Tara St James of StudyNY released her Anti_fashion calendar earlier this year at Redress Raleigh Conference in North Carolina to a hail of appreciation by the small business crowd. Her calendar compares the traditional design, development, sales and production periods of a 6 month structure to the ‘Anti’ version which allows for monthly drops of seasonally specific capsules to hit the stores. T-shirts in summer and sweaters in winter. Ground breaking huh? She designs monthly, she sells monthly and she produces monthly. This not only gives a regular cash flow and clothes when they are needed, but also allows for regular work for the manufacturers rather than peaks and slumps in production lines.

This method of structured design and production is great for small businesses, its great for manufacturers, it’s great for the public and it’s something I talk about a lot in the lectures i give within the industry. So why isn’t it adopted by more brands?

Well, to my surprise, it might just be. Tamara Mellon, ex Jimmy Choo, announced earlier last week that she was launching her own fashion label which would sell clothes in the seasonal months that they should be worn in. For this high-profile individual to flip the traditional fashion calendar on its head takes some guts and a huge risk. Customers will love it for sure but from inside the industry, I’m curious about the stages of how this can be achieved when it comes to concept, colours and fabrics.

For instance, the concept of the collection would, i guess, still be set ahead of time, but colours and fabrics  will be selected from previous and current season to allow for seasonal relevance (fabric mills produce 6 months in advance to show new designs). When it comes to the design side, would she connect directly with her customer base to assess their likes, dislikes, wants or desires or would this be pre planned and fixed? So, on this point alone, it’s interesting to see whether her collection is designed and produced 6 months in advance and then just delivered monthly or whether it is designed, produced and delivered monthly so being able to respond to the customers. There is a very big difference behind the scenes.

But of course the PR of her doing something, potentially, so radical against the norm is a great way to launch a new brand, or sell her new book whichever is first. Regardless, it’s about time someone recognised the need for a more sustainable approach, however luxurious her line will be.

Susie

Co-lab54

Blue is the New Black

A much-needed brush up on production procedures and methods was essential for chapter 8 of the book, so with a specific vendor in mind, the flights were booked and hotels reserved.

Now, I’m not going to go on about how hard the job is, or how stressful travel is in order to gain some kind of sympathy, but what I will say is that, these trips ARE tiring, and NOT glamorous. I think the only person who has the glamour job in Fashion is Mme Wintour, and for the rest of us mere mortals we do the late nights and early starts, the plane delays, the long walks from terminal to terminal, the strange taxi drivers and frisky security men.

So, with this in mind, Here is a brief recap of my trip to Portugal this week, all in the name of research.

In order to save money on flights (it’s me buying them now and not an employer) I headed for a German airline which for a bargain fee asked me nicely to change in Frankfurt and then head on to Porto later in the evening.

Knowing that Frankfurt airport is huge and a devil to navigate, I allowed enough time (ok, I hate being late – so, loads of time between my flights) which meant that for Tuesday, dinner was either a hot dog and some fizzy pop at a takeaway stand or a cocktail and bar snacks at the airport branch of the Sheraton.

Cocktail and snacks went down a treat, although I did have to battle with business guests recanting tales of their management meetings, and Swedish football fans glued to the big screen in the corner of the Lemons and Limes Bar. Still – it was enough to send me on my way to the front row of economy where I had a perfect view of how the business travel flies.

With it being 10.30pm, I was awake for precisely 20 minutes of the flight before I drooled and headflopped over my neighbour in the attempt to get some sleep.

On arrival at Porto, the driver, thankfully, was there to whisk me to the hotel 40 minutes further into the Portuguese countryside.

The cosy room was a vision of comfort and seclusion once I arrived and whilst I could have slept standing, clothed and with overnight bag in hand, I did the necessary and spent a further 20 minutes turning all the lights out. Note to Hotel; One light switch can do the job people…. no need for twenty.

Next day – bright and early, I was whisked to the factory where I spent the day working though production procedures, techniques, planning and trims. Now, as much as I would like to describe the details, infrastructure and layout of the above factory, I shan’t, It’s for the book, I need to formulate and turn the prose, and this, my friends takes time.

Relax – it will come, and hopefully you will like..

By the end of the Wednesday I was production’d out, let me tell you. However a glass of wine, excellent food and great company served a proper way to finish the day.

Note for those who are interested, If you travel to Porto and head outside of the town, into the hills of neighbourhood villages, there are no sign posts, no street names, and the most amazing restaurants are hidden in the middle of nowhere.

The one in question where I dined was next to a fabric mill, down an industrial estate, but nevertheless, had a view of a vineyard and amazing food! surprise!

1 hour after leaving the restaurant I was back at a different hotel about to check in. Now bearing in mind it was now 11pm and my flight was at 6am, my stay there was to be brief:

Here’s how check in went..

Me: checking in, the name’s Breuer

Hotel:  yes – staying for 2 nights?

Me: No, just the 1

Hotel: Really?

Me: Yes, really!

Hotel: Can I have your credit card

Me: Sure!, Can I have a wake up call tomorrow morning please?

Hotel: Yes, for what time?

Me: 4am!

Hotel: Of course!

Hotel: Ms Breuer, next time you stay, the breakfast will start at 7am until 10am,

Me: Thanks – good to know!

Hotel: Ms Breuer, would you like to use the gym?

Me: Does it look like I want to use the Gym, It’s now, 11.20 pm and I have to be up in 10 minutes, so it seems.

Hotel: I guess the gym is a no, ah so here is your card and the room is 233.

Hotel: Enjoy your stay!

And with that I headed to a beautiful room which unfortunately would only be required for sleeping and a super quick shower in around 8 minutes.

Thursday morning – with wake up call success, taxi’d and securitied, found me in an empty airport at around 04.30. ggrrrr

With no coffee, no food and no free wifi, I paced up and down the terminal walking like a runway model and finishing each strut with a Paris Hilton pose. Well, where else can one practice? Eventually the coffeehouse opened and an espresso was inhaled.

On the plane additional headflopping and dribbling was managed, and with the arrival at Frankfurt I tried to find some snack to nibble on..

Note to Airport – please make available non chocolate snacks at the magazine counters. Not everyone wants chocolate, some people like muesli bars and furthermore, SOME people are allergic to chocolate and beef jerky is not a true alternative. !

After further plane delays and more pacing  from me) the flight took off, landed and disembarked. I was on home turf.

In a dream world I would be chauffeured back home, lunch would be ready and a stack of magazines and mug of tea would be resting on the sofa. Alas Rather than heading back to my nest, to shower freshen up and relax, I headed straight into my consultancy job to be buried amongst fabric cards, spreadsheets and 106 emails. T’was a long day.

So there we have it, my research trip to Portugal in a nutshell. Busy, tiring but productive.

If you can find one glamorous aspect to that, please do let me know.

It seems that an increase in China’s middle class has forced a higher demand of leather goods pushing up the prices of the raw materials in the US, China and also Brazil.

Couple this with the adverse weather in Australia hitting wool production and the increase of the price of cotton and you get serious implications on every level of the garment industry from high street to high-end.

Interesting times when you consider who is going to take the price increase – the customer or the company. It has to go somewhere..

Peacocks  on shoulders and pink fox fur mittens,

Chiffon in plisse and velvet bow clip ons,

Snake-skin and satin, all hues are sublime,

These are my picks from the Gucci Fall line.

Cerise and chocolate with nipped in small waisties,

Wide legs in lilac, red ruffles so dainty,

Deep V’s that slash from the neck to thigh line,

These are my picks from the Gucci Fall line.

Thank you Style.com

However, rather than celebrating and glorifying their brand names in bigger and bolder print there has been a deliberate step back to their artisan roots to celebrate the craftsmanship and to show, by presentation, why the brand is an investment purchase.

According to the Toronto Globe and Mail, brands like Chanel, Gucci and Tods have begun presenting in key store locations around the world to demonstrate on a small-scale, exactly why their goods are luxury pieces and not mass-produced.

Chanel, for instance has around 10 female artisans in their company who add a wax seal to the Chanel no, 5 bottles of perfume. Once trained they can seal around 100 bottles an hour and to watch it being done in the slow, precise, methodical way is exactly why it’s marketed as a luxury product. In short, it’s done by hand, not a machine.

Gucci has demonstrations showing the formation of the strap of one of its newest bags and Tods, famous for its loafers, have craftsmen showing the make and construction of their moccasin shoe in London and Paris, with US and Asia to follow next year.

I like the concept. It’s old school artisan and teaches the customer to look at the smaller details, rather than the big tacky label, a concept, which has far-reaching implications not only for the bigger brands, but also smaller.

Example; take www.Etsy.com a website set up to push creativity and entrepreneurship is also about artisans and crafts. Established in the US, this company has millions of users, all creating and developing from their own home and all because they want to build a crafts or locally sustained business.

Personally, I think it’s the smaller business that challenges the bigger one on the ideas front, so the very fact that the large monsters are stepping back to an age where the label should be on the inside and discrete rather than large and vulgar should be welcomed.

It’s merely that I have seen a couple of funnies that show the more , how should I say, amusing side of the industry.

This time its the success of the Biba line which was taken over by House of Fraser in 2009. Making a profit under the leadership of the retailer, Biba has found a new customer base 35 years ater it first hit the scene.

However when pressed to explain the styling, the HOF spokesperson exclaimed it wasn’t a retro collection but merely celebrated the 70’s with jumpsuits, high waisted pants and maxi dresses. Not retro? really? um…….really?

OK!! – I have been told – so I will agree – 70’s is not retro.

The original founder is however less than impressed saying that this collection is too expensive and plans to launch her own label in conjunction with Asda ( for non brits see Target or Walmart as a reference.)

I feel a fashion fight brewing.