Every piece of art and architecture starts with a vison. The same is true in the “Rag Business”.
Sometimes it starts with an idea … a spark. Other times it starts with a need. Coco Channel, Karl Lagerfeld, and Gianni Versace all had visions which they turned into a reality. Sasson Jeans turned mundane work clothes into a fashion trend. Napoleon Bonaparte had buttons added to the sleeves of his troops uniforms to prevent them from wiping their nose or mouth on the sleeves because it made the troops look unkempt.
But every idea, spark or vision needs a medium or interpreter to transform them into a tangible item. Keep in mind that simply transforming these visions into something tangible is not enough; you must feel and understand the vision.
Over the years I’ve worked with a litany of designers, either as customers or on the same team as me, and all expect the same thing; that their vison will be transformed into the reality they perceived it to be.
Once, after successfully completing a sample line our designer approached me and said, “ you and your team are amazing … you made my vision a reality”.
Now remember not all visions will come to you as a completed design, spelling out in the finest details what the customer wants. It may just be a drawing or a sketch
Or it may just be a message; “We are doing a 20’s-era show and want a costume that is a tailcoat and shirt”. Not a lot to go on. So how do you satisfy your customer? How do you bring this idea, this vision to life? You do not have patterns or any type of reference except what you’ve seen in movies or fashion books. So you create, then you cut and you sew.
Cut front of prototype garment.
Tail Shirt Prototype Side View
Figure 2 Tail Shirt Prototype Front View.
Tail Shirt Prototype Back View
You send pictures to your customer for feedback on your interpretation of their vision, and hope you are both on the same wavelength. Along with pictures, you provide them with estimated CMT (cut-make-trim) costs. You do this because you do not want to get a customer’s hope up, then later find out that their vision is not within the budget. In this instance a completely sewn tail shirt was outside their budget, so we came up with an alternative idea.
We presented a completely dye sublimated garment that brought the customer’s vision to life, while still remaining within their budget. (I’ll cover product costing in another issue of my blog)
Another time we met with a client who had designed a show that required a costume change “without stopping their performance”. This would result in penalty points from the judges. We developed a “flip vest”.
Above: Flip Vest Left & Right Front images
Flip vest demonstration.
There may also be instances where your customer knows exactly what they envision, and provide you with a detailed drawing of that idea/vision showing even the smallest details, while leaving just the technical portion up to your interpretation and expertise. You will use this expertise to make fabric selections, trims, interlinings and determine construction methods based on the end use of the garment. Is the end user going to be sedentary or active? Are they going to be wearing the garment indoors, outdoors, or both? Is this garment going to be a single season use or will it be worn for multiple seasons?
All of these factors will have a direct impact on the development, sampling and eventually the finished product. And while you are making these decisions you must keep in mind the vision that your client has in mind.
Figure 3 Customers rendering.
Figure 4 SOA Look 1 Front View (L). Back View (R)
SOA Look 2 Sketch.
SOA Look 2 Front View (L) Back View (R)
SOA Look 3 Sketch – Front View
Perhaps you are working on more traditional fashion items; shirts, pants, suits or jackets … etc.
Figure 5 Spec Sheet (L) Finished Garment (R)
All the details of the product are spelled out for you, guiding you through the steps to make the garment. Almost anyone can cut and sew fabric to make garments or articles of clothing, but it takes a certain kind of individual with the same passion and vision as the designer to capture the vision that the designer anticipates.
I spent most of my career making men’s tailored clothing and military uniforms. For the military everything was very “cut and dry” … no pun intended. Following specs, order the same fabric and trims, measure, mark, cut and sew. All of the military uniforms we made were made-to-measure.
There wasn’t so much of a vision, but more a passion and enthusiasm. We were contributing, in some small way, to a grand tradition. Every July 1st, 1600 new midshipmen would report to Annapolis to start their next chapter in life. We would send a team to measure each and every cadet the first week in July. And from the second week of July to the second of September, we would mark, cut and sew and finish 1600 dress blue uniforms. September was when families were permitted to visit. The styling has stayed the same for decades, and even some of the manufacturing techniques haven’t changed. We still hand-felled armholes and undercollars, but we needed to modernize our processes in order to meet this delivery schedule. All while still embracing the passion exuding the same amount of enthusiasm.
Figure 6 Marine Corp Band (L) Navel Academy Dress White (R)
Figure 7 Navel Academy Dress Blue (L) Marine Corp Uniforms (R)
In men’s tailored clothing things would change from season to season and year to year. Double knits, shark skin, poplin, Leisure suits, Nehru jackets (Yes, Nehru), Single breasted, double breasted, single vent, double vent, no vents, wide lapels narrow lapels, average build, athletic build, portly build…etc. The list is endless, as were the fabric selections, trimmings and size runs.
We would start with a sketch or drawing. What our designer envisioned.
Our designer would look at style trends in trade papers and magazines, review past year sales with the sales team and listen to their feedback on customer requests.
He would next determine if his design would have a full canvas or half front? A full canvas front cost more to make but offered a more tailored look and fit. A half canvas front was less costly because it is supplemented with a front fusible. It still offered a tailored look but didn’t wear (longevity) as well as a full canvas front. Plus, price point impacted this decision (I’ll cover this in my costing blog).
Figure 8 Coat Front Options (L) Full Canvas Front (R)
Figure 9 Half Canvas Front (L) Fusible Front (R)
Next our designer and merchandiser will select fabrics for his vision. What season were we designing for? Was there a particular color that was popular that year? Yes, we would make the traditional blue, black and grey suits, plaids, pin stripe, chalk stripe and solids. But if there was a trend growing, if we had enough lead time we would try and incorporate it into our line. I remember when Etienne Aigner loafers were featured in the WWD and “ox blood”, the color of these loafers, was the hot color that season.
Our head of merchandising wanted to offer suits in this color. Not an easy feat considering we had already selected and ordered our fabrics for the season and our “fashion color” that season was going to be teal.
Figure 10 Fabric Swatches
As a side note Teal did not perform as well as anticipated, so we heard for quite a period of time “if we had used the fabric I wanted we would have had a grand slam”.
As our designer continued to develop his vision, he would determine if it would be full lined, half lined or unlined, each of which have their own benefits and manufacturing challenges. Would it have a plain or fashion lining?
Figure 11 Coat Lining Options
Figure 12 Full Coat (L) Lining Swatches (R)
I’d like to stop at this point and explain a couple of things before I go any further. First, this process takes months to complete and usually starts a couple of weeks after the start of the preceding season. Second, as I pointed out earlier, our designer would read, listen to feedback and started sketching how he envisioned the completed garment would look. He was starting to form his vision into an image that others can see, interpret, and implement.
Take a minute and think about a project you are currently working on, or one that you have worked on. Did you just jump right in, or did you think it through step by step seeing each piece in your mind as you go?
Most of the designers I’ve worked with have either consciously or subconsciously used this process.
Also add into this whole process the fact that the factory is producing the current season and our designer was also dealing with questions that would arise. He would meet with the Plant Manager, Director of Engineering and Quality Manager to review finished garments … have we successfully converted his vision to reality?
He would also be addressing issues of fit and construction. There was an instance where we were having an issue of matching plaids on the pocket facing of our trousers. The supervisor in the pant shop was rejecting the work produced, the employee was complaining to her union shop steward, and the production manager was pointing out that the coats were going to be completed before the pants, throwing the schedule out of whack. I came up with a simple solution. Change the front leg pattern and attach the pocket facing pattern at the pocket. Now the pocket would be “matched” when it was cut. Problem solved.
Figure 13 Plaid Pants(L) Solid Pants (R) Pant Pattern Parts (LR)
Issue resolved. And our designer was back to his vision.
What type of fit would his garment have on the customer? Soft shoulder or hard shoulder … what type of shoulder pad would give him his desired look?
Figure 14 Examples of Shoulder Pads
As he was finishing up his design he would have a sewing sample cut and run through the shop. This was the “guinea pig”. The garment that had seams opened, was pinned, chalked, literally and figuratively ripped apart. Better to discovers issues now than in the middle of a large production run. At times the conversations got rather heated. No one likes being called out even if it was all strictly business. There are times you need an armadillo hide and be able to “roll with the punches” like a prize fighter. Keep in mind that everyone wanted the same end result, a garment we could all be proud of.
Once the flaws were addressed and strong points noted another sample is cut with any revisions, sewn with any noted changes and reviewed again. And after everyone is satisfied with the look and fit of the garment, production patterns are started, and our designer can get back to adding the final touches to his new design.
So far my designer had created a sketch, determined what type of front canvas it would have, if it would be full-lined or half-lined, made fabric selections and _______ how it would fit on the customer. What’s left? What else could he possibly see? The finishing refinements. What type of buttons would be used and how many? Obviously, if it is a double-breasted coat, three button front or two button front the quantities will vary. But how many buttons does he see on the sleeve? And what type of button? Yes, there are different types of button materials to choose from. Cost will vary widely depending on the materials. (I’ll cover trim items in my costing blog)
Links for button material:
From my past experience we would have three sleeve buttons on single breasted, two and three button fronts. And have four sleeve buttons on our double-breasted.
Figure 14 Three Button Sleeve (L) Four Button Sleeve (R)
Figure 15 Button Card
He also evaluated threads for a good match and seam durability. Historically we used mostly black thread on dark colors, grey thread on mid-shades and white thread on light colors. Any stitching that is visible would always be matched as closely as possible to the shell fabric.
Figure 16 Saddle Stitch (L) Edge Stitch (R)
Figure 17 Thread Card
As a final touch, he would decide what he wanted his design to look like on a hanger. Imagine going through all those steps, covering every detail on how you wanted your creation to look, only to have something as simple as hanger having it look like everyone else’s in on the rack.
Suit Hanger (Top Left) Top Quality Suit Hangers Wood (Top Right) Suit Hanger Plastic (Lower Right)
At this point we were ready to bring his designs to life. To transfer his passion and vision into a tangible garment to be worn and admired.
That’s it for this edition. I hope you enjoy reading it as I did writing it.
Until my next instalment, stay healthy and safe.
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