Author Archives: maria

Helpful websites to start your own fashion label

We have found a few great websites that assist fashion designers with starting up their own business. The websites we found assist designers with inspiration, keeping up to date with the latest trends, and websites that help with making, grading, pattern making, marketing and much more. We thought we would share with you our favourite and most helpful websites. If you have a favourite website for emerging designers, share it with us!

Start up fashion

Information on how to start up a fashion label, supplying articles on where to find makers for our American based followers, articles on how to market your product and articles on how to sell. This website has a lot of resources for emerging designers.

startupfashion.com

Business of Fashion

BOF featured an array of fashion articles, keep up to date with what’s happening fashion wise around the world and step by step points on how to start a fashion label and how to market.

www.businessoffashion.com

Business of fashion, 8 steps to start your own fashion business

We came across this great article on the BOF website, 8 steps to start your own fashion business.

www.businessoffashion.com/2007/02/the-business-of-fashion-basics-1-setting-up-your-own-fashion-business-what-do-i-need-to-know-first.html

Ragtrader

Rag trader is a premium Australia directory for everyone in the creative industry. You’ll have to sign up to this website and pay a subscription fee, but it is well worth the money to access fashion agents, textile agents, suppliers, labels and so much more contacts.

www.ragtrader.com.au/index.cfm

AusIndustry

This Australian government website is aimed at helping small textile business in Australia. The Textile, Clothing and Footwear (TCF) Small Business Program provides grants of up to $50,000 for projects to improve the business enterprise culture of established TCF small businesses that have not received grants or qualify for assistance from other TCF programs. Worth a look for all small fashion business’.

www.ausindustry.gov.au/programs/small-business/tcf-sbp/Pages/default.aspx

Fashion shop till u drop

Olena Lugassi runs one on one private design tuition and fashion online courses for designers who want to start their own business.

www.fashionshoptilludrop.com/index.html

Launch Initiative

Assisting designers from the start providing pattern making, grading, digitizing, sample machining, fabric advice and production services.

www.launchindesignstudio.com/index.html

Elizabeth Sonter

Elizabeth Sonter provides a pattern making and grading service.

elizabethsonter.webs.com

fashion blogs for daily inspiration

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This week we bring you a list of blogs that we at Digital Fabrics like to look at for inspiration. Be it to kick start our creativity, be transported to another part of the world or to just read what other creative designers and artist are doing around the world.

1.Quirky Style Bubble by Susie Bubble

Invited to an array of showings, fashion shows and always wearing some crazy outfit, Susie Bubble is one to follow for all the latest on fashion and labels.

www.stylebubble.co.uk

ow www.stylebubble.co.uk

www.stylebubble.co.uk/

2. New York City inhabitants on Humans of New York curated by Brandon

Love people watching? Now you can people watch in New York without leaving your computer; Get some inspiration from the streets of New York

www.humansofnewyork.com

www.humansofnewyork.com/

www.humansofnewyork.com

3. Amazing dairy of creativity by Kelly Wearstler My Life My Vibe

Be inspired by art, interiors, fashion, museums and so much more on this Blog.

www.myvibemylife.com

4. Leandra’s blog The Man Repeller –

A humorous outlook on “men hate” fashion with a killer wardrobe.

www.manrepeller.com

5. The Gary Pepper Girl on FELLT

Blogger/Globetrotter, be inspired by Nicole Warne’s images of beautiful places around the world and her ever changing wardrobe.

fellt.com/garypepper

Top 5 Fashion Websites

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Keeping up to date with the fashion world has gotten a whole lot easier now with the internet. We now have instant updates on what’s happening around the world not only in the fashion world, but also in the every aspect of life.

There are various websites we continuously check to see the latest news or trends in the fashion world; I particularly enjoy viewing live feeds of the latest fashion shows, the most recent being updates are the Fall 2013 Couture shows.

Here are the top 5 fashion websites we keep an eye on here at Digital Fabrics.

1. Style.com

Latest shows updated as they happen, fashion news, parties, trends, street style photos, behind the scene shots, beauty and much more.

style.com

2. Who What Wear

Fashion trends, celebrities, where to buy, shopping and beauty.

www.whowhatwear.com

3. The Satorialist

Fashion Blog at it’s finest.

www.thesartorialist.com

4. Stylesight

Inspiration for any creative person looking for fresh ideas, trend forecast, inovations, news on fashion, art and culture.

www.stylesight.com

5. Vogue UK

Up to date fashion shows, beauty, fashion news, street style photos, parties and much more.

www.vogue.co.uk

Fashion Patterns

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Sometimes you come across a website, which keeps you going back for more, the website ShowStudio has an array of pages to inspire anyone. Having a fashion design background I was drawn to a project on the website, which invites designer’s to share a pattern. The project began in 2002, offering patterns from designers such as John Galliano, Yohji Yamamoto, Alexander McQueen, Martin Margiela and Giles Deacon. My favourite so far is the Giles Deacon dress, the pattern which was taken from the Autumn/Winter 2007 collection, is a basic dress which you can transform into your own and can easily be transported into 2013. With the currently print trends you could design a print featuring cactus, cats, crystals, florals, anything really and you could print this on one of our great fabrics and get sewing; to create your own personalised designer outfit.

Head over to ShowStudio and get inspired. They have great articles on designers and artists and you can download the Giles Deacon pattern to create your own.

Giles Deacon

Paula Maso & Neliana Fuenmayor, ÆTHER

Images from Show Studio.

Fashion prints

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Fashion prints refer to the printed designs on fabrics specifically for the fashion market. Whether it is a Haute Couture label in Paris or a small local designer at the markets in Byron Bay, almost every clothing designer will incorporate a fashion print within their collections from season to season.

Just like the ever changing landscape of fashion design styles, so too do fashion prints follow trends in style and subject matter. Even a simple printed stripe or spot pattern is following a trend on colour, size and location on the finished garment.

Fashion prints are becoming an increasingly utilised tool in a fashion designer’s tool kit. We live in a hyper-visual world, where images of fashion parades stream the internet just as instantaneous as they happen. The increasing need to have a positive impact on sales delivers an exciting and diverse fashion print market. The inspiration for these fashion prints come from as varied a source as the combinations of things to search for on the internet.

Fashion prints find their way onto fabric in a multitude of ways, in combination and alone. Fashion printing techniques include screen printing, rotary printing, burnout, sublimation and are not limited to embellishments such as flocking and foiling. Printing can be applied with inks or dyes and can be found on almost all fibre types and constructions in one form or another.

Designing a fashion print takes consideration not only of trends and seasons, but also the type of garment it will be used in as well as the target market of the fashion label. Developing the seamless repeating pattern can be tricky but also highly rewarding seeing the final product on the body.

At Digital Fabrics, we can assist you with your fashion print selection and development for you next seasonal range. Please ask us for more information on the types of fashion prints we have on offer for you to purchase, as well as the digital design services you can employ to get you fashion prints looking great!

Colour.

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We do our fair share of colour matching here at Digital fabrics, Clients either mail us colour samples or give us Pantone PMS colours to work off. Colour is a big deal in the printing world; a logo must be printing in the same colour every time to be consistent with the company image. Colour has become more and more important to companies, some of who trademark their signature colour-think tiffany and Christian Louboutin.

This year pantone released its colour of the year which was Emerald, this is not to say that everyone will be making things Emerald; it’s just a colour Pantone chooses to represent the year.

In further research on the topic colour, Pantone colours have been popping up in various other industries.For one delicious industry it has appeared in the form of cakes, confectionery artisans Miguel Angel Señorís and Manolo Angresola along with designer Ana Yago, creative director of Sanserif Creatius, are the ones to thank for these aesthetically pleasing, outfit matching works of edible art.

fruitone colour becomes edible pantone

Another Pantone related article that has also caught my eye is the Pantone Project by Photographer Paul Octavious; Octavious has set out on a mission to match Pantone colours to things we find in everyday life. In a project he is updating on Tumblr, we are taken into Octavious’ surroundings and shown that colour is everywhere.

Paul Octavious Tumblr

Paul Octavious bright violet

If you are in need of colour matching, contact us through our website.

Images from http://www.swide.com, http://pauloctavious.tumblr.com/, http://au.pantone.com/pages/index.aspx?pg=21055

Types of Fashion Prints – part two

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Status – As an indication of wealth or opulence, uses the motifs (but not limited to) of gold chains, jewels, animal skins and ornate scroll work often all in combination and in rich vibrant colours.

Checks/Spots/Stripes – patterns of squares, circles and rectangles of varying size, colour and orientation i.e. horizontal/vertical as well as edge definition. A broken or ‘non symmetrical’ circle is still considered a spot.

Scenic/Pictorial – Traditionally called a Toile de Jouy, uses figurative scenes of an illustrative quality (now more photographic) and often with a narrative and generally in a horizontal orientation. Traditionally printed in monochromatic colour on a plain white or ivory ground.

Paisley – Stylised tear drop motif often with abstracted floral elements in accompaniment, now seen with various combinations of many types of fashion prints. Paisley takes its modern name from the Scottish town which saw a great deal of production of these patterns in the 1800’s. These motifs are now most recognisable as Indian or Middle Eastern from where its tradition is embedded.

Tribal/Ethnic – Perhaps more appropriately termed World Cultures, using motifs and elements specific to a nationality or culture with a western interpretation. Popular areas of inspiration are Africa, India and Arabia but also include the folk arts of Eastern Europe and South America. Care must be taken not to use motifs or symbols of a spiritual or special meaning to the culture being used as inspiration.

Types of Fashion Prints – part one

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Fashion prints are as trend driven as colour and garment style. Fashion prints are becoming an increasingly utilised tool in a fashion designer’s tool kit. Therefore although the following is a general run down of the various types of fashion prints, depending on the season and year, some maybe more popular than others.

Floral – associated with any plant form depicted whether it be a flower bud or tree. There are names descriptive of the scale of the floral such as Liberty or the style such as Ditsy.

Geo – Geometric prints range from colour blocking random shapes to the tessellating patterns inspired by Islamic art. Geo prints can also fall under Abstract or Graphic.

Graphic/Abstract – Abstract is used to describe unrecognisable forms and motifs, mostly because they cannot be described any other way. Graphic is descriptive of the boldness of a print. Refers to predominantly modern designs and sometimes goes hand in hand with another of the types listed here i.e. Graphic Floral.

Animal/Skin – Printed replicas of various animal skins not necessarily the full body of the animal itself i.e. leopard, snake, alligator, zebra etc.

Conversational – Recognisable images such as everyday objects and animals generally taken out of familiar context or placed in conjunction with out of context images i.e. human legs carrying houses. Often ‘cartoon’ in rendering and with a whimsical feel, also called novelty prints.

Crazy about Cactus

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I’ve noticed a certain trend popping up of late and its little Cactus gardens. Wherever I look I seem to see these colourful cacti, which is making me want to have my own. It really adds colour to a space and the low maintenance of the cactus is a big factor to want to recreate a garden of my own. Just like in print I think the best gardens are the one with a lot of variety and texture and lots of colour.

I hope these inspire you as much as they inspire me.