all gotten more expensive.  Much of it is due to higher demand, transportation costs and in the case of vegetable fibers, failed crops.  One of the largest sources of the rising demand is China.  With the Chinese economy growing, the demand for garments and other textiles rises and so does the price of such things around the world.

What are designers doing about this?  Midlevel designers have been rethinking their collections so that they use less or cheaper materials, in order to not have to raise their prices.  For example, Luca Luca has been trying to order in bulk and use less fabric variety to keep the prices down.  But, they were far enough into their Spring 2011 collection to where they've had to eat much of the cost increases.  This is bad for fashion in the long term--when the designers become less profitable, it will be harder for them to survive changes in demand for their products and to invest in new talent and methods.  This means lower quality items with less innovation.  Hopefully next season Luca Luca will find a better way to deal with this than to eat the cost--it can only do that for so long before they'll have to fold, and then no more pretty dresses from them....

High-End designers are simply passing on the rise in costs to their consumers.  So, if you want high-grade silk to line your blazer, you better be prepared to pay.

Information from Wall Street Journal and Luca Luca runway photo from Style

Its Official!

Its official!  I will be speaking at Phoenix Fashion Week!  

Phoenix Fashion Week is October 1-3 2009 and will be at the Valley Ho resort in Phoenix.  Their website is rather uninformative right now so when the events get nearer I'll post a link where tickets can be had.

Okay, so I know my blog is about fashion in general, that is not what I will be speaking about.  I have been booked to speak about the Business of Fashion, particularly about some of the financial things that no one likes to think about like 401(k) stuff, disability insurance, etc... that no designer or boutique owner can be without but none of them like to think about.  

Picture is of Emily Brandle's show at Phoenix Fashion Week in 2008.  Picture is from http://bloggingprojectrunway.blogspot.com