Fashion Entrepreneur Report – Delivering the business of fashion from Nolcha: Fashion Busi: August 2009

Interview | American Apparel

Posted by fashionentrepreneurreport On Monday, August 31, 2009 0 comments

Household names are hard to achieve, but with a push to re-invent the wheel in a cool hip, no-nonsense way, American Apparel has become just that. No color or style unturned, they are America's t-shirt... and legging... and mini dress... you get the idea. Nolcha's Lynn Furge talks to reknowned American Apparel about cost effective manufacturing, production runs and fabric selection...
Lynn Furge: Where in America do you manufacture your goods?

American Apparel: All of our apparel product is manufactured here in Los Angeles. We have the single largest apparel manufacturing facility in the U.S. with over 2,000 of the highest earning sewing professionals in the world … manufacturing over 200,000 garments per day.

LF: What key elements are crucial for designers to bear in mind when approaching a manufacturer?

AA: They should understand the capabilities of the manufacturer and also note that the more manufacturing friendly the design is, the more likely they are to receive a fine quality reproduction of the design … on time! Many times, there has to be give and take between manufacturing and design especially in high volume production markets.

LF: How do you keep your cost of production down and reasonable to compete with others like Hanes, Jockey, Mossimo @Target etc?

AA: Production costs are a fallacy sometimes. When you talk about competition with other brands that manufacture off shore, you have to take into account the full costs; logistics, delivery, quality issues, chargeback risks, monitoring systems both electronic and human, etc. We are able to compete due to our verticality. We are able to see the entire process from yarn to finished garment. This allows us to be certain that the design is right on, that the fit is right, that the quality is excellent, that the turn time is unheard of, and that our commitments are viable. I mentioned earlier that we have the highest earning sewing professionals in the world. Our direct costs don’t change by our operators being more successful … even though they are earning more money. The more that they produce, the more that they earn.The high production does lower our fixed and overhead costs (per piece) though. In this case, more production means lower costs. Everybody wins! Our company is successful, and we are competitive, because our operators are successful first.

LF: In terms of production runs, what's the minimum you do?

AA: We work to keep our minimums at dyed lot sizes. In most cases, our dyed lots consist of 600+ pounds of fabric. This fabric lot can translate into 500 to 5000 garments, depending on the fabric and product.

LF: How long should designers allow for production completion?

AA: It depends on where they are producing and how much. A design concept in LA, that needs to be developed, graded, have approved size runs, technical packages created, and then finally manufactured could take as long as six to nine months (or longer) in an offshore setting, especially if they are competing for contracted capacity. On the other hand, with our vertical operation, we have done all this in a week. This would be an exception, but we have pulled it off more than once. Our normal turn from approved concept to delivery would be two to four weeks.

LF: What do designers need to bring, provide when approaching a manufacturer such as yourselves?

AA: The more that a designer can bring to the table the less room for confusion and error. Patterns, a sew by sample, and finished specifications make the transition much easier.

LF: When are your busiest periods?

AA: This year, we have been busy for the entire year. Because our line is fairly broad, we constantly have product to focus on. The beginning of the year we will focus on spring and summer items while mid year we will turn our attention to fall and winter. We work more towards inventory composition than direct order delivery. We produce over 16,000 sku’s in our Los Angeles facility so there is always something to keep us busy.

LF: Are you selective in terms of the types of fabrics you work with?

AA: On the whole, we tend to work with a lot of cotton-based fabrics for our basic T-shirts, sweatshirts, underwear, et cetera. However with our retail-exclusive styles we are able to go outside the norm. Sometimes we have an idea for a garment that requires a certain fabric, and other times we will find a fantastic fabric first and design with that fabric in mind. Over all we are working with very functional fabrics that you can wash and dry. Nothing too high-end, or dry clean only.

LF: Have you had any cases whereby selected fabrics (from designers) have not been able to work with specific designs? If so can you give an example of this?

AA: Black Vinyl! We had purchased a black vinyl fabric that was intended for leggings and a mini skirt, but the fabric did not have enough stretch, so we turned it into a bag which works perfectly.

LF: What type of dyes do you use? How do you decide what colors to make per season?

AA: Reactive Dye. We choose colors based on the product, and since we do not follow the standard seasonal colander that the rest of the industry follows, we are able to choose a few colors and test them, and change them as we see fit.

LF: Do you do any sort of trend tracking?

AA: At American Apparel we lean towards hiring inside of our demographic so in most cases our trend information comes directly from our employees. We also have multiple designers who have their own style that they display in their designs. On top of that we have employees from all of our store’s sending ideas and comments that they may have.

LF: How have you adapted to the change of technologies being introduced, such as CAD?

AA: If you consider PAD SYSTEM a CAD tool, then the answer is yes. We use a software tool called, PAD. PAD assists us in digital patterns for samples and finals patterns for production. We also create technical flats in Illustrator to compose digital line drawings of each style as a blue print for our technical packages.

LF: What would you say are key reasons as to why a designer should source a local manufacturer as opposed to an overseas one such as China?
AA: Visibility and delivery. Unless the designer is ready to travel to the Far East in order to insure that their concept is intact once it begins manufacturing, there will always be that uncertainty as to the fit and quality of the product. Too, capacity issues will affect delivery. In most cases, many companies are competing for the capacity that outsourcing has to offer. Companies with larger volume will normally win the capacity war, while smaller volume companies find it difficult to realize the savings that they believe outsourcing has to offer.

On the other hand, there are still smaller contract apparel companies in the U.S. that do great work and stand behind product and delivery. While the upfront costs may be higher than an off shore quote, the full cost may be equal or even less when considering logistics, time, delivery and assurance of quality and design reproduction. The designer can also more insure that their finished product is not the result of the exploitation of a fellow human being.

LF: What environmental principles do you follow?
AA: Do the right thing! We are constantly working to see that our work is not having an adverse effect on the environment. We work to recycle as much as possible, from fabric to paper to plastic. We work to create as much of our own energy as possible through solar regeneration. And, we are exploring other areas in fuel and fuel oils to operate our company and fleet friendlier. At the same time we are expanding our organic product line that features 100% organic cotton tops and bottoms both, natural and dyed. Too, we are exploring other natural fibers to enhance the line even further. www.americanapparel.net

fashion business, fashion designer, global brands, interview | |

Introducing Fashion Designer: Serpico

Posted by fashionentrepreneurreport On Monday, August 31, 2009 0 comments

Graduate of the School of the Art Institute Chicago, trained graphic designer and recipient of the The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation's Award in 2006, Melissa Serpico founded her label SERPICO with the vision of linear quality and spatial integrity of modern and classical architecture with fine fabrics and a quintessential “Made in Italy” quality that is rarely found in young designers today.

Lynn Furge: What about fashion made you veer from the path of graphic design and go back to school to become a fashion designer, and what did you learn from the graphic part of the design business?

Melissa Serpico: The textures and richness of the fabrics and materials and the 3-dimensional/sculptural quality of garments really drew me to the field. Also, what you put on your body is a very personal thing. It is the most immediate way to express yourself to others. To be able to create pieces that become so personal to someone is very interesting to me.

Studying graphic design gave me a tremendous sense of how to balance a page, or a look, or any arrangement. The basic rules and fundamentals of design can be applied to all mediums and is very helpful and inspiring in fashion. I feel that the bold sensibility of graphics and type are also somewhat reflected in my designs.

LF: What comes first for you, inspiration, fit, fabric or function and why?

MS: Inspiration always comes first. Whether it is as vague as a mood or as specific as a certain color or cut. A collection comes together best when there is an overall feeling or mood that touches each piece. Otherwise, it can look like it does not really belong together.

LF: What inspired this current collection?

MS: The FALL 09 SERPICO collection was inspired by my travels in Europe that season previous. I visited many romantic baroque gardens in northern Italy and France and completely fell in love with them. The gardens were a part of extraordinary palaces and were filled with exotic plants and fruits but were manicured very precisely. They were places for lovers to steal a moment alone and hide amongst the mazes of flora.

LF: Being an American designer, why did you decide to produce in Italy?

MS: We do currently produce in Chicago and Italy and decide which items will fit best where. The decision to produce in Italy was made for several reasons. First, I was having a lot of trouble finding production locally to produce at the quality that I wanted and at the quantity that I currently produce. It is very difficult to find a manufacturer that is the right fit for your line. While I was looking and contacting many factories in the U.S. and in Europe, I came across a factory outside of Lake Maggiore in Italy that had a tremendous history and client list and was interested in working with us. My husband and I traveled to the factory, met the owner and the workers and viewed their process and techniques and could not have been happier. The owner is extremely nice and down to earth, which is so important in this business, and he was excited to work with us. It just fit. We also source about 99% of our materials from Italy and Europe so it is much easier to ship them all to the factory for production and then ship the finished goods to customers, so we did cut down on shipping quite a bit. The factory is also full service so we can have all steps in production done in one place instead of shipping items from the grader, to the plotter, to the cutter, etc.

Lastly, we travel to Italy quite frequently and hope to spend more and more time there in the future, so it is a little personal too!

LF: Who is your muse?

MS: My muses are the fabulous everyday women of the world who are not afraid to take chances with style and are always trying to push the envelope. I love when I unexpectedly see someone on the street that has it goin’ on and it is new and fresh!

LF: Where do you see the SERPICO line heading in the next five years?

MS: In 5 years we hope to be producing four STRONG collections a year that are quite a bit larger than current collections so that we can expand our offerings to clients. I hope to open a minimum of 100 new doors in 5 years and have a stable and happy company. Having a few key SERPICO boutiques in the best-suited international cities for us is also in the plans. There has also been a lot of requests for a men’s line and we hope to tackle that when the time is right. We want to expand greatly but at a pace that is realistic and that we can keep up with for quality control. The only way to go is up and our dreams are big!

Serpico.com

fashion designer, fashion season, fashion trends, independent fashion designer, interview, Introducing | |

Do you have the right talent for the recovery?

Posted by fashionentrepreneurreport On Sunday, August 30, 2009 0 comments

As we begin to say goodbye to summer, hello to fall and look ahead into fourth quarter and holiday, things are beginning to recover in the fashion business and here is a question for you - Do you have the right talent in place to pick-up the pace and workload?

If you are not sure, take a moment and read this white paper 24 Seven Inc. published for small, medium and large companies on ways to sure up your talent. It provides a different way to think about your organization and teams and gives new insights on how to partner with recruiting firms in this new economy. Some of the discussion will be a reminder, but some will lead you into thinking differently to remain lean, strategic and effective.

To read the White Paper click here

fashion business, fashion entrepreneur, independent fashion designer | |

Interview | Amrita Singh

Posted by fashionentrepreneurreport On Monday, August 24, 2009 0 comments

One of the most editorially covered jewelry brands, Amrita Singh has graced the pages of everything from Vogue to Lucky.

With a small family like work atmosphere and a really succinct vision of what the label produces, Amrita Singh has sky-rocketed to success. With a new space and a new website, Nolcha's Lynn Furge caught up with Amrita to see how some amazing bangles turned into a jewelry empire.

Lynn Furge: You have a huge background in fashion in general, FIT, Oscar de la Renta,
what did you learn about the fashion business then that you have implemented you’re your business now?

Amrita Singh: The most important thing is that you have a vision and you stay focused in implementing that. We are in a business where the only constant is change, with every season we see new trends emerge and they all have a unique shelf life of their own.

My vision was to create a line of jewelry that has it's inspiration from my travels, especially the east but at the same time cater to the global citizens so bring an element of modernity to the design. You will see that in most of my work.

LF: What parts of Indian culture and tradition do you feel lend themselves to timeless jewelry?

AS:   I think the Moghul era contributed a lot to the jewelry that we see in Bollywood today.

LF: You reach a very wide demographic. Please tell me what you thought of initially when putting your business together and coming from high-end women’s wear? What made you decide to expand and do a contemporary line of jewelry as well?

AS: Initially I wanted to just make one of a kind high end jewelry pieces that collectors would admire and buy. But as I started reaching more people I got numerous requests to make a contemporary line.

This started from jewelry and then just led me to explore more accessories such as bags, sandals and hair accessories.

LF: How do you create such unique quality pieces for such a reasonable price?

AS: We have a good infrastructure that allows us to develop from the conception of the design to the actual finished product all in house. We design, manufacture, market and distribute all our products which allows us to keep the costs controlled and that, in turn, adds up to savings for the consumer.

LF: Now there are sandals, handbags, headbands all reasonably priced and available for summer, what made you decide to branch out away from jewelry and add more to the Amrita Singh brand?

AS: We got a lot of requests from our clients and that led us to expand the lines.

LF: Media Placement and Celebrity fans are important to every brand. It seems like at least one of your pieces is in each fashion magazine month after month. How does the current press coverage inspire you in terms of creating the next collection?

AS:   Fashion is a cycle that keeps repeating itself so we always look back to the past to re-create trends and make them updated to suit the lifestyles of today. I look back at magazines going back to 70's to get inspiration for future collections.

LF: I know you have a very small succinct team working for you. How do you manage all of the business with such a small group of people?

AS: We have a family like atmosphere in the office where everyone fills in to get the job done.

LF: What new plans are in development for the Amrita Singh brand?

AS: We just moved to our new location in Soho, NY. We are looking forward to the hosting more trunk shows and parties here.

In addition to the new location we have updated our website and made shopping an even more fun and easy experience www.banglebangle.com.

fashion business, fashion designer, independent fashion designer, interview | |

Art vs. Commerce

Posted by fashionentrepreneurreport On Sunday, August 23, 2009 0 comments

There are reasons why places like Kohl’s are making bank while some designers who are so well respected for their creative genius are not giants in the monetary sense. The first reason is that there is a huge market for mediocrity between the lowest and main common denominators of society. In America alone, the lower middle class to underclass, including the working and working poor classes, make up 84 percent of the population, while the upper-middle and capitalist classes only amount to 16 percent of the total population. There is therefore a tiny market for refinement and the highly aesthetic. Even so, those who can afford it must be willing to spend their money on luxurious items. It is for this reason that places like McDonalds thrive in a relatively health conscious global setting: as the majority of America lives as lower class, the rock bottom prices simply cannot be beaten.

The second reason commerce tends to thrive over art is that a substantially larger amount of time goes into the production of something really refined, and thus more money goes into it as well. Mass-market profits come from large quantities of goods, standard sizes, cheap materials and simpler production techniques compared to higher fashion lines that require more attention to detail and finer materials. Mass-market companies, and the entire industry, can turn out thousands more units to sell, and at the same time, have thousands more people to consume those goods, a principle that remains true in every field. A perfect example of this is that within the last quarter, Kohl’s made $411.7 million, while Alexander McQueen only just made his first profits with his Fall 2008 collection.

There is, however, a symbiotic relationship between mass-market and high fashion. A generation of style ideas has come from high design and has then been filtered into the mainstream market because people generally, if they cannot afford the real deal, want to imitate what is exclusive. Once the general society gets a hold of a certain style of exclusivity, people begin to improvise and expand on what has been given to them. As a style becomes so right for the times, it becomes a part of the cultural expression and the culture at large adopts, and makes adaptations to it. When a certain style becomes enough of a cultural phenomenon, it loops back and influences designers as another form of expression.

This symbiotic loop can be shown in Dior’s 1960’s “Beat” look, designed by a young Yves Saint-Laurent. Here, his daring high fashion line was inspired directly from Paris street fashion; from the existentialists, jazz cats and hipsters at bars in the Saint-Germain-des-Près area. In reality, haute couture, or lines of that caliber such as Giorgio Armani’s Black Label, are not typically influenced by street trends. Rather, it is the prêt a porter market that can be swayed. From the 1930’s through the 1950’s, American women wore little white gloves into town, and men wore a suit jacket and tie to dinner. People wore their best outfits to cultural events or when traveling, and they obeyed this certain protocol until the 1960’s when it was dropped. This 60’s fashion and cultural revolution still affects life in America today as blue jeans are seen in church and gym shorts are seen at Broadway plays.

The distinguishing identifiers of a class and of money, once shown by daily fashion choices, have become blurred, as you can no longer identify people by their clothes. Certain people, however, feel they need to express exclusivity and extravagance. By taking a common denominator item, like the sneaker shoe, they can take a cultural obsession and apply status identifiers to it. Chanel and other high fashion brands have sneakers, and a fantastic example is the Lanvin shoe that hit stores in April. This very popular high-top sneaker, at roughly $700, is strikingly similar to high-top Converse Chuck Taylor’s, and was, more than likely, influenced by its $50 mass-market counterpart. On a creative basis, designers are using a style of the moment as a substrate to apply their sense of special decoration. It is cool to wear sneakers and who is to say they should not be glitzy, both as a form of modern art, and also as a form of customer satisfaction and individuality.

-Eliza Goodman

fashion business, money | |

SOKO Kenya: Fashionable Feet/Non-Profit

Posted by fashionentrepreneurreport On Saturday, August 22, 2009

SOKO Kenya is a non-profit project started by Joanna Maiden and her husband in February 2009 with the aim to create sustainable employment for people in a small coastal town in Kenya.

SOKO provides training and employment for people in tailoring, sandal making and jewelry. SOKO produces for international fashion brands providing them with the opportunity to have their products manufactured in an environment that offers a living wage and empowers people to pull themselves and their families out of poverty. Nolcha contacted Joanna to let her speak a little about her talented artisans and how SOKO came to be.

Charles and his family live in Ukunda. Ukunda is a small town on the south coast of Kenya in the Kwale District. The Kwale District holds the highest level of unemployment in the country with 50% living below the poverty line.

Charles spent three years as a security guard at a local hotel. He worked 12 hour days and earned Ksh 150 per day. Charles wanted to provide his family with a bright future and be able to pay for his son to have a good education but through this current employment he was not able to even cover his living costs. He made the decision to try to see if he could change his future and try something new. Charles’ cousin was a shoemaker and offered to teach him. After learning the basics in sandal making spending several months saving money in order to buy the equipment and materials required to start the business, Charles would make the sandals in the evenings after work and sell them at the local market on his day off.

He found the demand much higher than he expected and continued to work and sell sandals for several months whilst saving everything he earned. Finally, months later he took the leap quitting his job and renting a small shack in the local market to sell his sandals.

Charles has been in this market for the past year and has built a large customer base of local Kenyans. On a good day Charles is able to make Ksh 500 ($6.50) profit. All profit is invested into buying more materials to make more sandals.
He mans the shop whilst making sandals all day from 7:30 am to 8 pm.

Always developing new styles, his recycled tyre sandals are always in demand. The ground is very rough, especially in the rainy season, and the recycled tyre sandals never wear out. He has never had to mend or resole a pair.

I first met Charles in February 2009 at his shack in the market. I asked him to make a few samples for me and was impressed by his motivation and determination to make 100% quality products. I started to visit him a few times a week to show him images of Western style sandal designs, visit leather and bead suppliers together and develop new products. One day I took him to visit a sandal factory that produce for the export market – it was a real eye opener for him and I clearly saw his goalpost move that day. He said “ Jo, we can do that, we can do what they are doing.”

Every time I went to see him the quality and standard of his sandals were improving.

One big stumbling block for him was that he didn’t have any lasts or accurate means to measure the size and shape of the sandals. I asked him to find out if it was possible to buy lasts locally - we found one man that sold second hand lasts for Ksh 700 ($9.20) each. For all the sizes that Charles required it would cost Ksh 2,800 ($36.80). This was beyond his means.

We came to an agreement that I would buy the lasts and he would repay me per sandal that I bought.

We bought the lasts and the sandal quality improved once again: we had consistency. Within one month Charles had paid back his loan.

As his demand grows his business developes. He has always worked alone so I encouraged him to consider employing someone to assist him. I explained that although it was an investment he would see his output increase dramatically. The next week I arrived at his shop and there were two people working with him – his wife and a local beader. He doubled production overnight. His wife, Doreen, took me to one side and said “I want to thank you. I was at home idle because I was not able to find any work and we had money troubles. You have helped us and I am so happy. Thank you for giving us business we are so busy.”

For more information about SOKO or if you would like to make a donation to the project please contact Jo Maidenjo@soko-kenya.com

fashion news | |

Glamorama 2009: Macy's Puts Spending for Fashion Back on the Radar

Posted by fashionentrepreneurreport On Saturday, August 22, 2009 0 comments

A bevy of beauties and one hot pig encompassed Glamorama 2009.

With Miss Piggy opening the show and donning a Marc Jacobs original Macy’s placed a sense of humor to the serious topic of the Ronald McDonald House which was the charity benefiting from tonight’s event.

With over $400,000 raised, Chicagoans flocked to the trademark Chicago Theater to see what Macy’s had in store for them for fall.

More of a production rather than an unveiling, this event is consumer focus at it’s best, giving the audience wearable winter pieces like black pencil skirts and camel coats with a mix of extravagant sets.

Ne-Yo was the featured artist completing the theme of “Fashion and Music Come Together” and with his new partnership with Alfani as the Face of Alfani Red, a brand exclusive to Macy’s, he looked as dapper as he sounded.

The beauty of Glamorama is Laura Schara’s ability to make something old (we in the fashion public have already seen the clothes on the runway back in February) into something we absolutely have to have!

The Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti was beautiful, with models busting through a silver beaded curtain setting off the grey and blue color palette amazingly well.

Sonia Rykiel was a stand-out as well, with her burnt orange and russet pieces set off against a black and white video of lovely little French girls back stage in hair and make-up… quaint and fashion forward as only the Parisians can.

Jean Paul Gaultier in Goth madness with Marilyn Manson booming in the background was a little too Steven Klein does Madonna for W but the silhouettes were so beautiful it can really only play into an “homage” vs. an “imitation”

As fashion people we are going to skip the wet boys in tighty underwear briefs, but just know that the crowd loved it which is the point of charity runway anyway.

For more images log on to: http://www.chicagotribune.com/shopping/chi-glamorama-pg,0,5952348.photogallery

We at Nolcha had our own fun little photoshoot at the after party. The sets were too good to resist.

fashion trends, global brands | |

Buyers Back Pure London

Posted by fashionentrepreneurreport On Friday, August 21, 2009 0 comments

Pure London attracts a record number of visitors and sees the Izzi Bag take the catwalk by storm.

The trade show closed its doors on Tuesday night with a 9%* rise in visitor numbers making it the highest attended Spring/Summer show ever. The opening day saw attendance up by 11%*, followed by 4.6%* on Monday and 27%* on Tuesday. The mood among retailers and brands at the event was positive, with many saying that they were optimistic about the outlook for Spring/Summer 2010.

The number of buyers who returned to spend more than one day at Pure London increased by a significant 21%* confirming buyers saw real value in visiting. With over 900 brands exhibiting, over 12,000 sqm, including the biggest offering of Accessories and Footwear in the UK; buyers were able to see established brands as well as view over 270 new collections to this Pure London.

Jan Shutt of Sunday Best commented “The show was absolutely fantastic! I spent the whole of Sunday and Monday at Pure London and could have easily come back for a third day. The Spirit section is brilliant, a very strong selection of young brands. I discovered some great new labels there. Lauren Vidal and Mais il est ou le soeil? were fantastic collections in Studio and the Accessory and Footwear sections were just mind blowing, I found and bought Tamara Fogal and Big Metal which is knock out. Pure London is a show not to be missed”

Attendance from UK buyers was up by 9%* with all the key UK Stores attending, including Fenwick, Harvey Nichols, Harrods, ASOS, Selfridges, House of Fraser, John Lewis, Debenhams and McElhinneys from Ireland, as well as key independent retailers such as Flow, Psyche, Stone, Richmond Classics and Stuff. International attendance increased by 3.5%* with attendance from Ireland, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Greece as well as the Saudi Arabia and Japan.

In addition to an excellent attendance, exhibitors confirmed that they were seeing quality buyers who were writing strong orders at the show as well as making a lot of new contacts.

Izzi bag took the catwalk by storm when the giant handbag was shown for the first time to the press and retailers.

Anne Agoren said “this was our first show and the collection has been received really well by both the press and retailers alike. I am really happy and confident of the future”.

The Spirit section was a huge success with an increase in amazing new brands. London based label Arrogant Cat returned to Pure London after missing a few seasons. Laura Galligan, PR manager said ‘The show has been really good for us. It has got our name out there again with our customers. The feedback we have had from our collection being on the catwalk is fantastic. It’s been a really good show.’

An even stronger line up of Ethical exhibitors were back with over 50 ethical brands edited into the show by price point and style including People Tree, Jackpot Organic, Miksani, Komodo, Wellicious and Monkee Genes. Ethical seminars and walks were hosted on Sunday and Monday educating visitors and communicating the stories behind some of the top ethical brands at Pure London.

More information than ever was available at the show with trend presentations and seminars on topics such as how to negotiate better rent deals from landlords; how to maximise online sales; understanding your customers' shopping habits, how to buy into the right trend and turn collections into commercial reality, hosted by Drapers and the WGSN.

Steve Newbold, Managing Director of Pure London commented, “The attendance was significantly up year on year and the visitor profile was of a very high quality. Feedback from exhibitors was incredibly positive with many having their best ever show. This bodes well for the industry and proves that good businesses can flourish in a difficult economic environment. Pure London has cemented its position as Europe's leading fashion trade event for directional womenswear, boutique fashion, accessories, footwear and young fashion for men and women..”

fashion business, independent retail, london fashion | |

Introducing: e.g...

Posted by fashionentrepreneurreport On Friday, August 21, 2009 0 comments

Less than seven months old eg…(www.egfashion.co.uk) is rapidly becoming one of the UK’s hottest new brands. Using the her own shop in Clerkenwell designer Emma Griffiths was able to do market research customer by customer and with business partner Jeanpierre Kalebic, started her own collection in a studio in Spitafields in February 2009.

Lynn Furge: Why eg…? What makes a woman want to wear it?

Emma Griffiths: I make clothes that I want to wear! And I feel fierce when I wear my clothes; powerful and confident which is how I want other women to feel too. At the same time, my designs are sexual and alluring, so you have the best of both worlds; hot, sexy clothes that also say don’t f**k with me!

LF: You have been influenced by the 80’s… what elements in your pieces bring the popular 80’s trend up to current day?

EG: I’ve tried to combine the power dressing of the 80’s with more modern themes so, for instance, you have shoulder pads that have been sculpted around a tailor’s dummy and used on a tailored jacket with no sleeves.

LF: There is a lot of stretch used in your collection, how do you choose your fabrics and what do you consider first form, fit or function and why?

EG: When I sit down to design a collection the first thing I consider is form, its about the silhouette, and a specific look. For me, my designs have to be spectacular Nice isn’t good enough and I am constantly striving for the excitement that a new garment gives – if I don’t get a rush from the first toile then It’s not good enough!! New garments have to blow me away. Once we start making samples, it can take us up to three days on just a sleeve. I will have a very specific shape in mind and we won’t stop until it’s perfect.

LF: You got your start working for Alexander McQueen and Boudicca, what have you learned about the business of fashion from these fashion houses?

EG: I didn’t actually work for Boudicca, but I was tutored by her (Zowie Broach) whilst studying at Westminster University. She taught me it was possible for a woman to be a strong and confident business leader, and an amazing designer without necessarily having to be a b***h, which is the normal stereotype, but you can have a no nonsense attitude.

As for McQueen, the time I spent working there taught me that fashion is a tough business! Most people assume fashion is a doddle apart from all the bitchiness, like Ugly Betty or something, but in fact it is quite the opposite! Most of the people I’ve met have been lovely and fabulous and amazing (like you Lynn!) but the amount of work and effort that goes into getting a collection ready is huge and that is definitely the hardest part.

LF: I feel that even in your modern high-tech pieces you still have an element of classic British reference to your collection like the jodpuhr and the Cardinal Shirt, please tell me about your other influences going into Spring 2010?

EG: There is a continuation of these themes in the new collection, sharp tailored jackets, contrast with trousers made of elastic, boxed, square shoulders with silk leggings that drape over the form. A lot of my inspiration comes from the past and I am particularly taken with the photography of Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin, at the moment, particularly the way they portray the naked female form. Their pictures are a contradiction, like my designs hopefully, between sexual vulnerability (being naked) and confidence and strength.

LF: Who is your Muse?

EG: A young Jerry Hall

LF: What are your future plans for e.g…?

EG: Our first objective is to make a name for ourselves as an exciting and innovative fashion label. Although we are only designing high-end ladies wear at the moment, we would like to offer a few ranges at different price points, allowing as many people as possible buy into the brand. Then JP wants us to break into the men’s wear market as he wants some free clothes!

eg…(www.egfashion.co.uk) is rapidly becoming one of the UK’s hottest new brands. Using the her own shop in Clerkenwell designer Emma Griffiths was able to do market research customer by customer and with business partner Jeanpierre Kalebic, started her own collection in a studio in Spitafields in February 2009.After graduation and at the age of 29, Emma set up a shop in Clerkenwell with her partner Jeanpierre Kalebic from which she sold her own designs. This experience proved invaluable as she was able to interact directly with her customers, something most designers are never able to do.

She was able to learn what women think about when buying clothes and what they look for in a garment. During this time Emma honed her dress making skills and fully developed her distinctive style while ensuring her designs were wearable and appealed to her customers.

At the start of 2009 and with a significant amount of commercial practice under her belt, the label e.g… was born. In February of 2009, Emma moved her brand to a studio in Spitalfields, where the first collection was developed. “

AW09 is available exclusively through our website www.egfashion.co.uk and we are currently discussing the possibility of supplying a number of retailers with SS10, though nothing has been finalized as yet we have registered interest from a number of the high end department stores here in the UK and we fully expect to have at least one stockist in New York.