Has the era of designer denim come to an end? Did the recession put the final nail in the coffin for the already struggling denim industry? For many, the answer is clearly yes. The high point of designer denim (not counting the 80’s of course) was 2002-2007. We saw the emergence and rise in popularity of brands like James, Paige, Citizens of Humanity, Joe’s, True Religion, and many more that are still in business to day. There was also the quick rise and fall of brands like Von Dutch and Paper Denim & Cloth. Some brands floundered and fought to stay alive for far too long, like Earl Jeans who was bought out by Nautica, then VF Corporation, and now by Jordache. Others found success by selling out to big corporations and launching their own lower priced lines like, Seven Jeans or Lucky Brand. And others struggled through the rise and fall only to succumb to our tough economic times, as is the case with the recent bankruptcy filing of Rock and Republic.

Now that designer denim has lost some of its luster, and with so many brands over-saturating the market (many offering affordable versions of their own designer lines) customers are turning away. For many fashionistas paying over $200 for a pair of jeans seems a bit absurd these days.  Not to mention most denim divas, who will pay any amount for a good fitting pair of jeans, already have closets full of jeans in every wash and fit a girl could want. Plus, we can’t ignore the elephant in the room, or shall we say, leggings. The rise of leggings and other knit bottoms have significantly cut into the denim business over the last few years.

But the biggest challenge to the denim market is that denim (even designer denim) has become a wardrobe staple. Most fashionistas own at least one splurge pair of high-end denim in their wardrobe and countless other affordable and moderate brands as well. Designer denim has lost its novelty; it is no longer a unique “must have” item. The phrase “Japanese Denim Mill” used to fill any denim guru’s heart with desire and now, it just, “oh another Japanese denim brand, what’s new?” Jeans will likely always stay on trend and they will certainly continue to sell, but anyone who works in denim knows the profits and order numbers have shrunken considerably since the early 2000’s. Despite the resurgence of the jean jacket and the double denim trend, sadly the denim market is just not what it was. Denim manufacturers are going out of business, denim fabric mills are closing up shop and the market is flooded with denim designers looking for work. While the average consumer may not notice a huge difference at their local retailer the impact on the business side is undeniable.

So what do you think, will designer denim make a comeback anytime soon? Will denim brands continue to go belly up? Do you have plans to buy more denim this season? Are there any denim brands that you are particularly excited about?

It stared with a recent article in the NY Times and the rumblings continued online and throughout the city, is the Garment Center about to become the new “it” neighborhood?  For those of us familiar with the neighborhood, it certainly seems to contain all of the proper elements.  Lower rents then surrounding areas (check), large loft spaces (check), artist and designers (check), a certain grungy feel (check), old school mom and pop shops (check), plus, unlike Williamsburg or LIC the Garment Center is centrally located.  We’ve written many times before about the shrinking of the Garment Center as domestic clothing manufacturing has moved overseas leaving our neighborhood factories vacant.  Thankfully much of the area has zoning protection to support the local fashion industry.  However, due to our close proximity to the theater district, many smaller theater companies have started infiltrating the Garment Center.  So in addition to fashion industry designers and artists, there’s also a growth of actors, musicians, costume designers, and directors.  As Shira Beckerman the Director of the Pearl Theater Company told the NY times, “If you walk through the area it sort of looks like an arts district developing.”

While it’s hard for us to imagine our neighborhood (directly between two of the country’s biggest tourists spots, Times Square and Herald Square) becoming the next SoHo, it’s not exactly unthinkable.  Add in an overpriced nightclub, indie bookstore, a gastro pub, a pop-up art gallery, and we’re a haven for hipsters. In some ways that could be very good for the neighborhood, as long as our workspaces (which should be protected for the fashion industry) don’t become high-end lofts for wealthy parents to buy for their recent grads. Perhaps the Garment Center can improve and update their grungy hip factor, while at the same time protecting our manufacturing and fashion core.

Have you picked up your new Pantone color planner yet? While a standard Pantone book is usually a staple of the apparel office, this new book is a must for specifically planning color direction for Winter 2010/2011.  It’s called Pantone View Colour Planner – Mosaic.  It showcases eight palettes for use in women’s wear, menswear, active wear, cosmetics, lifestyle, industrial design and graphics.  We’d definitely recommend checking it out. This news got us thinking about trend and color services in general. So we thought we’d re-post and older article from last year, listing our favorite trend services. Enjoy…

If you’ve ever wondered why brands seem to show the same trends at the same time as their competitors, or how your favorite stores have the same color palette at the same time, trend services may be the reason.  These are companies whose sole purpose is to present designers with direction whether it’s for overall trend, print, graphics, or color.  These companies work in a variety of ways from online services, to photo books, to skeins of yarn, and more, often costing several hundreds to thousand of dollars.  Since most companies design a year before their product hits the retail floor we must know not just what is hot now but what will be hot a year from now.  Don’t misunderstand; these companies don’t design for us. Instead they give their point of view on design direction.  Design departments often use several services per season, as well as, worldwide shopping trips, magazine subscriptions, vintage libraries, and most of all their own creativity.  Below we’ve listed some of our favorite trend services in no particular order, and for those of you in the industry we would love for you to add on to the list in the comments.

1. Fashion Snoops - All around great online resource for all categories plus graphics, trims, shopping in a very easy to use format.
2. Color Portfolio - Several color books to choose from, beautiful,  fashion forward, and with ample skeins.
3. Huepoint – Bare bone and efficient color direction, excellent for active wear and children’s plus a huge color library in their NYC office.
4. WGSN – The original online service, very extensive information especially great for international trend reports.
5. Style*Sight – Online service with excellent runway pics and store windows, although a bit hard to search.
6. DenimHead – The must have trend book for anyone in denim, great global pics plus trim and wash info, and a CD ROM.
7. Woolworks – Inspiring, colorful, and detailed trend book especially helpful for tops designers and graphic designers.
8. Doneger Associates - Consulting company, provides informative direction based on market research and analysis through presentations and on the web.
9. Promostyl – French trend forecasting service, detailed and creative books, great for forward trend direction and silhouette ideas.
10. We are leaving #10 up to you, so give us your pick!

Fashion Snoops is one of the top international online fashion forecasting services.  For those of you not in the industry, forecasting and trend services are companies that scour the globe to spot new trends, colors, fabrics, silhouettes, and more.  They then bring that information forward via books, websites, or presentations to designers and apparel companies for their inspiration.  A while ago, we listed some of our favorite trend services which you can check out here and Fashion Snoops was certainly among them.  

We were delighted to hear that Fashion Snoops is teaming up with MAGIC next month.  This news actually got us excited about MAGIC which is hard to do these days despite being fashion’s largest trade show.  MAGIC, located in Vegas, just seemed to have lost its “wow” factor over the last few years.  Fashion Snoops will help bring the focus of August’s MAGIC onto Fall/Winter 2010/2011 trends.  They will partner with Pantone to create the official color card for the season in both Men’s and Women’s categories.  They will also be hosting two seminars, one for color direction and the other for trend inspiration for the upcoming season.

If you would like to learn more about Fashion Snoops, specifically about the woman behind the concept, Lilly Berelovich, you must read this interview.  Nolcha again snagged a great interview that we highly recommend to any Fashion Snoop fan.  One interesting tidbit we found was that she started as a designer and the idea for Fashion Snoops grew from her frustration over being stuck behind a computer and not being able to go out and be inspired.  For us that has always been why we loved Fashion Snoops, when you are developing and designing new product on a weekly basis you can’t always take time off to travel and shop the market as much as you would like.  Additionally, now that companies are cutting back, shop trips to Europe are becoming fewer and certainly not for all levels of employees.  That’s where Fashion Snoops really levels the playing field by giving all of us access to a plethora of trend resources and information.

1. Age – Most of you are young, 37% are 25 to 34, and 33% of you are 18 to 24
2. Gender – 87% of you are women
3. Title – There was a fairly even breakdown between all job levels and students
4. Salary – A close finish for this one with a virtual tie between the <40k group and the 75k to 100k group
5. Education – 70% college grads
6. Employed in the fashion industry – The big winner in this category was the manufacturing/design/production viewers with 59%

Our new poll is all about the “Must Have Item” for this summer.  So let us know what you think. (Sorry the bolero jacket didn’t make our cut Merlin).  As usual our poll is up in the left sidebar, so please take a second and vote for your favorite piece!

Skinny bitches.  We hear that term all the time in pop culture and in the fashion business.  Often times it is even used as a term of endearment or maybe a back-handed compliment.  What is going on with our culture’s sick obsession with being so thin? And why does being skinny automatically make you a bitch?  It’s one of those annoying terms that are often thrown about jokingly in the industry but which we’d be happy to never hear again.

The fashion industry and weight have had a long and dysfunctional relationship.  While fashion models have always maintained tall slender proportions it seems that the standard has become so nauseatingly thin.  Fashion models have gone from slim, to thin, to unnaturally skinny, and finally to eyes sunken in, ribs sticking out, malnourished skeletons in stilettos!  Its not just models either, celebrities are disappearing before our eyes.  Just over a decade ago you’d have the occasional bag of bones celebrity, aka Alley Mcbeal, where as today it seems that every third female celebrity is hiding a possible eating disorder.  What does it say to women and young girls when the models in fashion magazines are literally withering away and celebrities’ popularity grows exponentially according to their weight loss?  For example, Mary Kate Olsen received more attention when a backless gown revealed her bony frame than her achievement in becoming the eleventh richest women entrepreneur in entertainment at 19.  As celebs like Rachel Zoe (pictured above), Nicole Richie, and Lindsay Lohan know the fastest way to the cover of a magazine is to dip below 100lbs.  Last week, the Miss Universe contest in Australia, which claims to “promote healthy, proportioned, bodies”, saw Stephanie Naumoska (pictured above) through to the finals.  According to health professionals, Naumoska has a body mass index of 15.1, the benchmark for male nutrition is under 18!  What is happening in the fashion and beauty industries right now is very dangerous and it’s time to stop looking the other way.

What is even more confounding is that as our celebrities and fashion models are becoming skinner than ever, the average American woman is fatter than ever before.  The average American woman is now 164 lbs and barely 5′4″.  We have become a country obsessed with dieting, from Atkins to the Master Cleanse with health clubs and yoga studios popping up on every corner while at the same time diabetes and childhood obesity have reached epidemic proportions.  Many believe, it is partly our push for women to reach such unattainable weight standards that make them over eat in the first place.  The basic premise of this theory is, “I could never be that thin, so I may as well have that double cheeseburger.  Okay, now I’m really far away from that goal.  So, give me that package of Oreos and a Big Gulp because it’s too late now…”

So, how culpable is the fashion industry in all this?  According to model Kate Moss, who was notorious in the 90’s for her heroine chic uber-skinny body, we are to blame.  Moss claims that she was not allowed to eat on photo-shoots and she was forced on such a tight travel schedule that she was unable to eat.  Hmm, too busy working to eat?  Well, that could be said by many working women in a variety of professions, personally we think all that cocaine was the cause of Kate’s boney figure.  But seriously, the fashion industry needs to get over its weight issues.  While the majority of fashion industry professionals, in the business of designing and manufacturing, will never even hire a supermodel for a show or photo shoot.  It is a small percentage of people hiring these sickly models for their runway shows that give the rest of us a bad name.  Let us not forget the fashion publications as well, it’s usually the high fashion magazines, filling their glossy pages with uber-skinny supermodels who perpetuate this extreme image. It’s generally not your clothing catalog or advertisements that are the problem, commercial models tend to have a more “normal” physique.  

So what should the industry do?  Perhaps we need to follow the lead of Spain and even France by implementing health and weight restrictions for fashion models. What do you think, is the fashion industry culpable for our weight issue, fat or thin? What can fashion industry professionals do to resolve this situation?

Every now and then a fashion trend comes along that scares the bejesus out of us.  Sometimes, even those of us who make it our jobs to be fashion forward and look a year or more ahead to spot the next big trend, find ourselves rejecting a new style.  It is a bit schizophrenic, but occasionally we can be so personally repulsed by a trend and at the same time logically know that a year from now we will all be embracing it.  It is the bizarre juxtaposition for fashion industry professionals between our own consumer taste and our professional knowledge.  Imagine being a short-waisted woman designer and having to design and promote a high-waisted pant (because you know it will be hot the next year) while at the same time knowing how completely fugly she would look wearing those very pants.  For designers, who often work a year ahead of calendar, we can not focus on what we personally are loving to buy now, but rather what our customer will want to wear a year from now.  The result is occasionally a moment of insanity, what basically happens is the following random conversation in a designers head, “Will anybody buy this? Of course it’ll be huge. Right? Or is this ugly? Is this the next big thing? No, it’s just weird. No it’s innovative.  Is this too forward? Oh no, it IS ugly!  But is ugly the new pretty? What am I doing?  Aughhh!!”  Yes, it happens even fashion professionals get so overwhelmed by the fast pace of trends and the pressure to be current that we can just lose it.

Now, we all have these trends that upon first seeing them we feel an aversion, even if we later come around. So here are some photos of fashion trends that frightened us at first but we have grown to adore.  Tell us what you think, any trends that scared you off at first?

 
       Remember the poncho?                 Last year’s gladiator sandal

When skinny jeans first came back!        Return of shoulder pads

   The new hooded bodysuit                 This season’s crotch-drop pant!

The Council of Fashion Designers of America have decided to honor Michelle Obama with a special style award.  Now, we knew Michelle Obama was a style icon since the beginning, but it is refreshing to see it being formally acknowledged.  While there has been much debate about her personal style; we have often loved her fashion choices, especially on inauguration day.  Shortly after this event she faced much criticism, mostly from republicans, regarding her fondness for going sleeveless.  One right-wing columnist commented that Mrs. O should, “put away her arms, thunder and lighting.” Even the fashion industry has been critical, after her recent trip to Europe Oscar De La Renta said, “you don’t go to Buckingham Palace in a sweater!” We however, are happy to see Michelle Obama staying true to her personal style, as well as, taking a chance on young indie designers and promoting made in America products.  The CFDA announced it is awarding Michelle Obama with this tribute, “for her inspiration and her commitment to American fashion and will establish a grant in her name that will be given to a new fashion company.” Surprisingly, not all American designers are behind her, just the other day big name Donna Karen told WWD that “Obama’s flirtation with niche designers was temporary; I hope and believe this is just a moment.” (Jealous much Donna?) We can’t wait for the June 15^th event and are crossing our fingers that Michelle shows up in a fabulous gown courtesy of one of our neighborhoods emerging designers. Michelle Obama is in good company with this award as it was given to another fashionable first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

We have managed to get the scoop from one of our favorite designers, on what it takes to start your own fashion label.  Liquica Anggraini is the talented designer behind the label Radenroro.  If you have not heard of Radenroro it is a magnificently inspired label of women’s wear featuring sumptuous fabrics and an exotic attitude.  Liquica is originally from Indonesia where her love of fabrics and vintage soon developed into her own boutique and a small clothing line.  A few years later she moved to NYC to attend FIT and subsequently launch her line Radenroro. 

1)  Do you feel your formal fashion education at FIT helped prepare you for creating your own label?
Yes, any prior experience and education when can get will always be helpful. If nothing else you learn the vocabulary of the industry and some fundamentals about the production side of the business. However, I think it’s very hard for any school to truly prepare one for all that’s involved in running one’s own business. Creating your own label is really one of those things where you have to take a deep breath and jump in headfirst.  If you’ve taken the time to properly research and prepare beforehand you will save yourself some growing pains but at the end of the day, as cliché as it might sound, you have to just “do it”!

2)  What one piece of advice would you give to someone wanting to start a career in fashion?
I will be blunt because so many people answer questions like these with vagaries.
1. Before you even consider starting your own line, you need at least $150,000 of liquid capital. This can be savings, a line of credit, or even a combination of the two along with some low interest credit cards. Going in to debt should not be taken lightly but sometimes it’s the only way to start. If you’re fortunate enough to have a deep-pocketed financial backer with high risk tolerance, that’s even better.
2. If you’re a creative person you also need a hard-nosed business person to be your partner, ideally someone with a solid knowledge of the industry, and extensive experience negotiating deals and handling legal and financial issues.  I think many people starting a fashion business think primarily about the wonderful things they are going to create and ignore or belittle (at their peril) the amount of hardcore business development that’s required. In your first season alone you’ll deal with various suppliers, factories, financial institutions, buyers, showrooms, stores, press, etc. Unfortunately you may even find yourself in Small Claims Court.
3. Unless you have prior relationships with buyers, I’d suggest that you ONLY accept credit card orders in your first season. This is the only way to be sure you will be paid for the merchandise you produce. Even COD leaves you risk exposed as stores can bounce boxes and cancel orders after you’ve paid to produce the goods. As a brand new line, you likely won’t have another account lined up to take any excess inventory so you’ll be stuck with the merchandise and out the cash you paid to get it produced.
4. Last but definitely not least, go buy the book “The Fashion Designer Survival Guide” by Mary Gehlhar. If I’d read and assimilated the information in this book when I first started I’d likely have saved a lot of time and money. It’s very pragmatic and easy to read; there’s not a lot of fluff and theory, just solid practical advice on nearly every topic of relevance for a new designer. It should be required reading for any new designer and his/her business partner.

3)  Have you ever worked for another fashion company or had a day job while getting your line of the ground?
I had a boutique in Indonesia before I came to the US and I did spend some time in the US working various jobs while I sorted out immigration issues. But I never had any noteworthy jobs in the fashion industry before I started Radenroro.

4)  Where do you get your inspiration?
From my own life experiences both in the US and in Indonesia, from great vintage styles of the past, from other brilliant creative people, and from the world in general.  I never spend a lot of time stressing about what sort of “theme” one of my collections is going to have. The ideas are always there and ready to flow when I start sketching. I’d say my inspiration is truly “organic” in nature… it often evolves out of seeing a single button or fabric or trimming which triggers an idea for a new style.

5)  Where do you like to shop for fabrics or vintage inspiration in NYC?
Where I buy my fabrics is top secret, but I love Allan and Suzi for vintage inspiration. It’s this unbelievable vintage store on the UWS.

6)  How do you like living in NYC, are you glad you made the move?
I love NYC except for the winter weather and subway crowds at rush hour. Indonesia will always have a special place in my heart and sometimes I get homesick (especially for the food!) but NYC is the place to be when you’re trying to make your mark in the fashion biz.

7)  How did you get your first pieces into stores?
We got our first order when we attended our first tradeshow. Even though the show wasn’t well aligned with our brand, we did manage to open up at least a few stores. The most important lesson we learned from this first show was that one absolutely must walk a tradeshow before deciding to exhibit. Tradeshow websites give very little useful information about what sorts of lines should exhibit at the show, what types of buyers attend, etc.

8)  What is the most difficult aspect of running your own label, i.e. design, production, sales, finance, advertising?
The most challenging (and least fun) aspect has to be the financial side of the business. I’m not sure many people realize just how expensive it is to properly launch a new clothing line. It requires hundreds of thousands of dollars to make it through your first few seasons if you intend to seriously build your brand, hire a good sales rep, retain a PR firm, attend tradeshows, take quality photos and print quality materials (look books, line sheets, biz cards, letterhead, etc). One can certainly cut corners on these expenses and start for less but it will be much harder to gain national (and international) exposure and be noticed by top stores.
The only exception to this might be if the person starting a line has strong existing connections within the fashion industry. Unfortunately, I didn’t when I started and had to climb the ladder based solely on the merits of our product and our tenacity in pursuing success and raising awareness of the Radenroro brand. One reason why we’ve survived, even in these horrific economic times, is because we run an extremely lean and efficient business. Our few core employees are all multi-talented which cuts down on 3rd-party costs and we’ve minimized overhead in every way possible.
My advice to any new line, even one that’s reasonably well capitalized, is to start lean and scale your expenses (particularly recurring in-house expenses like salaries, rent, etc) only when revenue is growing at an even faster pace.

9)  What do you wish people would understand about working in the fashion industry?
I will add that everyone will tell you this is a nasty business and they are right. People will refuse to pay you, lie through their teeth, and try to take advantage of your status as a newcomer in every way possible. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow your dreams and start your own line, just make sure you (or your business partners) are tough and clever enough to defend your business. I feel strongly that any new designer should have a partner who is completely business oriented, ideally someone who is a tough negotiator with basic legal skills, and a willingness to do what it takes to collect what people owe and protect your interests. I’m thankful to have such a partner and it allows me to stay focused on the creative side of the business.

10)  What trends do you see being big for 2010?
I think sophisticated draping will make a comeback. I also think we’ll see more “mix and match” looks, with people thinking outside the box regarding patterns, prints, and colors. I also think we might see more people using metal and wooden beads to embellish their looks.

Radenroro’s gorgeous clothing is available at many boutiques throughout the country and NYC including our favorites, Big Drop NYC and Cantaloup.  For full details and to view the collection please visit the website radenroro.com.  Plus Liquica has her very own blog too, so check it out.

PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals,  has released their list of worst dressed for 2009.  The #1 spot goes to Madonna, who frankly has become visually frightening for reasons far beyond her fur wearing.  Also on the list are Kanye West and Maggie Gyllenhaal.  And of course the list includes the Olsen twins, but really without fat or fur how else can those two keep their bony asses warm.

               Dolce and Gabbana                               Dsquared2

      Missoni                                Versace                             Ferragamo

The Academy Awards are well underway and we thought we’d share some red carpet favorites with you.  Over all, the women looked stunning and glam is in full force this year. (What recession?) Here is just a sampling of some of the gorgeous gowns on display tonight, courtesy of NYmag.com.  There were so many stunning off-white dresses tonight that if you added a veil there’d be a parade of brides down the red carpet.

The Versace gown below on Marisa Tomei was our number one fav, until Tim  Gunn (love him) interviewed her and we got an up-close shot of the bodice.  For a couture piece the puckering on the seams was shocking, we hope it just needed to be steamed because it looked like shoddy construction with some tension issues.

Now, not everyone got it right tonight. There were some fashion faux pas, like Mickey Rourke obviously, but sadly Beyonce too; girl you’ve got to stop letting your mama dress you in her upholstery. All we can say is, WTF B!

If you haven’t already voted in our Oscar designer poll, vote now in the left sidebar!

Being in the midst of award season and fashion week, we all are coveting the exquisite yet ridiculously expensive fashion on display.  While many of us cannot afford couture, we turn to more affordable brands to give us our fashion fix.  Although there is a grave difference between making style affordable to the masses, and straight up copying another designer’s product.  Many designers and brands have made a name for themselves by knocking off high-end designers.  Chief among them is the brand ABS, who quickly parades their red carpet Oscar knockoffs on morning shows across the country following the Academy Awards.  Recently, ABS and fashion label Faviana, débuted gowns inspired by Michelle Obama’s inaugural fashions on the Today Show.  Couture evening wear is not the only garment class being copied; actually every category is subject to copycats.  Stores like Forever 21 and H&M have made a multimillion dollar business out of knocking off designer looks for less.  

Many would argue, as we did here, that all fashion is in some sense copying from elsewhere.  Designers, high-end and low, all get inspiration from somewhere and are influenced by what they see in their daily lives, including from fashion rivals.  Next time you wander through a mall or department store, see if you can find a garment that is not in some way similar to an existing design; be it in color, fabric, silhouette, or overall aesthetic. But back to the original issue, what about those brands whose true intention is to knock off a particular item as close to the original as possible.  The most common question we get is, “is that even legal?”  In short, yes unfortunately, it is legal. 

Unlike most products in the United States, fashion design is not protected by intellectual property law.  While your trademark is protected, like the Levi’s V embroidery, Lacoste’s alligator, or Louis Vuitton’s interlocking LV, the actual garment design is not.  Copyright law which protects most artistic works, has an exception for functional creations.  So, if your garment is wearable, which of course it is, then it is not protected by law.  There is some good news for you graphic designers, graphics like screen prints or original patterns do seem to be covered as artwork.  People will often remark, if you have a great design idea you should get a patent for it.  Unfortunately, patents only apply to completely new inventions, which as we mentioned above, fashion design is never completely original.  This is the reason for the Victoria’s Secret patent “pending” bra campaign.  Additionally, in the fast paced world of fashion, by the time the US patent office approved you, your design would no longer be on trend.  For more information on the issue of fashion copycats here is a great site counterfeitchic.com

So it was only a matter of time before technology and fashion take that next step forward.  The evolution of computer technology integrating into wearable clothing has been underway for several years now.  The active-wear market was a forerunner in using techie elements in their designs.  Be it actual electronic lights in tracksuits for safety while running at night, or by incorporating pockets and openings to hold cell phones and Mp3s while working- out.  Childrens wear has also been ahead in this area; who hasn’t seen a kid whose shoes are irritatingly  flashing and beeping?

However, the real step forward is what several designers and engineers are working on, making a wearable personal computer.  Infineon Laboratory on Emerging Technologies has created a technique to make the computer microchip wearable and washable.  By using woven strips of fabric that contain conducting wire, which are then covered by silver and plastic, technology becomes wearable.  They have also developed a plastic material similar to polyurethane to encapsulate the chip module.  Infineon is focusing on creating apparel that could function as a communication device, have GPS abilities, and contain health-care technologies like a wearable heart monitor.   There are many challenges in this area, chief among them, is balancing the technological function with style and comfort.  Additionally, there are many who question the safety aspect of E-clothing.  Most importantly are concerns related to electrical shocks, and cancer causing waves.  Last year electronics giant Phillips and clothing manufacture Levi’s teamed up to create the ICD+ line.  This line of jackets incorporated a cell phone, Mp3 player, and universal remote control within a single garment.  Like much E-Clothing the price tag was high and really only appeals to a few tech savvy luxury consumers. 

Besides the functionality of merging technology with apparel there’s also the fashion aspect.  E-Clothing at its best can be stunning and inspiring, where technology takes a backseat to fashion.  An example is when designer Hussein Chalayan and Swarovski teamed up to create the brilliant dress shown above.  By combining LED lights and translucent fabric they created a one of a kind design for the luxury market.  LED as a fashion element has become so increasingly popular that it has inspired its own LED fashion show in San Francisco last year.  We predict that the E-Clothing trend will only grow bigger going forward and we encourage all designers to start thinking of techie inspired elements to incorporate into your lines.  And on a personal note, to all you cold weather accessory designers, please, please design gloves with an index finger opening for our iPods and iPhones.