Textile Properties

A large and often overlooked part of fashion retail, though a large part of the production process, is appropriate textile selection. Each textile used in a garment has specific properties, utilised for a specific purpose; viscose for lining, wool for outerwear, or cotton for underwear etc., each has been selected, constructed, treated, and finished to meet the needs of the garment and its wearer, this is why it is so important for designers and salespeople to understand various textiles' properties, and capabilities.

Here is a concise selection of textiles and their properties that I have studied, worked with and sold (in menswear) and how they can relate to customer's needs.

"Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep

without a shepherd. Without innovation,

it is a corpse." 

Winston Churchill

Management through Mastery, Autonomy and Purpose

Since working in jobs concerned directly with supply and demand, I have engaged in the study of behavioral economics, particularly what motivates people to work more effectively and efficiently, and what motivates people to consume.

The need to motivate employees and customers is fundamental to any business. While management and marketing are concerned with different sectors of business, though they share the same aim of motivating people.

“Form follows function” 

Louis Sullivan 1896.

Louis Sullivan was known as the "father of skyscrapers" and the "father of modernism". This quote was based on his rationalist theories, it would later become foundational to the theories of modernism, and 'modern' values. The Modernists would add "...ornament is a crime" to the above statement, to enforce their disregard for unnecessary adornment in design.

Design - A market approach

During final year of University in 2007, news media was stating - “Credit markets go into freefall” and "We suspect the problem in the sub-prime area is just the tip of the iceberg”. It seemed market demand was set to turn on it's head, the consumer bubble of the mid 00s was about to burst, as a global recession was imminent.

“Tradition is the illusion of permanence.”

Woody Allen

Diffusion of a market - Saville Row

2006 was my 3^rd year of design school, I had just completed the 'advanced construction' paper at university, lead by a very good and inspiring tailor, I chose to pattern make and construct a three piece suit. At this time Men's fashion, lead by the designer Hedi Slimane at Dior Homme, revered the British suit cut, exemplified by the traditional tailors of Saville Row. During a visit to London in mid 2006 I made a sort of 'pilgrimage' to Saville Row, to find that my reverent views of this street and its stores were appropriate though out of date.

"The bottom line is, when people are crystal clear about the most important priorities of the organization and team they work with and prioritized their work around those top priorities, not only are they many times more productive, they discover they have the time they need to have a whole life."

Stephen Covey, American educator, author, businessman, and motivational speaker.

Personal and company - culture and ethics

Steven R. Covey's book '7 Habits of Highly Effective People' presents a framework for personal effectiveness. The book identifies that ideals of 'success' in the second half of the 20th century are largely attributed to personality traits - skills, techniques, premeditated behaviours, and maintaining a positive attitude. Steven R. Covey believes 'personality ethics' are secondary to fundamental 'character ethics'; the contrast of the two ethics can be exemplified by the (culture) iceberg. The tip above water being the initial personality, identity and impression we have of the iceberg (person), however it is the unseen base (a person's character) which supports, justifies and gives respect to the tip (person).

A company which seeks to provide a high quality product or service, needs to be created by people with strong character ethics.

 

My Training Manual for sales (and design)

Creating a large, focused, supportive group of people in a company requires time, energy, and continual effort, which results in a rewarding employer, employee and customer experience.

“The store is the place where all the information about the consumer's needs, tastes, feelings, and preferences converge” 

Luigi Castellani, partner at Milan consulting firm Suitex.

An algorithm for creating an outfit.

Purchasing clothing, particularly a suit, is not an everyday issue for people, and therefor it becomes the role of the retailer to facilitate, inform and guide people through the process. The retailer must use their knowledge of styling (matching appropriate colours, details, textures, a garment's meaning), product performance, fit etc., to meet the customer's specific needs.

Colour Matching

Creating balanced, pleasing to the eye outfits are not just made by those with a gift for 'style'; there are colour matching rules, when applied to an outfit they complement, blend, or accentuate one another. These rules compliment the outfit creation and selling process, as each combination makes a certain statement about the owner e.g. 'casual', 'formal', 'powerful', 'subtle' etc.

"Art is a human activity consisting in this, that one man consciously, by means of certain external signs, hands on to others feelings he has lived through, and that other people are infected by these feelings and also experience them."

- Leo Tolstoy, the definition of art and it's value - creating an empathetic connection with another.

Today's Consumer

For the past century the consumer has been predominantly shaped, not through their demand for goods, but from the supply of goods. The Ford Motor Company's assembly line in 1913, and the subsequent popularization of mass production and planned obsolescence in the 1910s and 1920s, created a potential over-supply of goods in a frugal post war market. Enter Edward Bernays, known as the 'Father of Public Relations', started his 'Public Relations Council' in 1919 to manipulate public opinion, for the good of businesses' and governments' power and profit. 

Barbara Kruger "I shop therefore I am" (1987)

Design - A design school approach

Here I have detailed some core ideals we learnt about creative product / fashion design from my four years at Massey University in Wellington, which I finished at the end of 2007.

Socratic Questions = Great Ideas.

The 'Socratic question' was a way in which the philosopher Socrates believed we could all become less passive, demonstrate logically why we believe something to be true and therefor not become a 'sheep'. The process involves systematically breaking down a question into parts for analysis. Below is one such formula using Socratic questioning, I have added 'statements' and 'products' to give the formula a broader relevance.

John Waters on Style

John Waters - Writer, Director, Producer, the 'Pope of Trash' and big fan of Japanese deconstructed fashion, has this to say on being creative with fashion, from his book Role Models: