Flickr image via robincd123

We all hear a lot about the exploitation of women in fashion.  From young models to factory workers, a woman’s role in fashion is often a tenuous one.  So we were thrilled, to come across a story of a big brand doing something to help women in third world countries who work to produce the world’s clothing.  The Gap Inc. is a large multi-billion dollar apparel company making a real effort to give back.  Their newest program is called P.A.C.E. which stands for Personal Advancement Career Enhancement is a huge support to women abroad.  According to Gap Inc., “Women play a critical role in the apparel industry — comprising approximately 80 percent of the world’s garment workers. Women also play a vital role in the future of societies. When we help a woman in a developing country to better her life, she’s able to make positive changes in the lives of her children, her family and her community.”

We are thrilled, that such a large company has recognized the women who are responsible for making their product, and making it such a financial success.  The fact that a program like this exists, to help women in gaining upward mobility in the workplace, is fantastic.  Gap Inc. created this program, “which helps female garment workers in developing countries advance beyond entry-level positions and fulfill their potential through education.”

Hearing about this program so recently after the Save the Garment Center Rally, we couldn’t help think about the American women in fashion.  While certainly in the US we have far greater protection, women are still lacking in full workplace equality within our industry.  How can we ignore that it was only this year, in 2009, that president Obama signed the Equal Pay Act.  It is sad to say but even women in American factories could use a similar form of support, especially when obtaining an education in this country can be a six-figure endeavor.  Not only is it the factory workers, but educated women in design, production, sales, who are not give the same opportunities, especially financially, as their male counterparts.  Even with MBAs, women in fashion could use help in breaking the still existing glass ceiling.

The Gap Inc. P.A.C.E program is an excellent example of an apparel company taking social responsibility.  While the Gap is helping garment workers in India and Cambodia advance to higher position we’d like to ask them to look domestically as well.  Gap Inc.’s CEO is a man, Glenn Murphy, and as far as we can tell they have never had a female CEO.  Not only that, but their board of directors is almost exclusively male and their top executives are more male then female.  While their demographics chart show the company is 73% female, that statistic is very vague.  No doubt the majority of their employees (i.e. their minimum wage retail sales staff) are girls and women, but how many of their corporate, six-figure, employees are female?

So what do you think? Would an updated version of the P.A.C.E program be helpful for women domestically? What about in other industries besides fashion?  Would you like a program that helped women in your office advance, receive educational support, and offer career advice?

                                                                       image via tsuacctnt

Despite our love of all things domestic, especially production, we recognize that often in the apparel business, manufacturing is done overseas.  Partially thanks to the Walmartification of America, the price-tag that the average consumer believes reasonable can only be achieved by overseas factories.  Add this to the lack of incentives and support for domestic manufacturing, plus zoning and costing issues as we’ve seen here in our own Garment Center, and it’s a wonder anything gets made in the US.  Many of us in the Garment Center work for companies – from the small family owned businesses to the giant conglomerates – which use overseas factories for their production.  Before any garment gets produced a sample, of course, needs to be made.  Now some are lucky enough to have in-house sample rooms, but we’d venture to guess that most do not.  One of the most difficult aspects in fashion is getting that very first sample made, which is done by creating a techpack.  The techpack in and of itself can be a mind melding task, but once sending it to the factory, ensuring that the sample comes in correctly is a whole other burden.  For those of you not familiar with the concept of sampling, the basic challenge here is explaining to a factory worker on the other side of the world who speaks an entirely different language, how to precisely execute your vision via email, often in two weeks or less.  Now, the bulk of apparel production and sampling is done in mainland China, although Pakistan, India, Mexico, Cambodia and others are common as well.  Regardless of where your factory is located, many of the same issues arise.  So we thought we’d list a few random “things to know” about overseas sampling for any of you newbies or fahion students.  Feel free to add your own observations regarding overseas sampling in the comments section.

• 1. There’s a reason why their called  1^st sample, 2^nd sample, salesmen sample, fit sample, pre-production sample, production samples. You will never get a correct first sample.  It is a trial and error process that will take several attempts.
• 2. Never forget the time change. One mistake or piece of missing information results in a 24 plus hour delay as the factory will have to email you their questions and then wait to receive your answer the next business day. Otherwise, get used to irate 3:00 am phone calls from China at home.
• 3. Support your overseas counterparts, who do not go by their Chinese names, but rather their “American” names, which are often not names at all, but rather random english nouns and adjectives they chose. It’s good for a giggle and as you will see, many of these ladies are sweethearts caught in the same crazy industry as you, even if their names are Lady, Simmer, Salad, and Birdie! 
• 4. If you are at a company that insists on manually sending techpacks/artworks/patterns overseas via FedEx, you need to stand up and demand your sample room has limited server access. Even the most basic IT guy should be able to set this up and it saves the company countless dollars in man hours and shipping in doing so. If not, forget the 24 hour delay mentioned above and consider it more likely 72 hours.
• 5. If your company does not own the overseas factory/ sample room, be prepared for your samples to get bumped. When your factory gets a larger order from a more profitable manufacturer, your requests will take the back burner. Often times you will hear excuses like, “your tech-pack had too many mistakes we couldn’t understand it, or we shipped it but customs held it up, or the fabric mill shipped the wrong fabric, etc”  You get the idea.  It’s all code for “we had a more important order than yours”.
• 6. Keep a record of everything! Yes, everything. Do not delete old emails, just archive them. And insist when any issues or changes arise that your sample room or factory confirms everything on paper.  This is a standard industry “cover your ass”  technique which is absolutely necessary.
• 7. Visit, try to get actual face time with the people making your creations.  A trip to China can help immensely in creating a smooth work flow and building relationships.  However, while regular trips are effective if your communication is good and your corporate system is functioning properly there should be no need for overseas travel during every sample cycle.

                             image via daBinsi

Today we have another often overlooked arena of the fashion business, technical design.   For those of you not in the business, a technical designer is not someone who works in IT but rather handles issues relating to measurements, fit, patterns, and more.  Below is our interview with Morgan, a FIT graduate who moved from Tennessee to NYC to become a technical designer.  She currently works for a large multi-billion dollar company as a technical designer and has been kind enough to share her experience with us.  Now, before we get a bunch of emails and comments from designers on her answer to #2, yes, we know many designers do their own specing and communicating with factories.  Part of what is so interesting in hearing from all of you is, while we all have similar positions at our offices the structure and responsibilities can vary greatly from company to company.  We are thrilled to feature today one of the hardest working divisions in any apparel company, tech design.  Anyway, a big thank you to Morgan for sharing her insights with us!

What is your educational background and do you feel it helped prepare you for the fashion industry?
I went to the Fashion Institute of Technology. I have an Associate’s Degree in Pattern making Technology and in my 2^nd year concentrated in Technical Design. I have a Bachelors Degree in International Trade and Marketing for the Fashion Industry. Both of my degrees prepared me for the fashion industry & my technical design career. I use skills from my pattern making degree daily, and since it was only a 2 year program I chose to do ITM for my bachelors which gave me a broader education on all different aspect of the industry. FIT no longer offers Pattern making Technology because they are working on offering a 4 year Technical Design program, so I think that will be even more beneficial for this growing field.

You are a technical designer, for those not familiar with the title, what exactly is a technical designer?
The easiest way to explain what a technical designer is, is they are the liaison between the designer and factory. Since most apparel is now made overseas, the Technical Designer is responsible for working closely with the designer & conveying their ideas to the factory overseas with flat measurements, construction, and pattern corrections from the first sample to production.  

For a young person wanting a career in tech design, how would you recommend they proceed?
I think the first step if you would like to make tech design a career is enrolling in a pattern making or a technical design program. Every day as a technical designer you are working with patterns, making corrections and fitting samples, so it is very important that you have a good understanding of patterns and correcting patterns after fittings. I would also recommend taking sewing and tailoring classes to become familiar with the construction inside different garments. Technology wise it is important to be proficient in computer programs such as Adobe Illustrator, Photo shop, Microsoft Excel, Word, and Outlook. Any knowledge of pattern programs, such as Gerber is also a big plus. However, the best education is through experience so intern, intern, intern as much as you can.

Can you describe the basic day-to-day responsibilities of a technical designer?
For every company and depending on your position, the day to day responsibilities of a technical designer varies. Basic responsibilities include; Going over sketches with designer, producing flat measurements & general construction from the sketches, specing garments, conducting fittings, correcting patterns based on fitting corrections, creating tech packs (which include corrections, construction, measurements, trims, etc.), conveying all corrections, issues, and details to overseas vendors as clearly as possible.  

What is your opinion of the working conditions in the fashion industry/garment center and is there anything that you would like to see companies improve on?
I work for a very large company, and I think the conditions are pretty good. I have great benefits, I work in a clean, spacious building, and the hours are typically 9-6. Technical Design can be very stressful, lots of deadlines, and there have been nights I have stayed until 10:00. It is really about time management and organizing your work. One complaint of the fashion industry I have as a whole is the amount of waste that almost all fashion companies have. I would really like to see the fashion industry and garment center work on being more eco friendly. I think if the fashion industry could move in that direction, it could make a huge impact globally.

Having moved to NYC from the south, what was the experience like and how have you adjusted to the Big Apple?
I moved to NYC when I was 18 from Tennessee, right after high school, and I had never visited NYC before, so the experience was crazy at first. I immediately fell in love with New York and FIT. I had a great time and met great people. I think not being from NYC made me more motivated to work harder and push myself to be successful in school and in my career because I came here with no connections or idea of where to begin. I started working as technical designer my junior year of college, so I was working & going to college full time. It was definitely a stressful time, but worth it, and I think not having anything handed to me has really taught me to work hard every day to advance in my career, and these days just to keep my job.

For those not familiar with the technical side of fashion design can you generally explain the difference between a technical designer versus a pattern maker, tailor, spec tech, etc…?
The technical designer, at my company, has to basically be proficient in patternmaking, tailoring, specing, flat sketching, etc. As a technical designer your job is to give as much information as possible from a designers sketch to the overseas vendor so that a sample can be created and through several fittings, an entire line produced. To me, the general difference is that technical design isn’t one specific focus, but a combination of all of these jobs, and a technical designer must be proficient in each area.

What is the one thing you wish you had known before entering the fashion industry?
Honestly I wish I had known more about technical design and the process of creating apparel. During my pattern making degree, there were only 3 technical design classes which were all very broad on the subject. I became interested through those 3 classes and took a job the following year, which is where I really learned the most about technical design. I think there are very few people, including fashion students, who understand the process it takes to create one garment. Outlets such as this blog and technical design programs in school are the beginning to really teaching people there is more the fashion industry other than designing and merchandising.

 Recently an article in the LA Times was published regarding the lack of fashionable clothing for plus size women.  While this article has many good points, and perhaps can be wake up call to retailers, there are a few issues we would like to address.  One of the key complaints of this article is that plus size clothing is hard to find and is not fashion forward, but rather matronly.  They specifically mention Kohls and Wal-Mart and complain that their plus size apparel is frumpy and designed for “farm wives.”  Well in speaking with colleagues who design plus size clothing for those retailers, the story we received was much different.  In a time when manufactures and designers have been fighting to stay afloat and survive, and not just in this recession, but over the last decade, most of them would sell any size apparel in any style if it meant turning a profit.  One unhappy plus size designer told us, “We tried a more trendy, vintage, Urban Outfitter’s style screen-tee program for our customer once and it bombed compared to our traditional boxy T’s with Santas and kitty cats on them! Believe me, I’d much rather be designing fabulously hot clothing but it’s the fugly stuff that sells.  So you tell me.”  One of our contributors worked at a company doing fashionable contemporary women’s bottoms for high-end department stores while another division in the same company supplied plus size bottoms to Wal-Mart.  As some of you may remember, Wal-Mart decided to go more fashion forward about 2 years ago, so this company decided that they would take the same fashion forward designs  and sell them through their plus size division to Wal-Mart.  Of course, some adjustments were made to fit the customer properly and for fabric in Wal-Mart’s price-point, but the design was consistent.  Well, what happened? They didn’t sell.  The manufacture got stuck with almost 100,000 pieces, so what could they do besides absorb the enormous costs?  They shipped them back to China and had the factory embroider butterflies and florals onto them and guess what? This time they sold.  Bottom line is, if the customer is not buying the product, designers and manufacturers will return to making what does.

It is understandable that trendy plus size women would be upset by the lack of product available, but we would just like everyone to take a look from another perspective.  Now, why would any designer or manufacturer take a financial risk  for a customer that is not buying?  Even the LA Times article made brief mention of this, “Women in this demographic have learned to make fashion not a priority.”  They also mention that there should be more stylish plus size stores for them like the Gap’s Forth & Towne.  However, they did not mention the fact that the Gap lost $40M on this enterprise, when after 18 months the fashionable plus size customer failed to show up.  With the apparel business struggling, every single garment that gets produced needs to be saleable for companies to be profitable.  Now is not the time to be targeting a customer who admittedly, “Hates to shop.”  The article states, “The fear of fat is so ingrained in designers and retailers.” We would have to strongly disagree and say the real fear is in not making your bottom line.

However, there are a lot of valid points in this article.  For instance, that fact that retailers are hiding larger sizes in the back is just ridiculous.  The reluctance to use models of varying sizes on the runway or magazines does a disservice to all of us.  Equally absurd are high-end designers who refuse to expand their size scale for fear it will sully their image.  We say, get over yourselves!  Our favorite part of the whole article was the reference to Miuccia Prada refusing to sell clothes over a size 10. Well, have you seen Miuccia?  Girlfriend is not exactly a size 2!

We certainly know that there are fashion forward plus size women out there.  The question is, are there enough of you and will you show up to buy?  So far the juniors market has had some success in carry stylish larger sizes and opening fashion stores like Torrid.  Even Forever21 has seen that the young plus-size customer is buying so they are launching a new line, Faith 21 for larger sizing. Of course, they are a younger market so expect the cut to still be slim.  The real challenge is the true women’s market for those 30 years and up.  Our opinion is that customer needs to come back to the marketplace, find the stores or online retailers that cater to you and frequent them.  The more profitable an indie designer or small brand becomes for catering to an under served market, the more likely the big boys will take notice.  Business is tight right now and retailers and brands need to see that going after this customer is a financially viable move.

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Fashion Week- Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Council of Fashion Designers of America and IMG Fashion have decided to move New York’s Fashion Week away from Bryant Park.  The new larger space will be, Lincoln Center.  We will most certainly miss hosting this event in our neighborhood.  See how people are reacting to this in our forum.

CPSIA- Yesterday some fellow garment center workers held a protest on 34th street by Macy’s.  The protest was over the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act which will enforce tight testing mandates on childrenswear manufacturers.  While many of us at larger companies already had strict internal requirement and intense guidelines from large retailers, small business were caught off guard.  For those of you panicking, just remember this is the US government, just because they pass a law next week does not mean they will be enforcing it next week.

Recently we came upon a fascinating new fashion website that we’d like to share with you.  While there are a ton of fashion forward sites and style centric blogs, this one stands out as particularly unique.  Ustrendy.com is an interactive site which provides an excellent opportunity for design professionals.  Whether you are an aspiring fashion designer or an industry veteran, getting publicity for your line and transforming samples into production, are two of the biggest challenges you will face.  Luckily for you, UsTrendy can solve both of these problems because they provide an online presence for your portfolio, helping to bring you media and customer attention, plus they assist in your production needs.

If you read our recent post, “Don’t Tell Me To Go On Project Runway” then you know that talent alone does not translate into an actual saleable clothing line.  As we previously pointed out, if Project Runway wanted to really reward upcoming designers, the prize would be the production of a line.  Well, that is exactly what UsTrendy is proposing.  They’re offering the opportunity for upcoming designers to have their labels produced and distributed.  Their production facilities are all domestic and they are able to manage: production, inventory, shipping, and promotion.  This is a new website, with what we think is a fabulous idea, and wish them the best of luck. 

For those not in the fashion business, but who consider themselves shopaholics and trendsetters, there is a place for you as well at UsTrendy.  The website wants to hear from the consumer as well.  They let you, the shopper, have a say in what clothing gets produced.  Your opinions determine which items or lines make the grade.  So let your voice be heard over at UsTrendy.

We recently posted an article explaining how and why size labeling is developed, we also gave examples of why sizes and fits may differ seasonally or from brand to brand.  We received a good response to this article but also questions as to if this explained vanity sizing.  The previous post gave many examples on how a size scale is developed and vanity is not one of them.  In addition to the previous explanation we will briefly address the issue of vanity sizing more specifically. 

Vanity sizing for the most part is a myth.  The fact is your size 6 of today is not the same size 6 from 1930.  People now are bigger, taller, heavier, and bustier than their grandparents were.  Not to mention, in the United States the recent increase in body mass index, the earlier onset of puberty due to the hormones in food, and the rise in childhood obesity.  The fashion industry is simply adapting to their customer’s changing sizes.  Fashion is a business and the bottom line is to make money, in order to do so, the product must fit the largest percent of the population possible.  To cut a line and develop a size scale, one must start with the medium size and work outward.  Not to bore you with the technical details of fabric consumption issues or lot quantity per size, but basically you find the average size of your target customer and that measurement becomes an “8″ or “Medium” and then you grade up and down from there.  The resulting sizes and fits may not match up with an older size or another brand, but it’s not an attempt to trick a customer or appeal to their vanity.  It is simply an attempt to properly fit the customer of today and, as a result, sell the most goods possible. 

With all that said and done, we must admit that vanity sizing does occasionally occur.  However, it is so very rare that we hate to even mention it.  Based on our collective experiences and in talking to our coworkers, we have only come up with two examples of vanity sizing.  The first, a small semi-popular missy activewear brand that had gained a reputation for being rather frumpy and was rapidly loosing business, attempted to woo back customers by appealing to their vanity and adjusted sizes accordingly.  This was not successful and they went out of business several years ago.  The second, was a very small high-end boutique label specializing in $100 tees and micro-minis.  As a new line they planned to target upscale New Yorkers especially in the Asian NYC market.  In order to fit the smaller frame of the Asian customer, as well as, to court the vanity of the rich socialites, they began at a 00 as their smallest size.  So most of their customers were able to fit into a smaller size, and for them this proved successful.  

So, is the average American woman a victim of vanity sizing?  No, she is much more likely a victim of evolution and too many cheeseburgers.

We were all enthralled by the image above and it really made us think.  First we questioned is the size 12 really a man’s ideal size?  Most guys we know would say size 2 Jessica Alba, or the ever shrinking Angelina Jolie is their ideal.  Regardless of your man’s preference it’s no surprise that we are our own toughest critics.  We always want to be thinner, younger, prettier, and well, mostly thinner.  But what really caught our eye was the average woman’s size 16.  What does that mean exactly?  Because as all women know your “size” is completely arbitrary. 

We are constantly hearing the complaint, “why am I one size at the Gap and another in say Tahari”.  While the answer depends on whom you ask, but we’ll give you our opinion based on the companies, brands and lines we’ve worked on.  Sizing is developed by the designer or company based on internal research of their target demographic.  They then develop their patterns and specs and hire their own fit model to fit their product on.  Therefore there is no universal standard from brand to brand. 

When developing a fit many factors are taken into consideration such as; age, location, economic status, etc… of your customer.  For example, one of our contributors worked on a Missy brand sold to mid-tier department stores throughout the Midwest, but upon receiving orders from 2 high-end boutique department stores on either coast, she had her technical department grade down each size to accommodate the smaller LA and NYC customers.  The result being a size 4 of the same dress in the same brand can have two completely different fits.  Yet another contributor worked for a manufacturer who sold to Walmart and in this case the retailer dictates the sizing regardless of the designers desires.  About 2 years ago she received a new body form from Walmart, as they had re-evaluated their customer and found her to have grown larger in the last 3 years.  The new size 8 form now had a larger chest and love handles and the designer and her team had to rush to re-size all patterns accordingly!  Another example is when a fellow designer worked for a popular men’s urban-wear company, and had to appeal to their customer preference for over-sized clothing and desire to be a larger size.  So in return, he graded most measurements up 2 sizes and increased the labeling by 1 size (sort of the reverse to women’s vanity sizing).  All of these are examples of the industry trying to accommodate the consumer.   

So when somebody asks us why can’t a size 6 always fit me, our answer is, unless you are the fit model it can’t and it shouldn’t.  With a women’s size scale of 2 – 18 that is really only 10 patterns to fit tens of millions of women, we do not all have the same shape, height and width and neither should our clothes. The variety of fits can be frustrating but also necessary.  So don’t be a slave to your “size” it’s just a number and you may actually be a 4 after all! 

***Don’t forget to visit our forum where you can post anonymously & for free***

 

 Recently we came across an interesting article from CNN regarding 3D technology for fashion design.  Basically a former fashion industry veteran, Shenlei Winkler, is working with IBM to develop a 3D design program for our industry.  She came up with the idea after years of excess sampling resulting in environmental waste.  In an effort to reduce sampling and its costs both monetary and environmental, as well as, reduce her own time spent on development, she created this new technology.  So do you think 3D technology using computer generated images could really replace sampling?  Right off the bat we see several potential road blocks. 

• First of all, samples are used primarily by salespeople to sell the product to the buyer.  We have all been in situations where for one reason or another samples were not able to make it to a meeting, therefore sales had to sell using a CAD or line sheet.  This rarely went over well, as buyers want to see, feel, and fit the actual product for which they are spending thousands or millions of dollars.  Assuming salespeople and buyers are willing to do so, why not use already existing technology like, AI, PrimaVision, Photoshop, or U4ia? 
• Second, designers need to see actual samples in order to go forward in the design process and send comments to factories/manufactures.  We need to feel the fabric and see how it works for that particular design, pitch colors for coordinating hardware or accessories, and critique quality of all construction details.  This is especially crucial if, as a designer, you are using a new factory, new fabric mill, or trying out a new wash/dyeing method.
• Last, fittings!  There must be an actual sample in order to run a proper fitting.  Winkler states that by using this new 3D technology the designer will be able to “fit them on digital models.” While that may be theoretically possible, who is going to tell you that the pants are uncomfortable because the rise is riding up their crotch or the seam at the back neck is too itchy.  And what about the walking, sitting, and bending tests?  In addition, without a sample how would a tech-designer or patternmaker be able to communicate and make adjustments with the production factory?

The main concept of this technology is, “designers who digitize more of their work might be able to get new products into stores faster – and that could potentially give them an edge over the competition.”  “Designers are just going to be able to blow through their work,” Which leads us to the question digitize what?  Hand drawing?  By now aren’t most of us already using computer design?  And “faster” how, how would this speed up the process?  How exactly would this help the designer be faster then say using Adobe Illustrator?  We love the concept especially if we can save some time and the environment, but we just don’t see how this could be implemented, which may not be a critique of Winkler but rather CNN’s shallow reporting regarding the practical application of her new technology.  For the full article: http://bigtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/09/26/fashion-goes-3d/

Like many fellow designers in the garment industry, we have all worked for the occasional company that profits from fast fashion.  So when we heard that the CFDA recently attacked fast fashion chains like Forever 21 for blatantly copying high-end designers, we had mixed feelings.  With all do respect towards couture designers, who says that only the wealthiest of the upper upper-class deserve to fashionable?  With the current state of the economy how elitist is it to protest affordable fashion?  As designers we can appreciate the quality and artistic vision that goes into a $10,000 gown, while at the same time, being fully aware that a cotton dress shirt does not need to cost $500.  Fast fashion serves a purpose in making stylish and affordable clothing available for the masses.  Stores like Zara, Forever 21, and of course H&M, are so popular and profitable because they fill a hole in the market.  As a consumer on a budget fast fashion has an appeal, but as designers we are torn. 

Here’s a story from one of our contributors. 

Having recently interviewed at a manufacturer which supplied knit tops to Forever21, she inquired about the job responsibilities as a designer.  She was told that their staff of designers, primarily traveled overseas, shopped the market, bought samples, took pics, etc., then along with their samples they flew directly to their factory in China.  The designer would then spend several weeks in China overseeing the knocking off of the original sample, making modifications, and substituting fabrics.  The company completely bypassed the design process, even tech-packing, so as to get the merchandise on the floor the fastest.  This whole concept of being a “designer” but not actually designing did not sit well with her, so she passed on the position. 

So what is your feeling on fast fashion?  We’ll go with necessary evil.

 (Reminder, the ultimate in fast fashion, TOPSHOP is coming in March 2009 to NYC!)

Regardless of where you believe the economy to be heading cutting costs and making your line more affordable is a must.

So here’s some tips for y’all, and please feel free to add your own in the comments;

• Location, Location, Location.  Step one, move production location. 
• Time to source new mills and knock off your own fabrics for a lower price point.
• Keep your color cards small, that means less color runs and dying up less yardage.
• For prints and patterns, think less yarn dye more printed and more 4-way repeats for better consumption.
• When using high priced fabrics, focus on cut and color and leave out all embellishments.
• Be aware of the amount of hardware, embroidery, printing, etc… and lose what is not absolutely necessary for the integrity of your design.
• No more hand stitching, hand beading, or hand work of any kind, if it can’t be done by a machine skip it.
• Sampling! The best way to save money internally, cut down on any exessive sampling!

***Blind Item, the rumor is, a certain urbanwear design director was fired this week after having been caught in a late night after hours tryst with a much younger sales associate. Gotta watch out for those security cameras people!