Before ending her first career 14 years ago as an award winning journalist, Phyllis Brasch Librach became inspired to trade deadlines for hemlines. She wanted to take the tears out of shopping for her daughter and all daughters, mothers, sisters, aunts and friends with real curves. In a world where thin is too in, Librach […]
Born in Caguas, Puerto Rico. With twenty years in the fashion industry, Nasheli’s design experience includes working as technical designer, draper, tailor and seamstress in couture sewing techniques for designers based in New York, Dominican Republic, Italy and Puerto Rico. She currently performs as Chair and Associate Professor in the Fashion Design Department at Moore […]
If you’re designing for a business and not just for yourself, the numbers are important. It is true you can delegate much of the number stuff to an accountant, technical designer, or production coordinator, but there are some numbers that you as the designer really need to know and understand yourself.
Like good design, being able to ask good questions and get helpful feedback takes creativity, thoughtfulness, and practice. It is the thoughtful, specific questions that probe a bit deeper that prompt the meaningful answers. Knowing how to ask for feedback will provide you answers you can actually use to improve your design.
One of the biggest challenges of a digital society is how do you keep returns low when customers don’t have the opportunity to touch, feel, and try on the clothes before they buy? There are things even on the design side that can help minimize returns. Here are five tips for designing apparel to sell online that will keep your return rates low.
Fashion is art that is functional. Art that works in three dimensions on a curvy body and moves with the wearer throughout her life. Because of this, think beyond your two-dimensional fashion sketch. If your goal is to design successful apparel for real people to wear, don’t forget about these things when designing.
Have you ever wanted to start a fashion brand and wondered how to actually get the products made? There is more than one way you can get products made for your fashion brand. You have several options depending on how much product customization you want and how much you have to invest in product development.
It should be no surprise that your customer should be at the center of your fashion business. It is her needs that your business serves. Having a clear idea of who your customer is can guide your marketing, determine what opportunities to pursue, and help you design products.
On one hand, you want to wait as long as possible to start designing so you can make better predictions about what will sell well for the season. On the other hand, you want to give yourself enough time to get the designs made. Set your design timeline by working backwards from your release dates.
You’d be surprised how different the same design can be in different fabrics. I know this, and it still surprises me sometimes. The fabric has a big effect on the final garment. It dictates not only the look but also the fit and technical construction. Let’s look at how fabric affects each of these areas.
