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I Don’t Eat Shark Fin Soup
By admins | November 23, 2009
Flickr image via lookslikeamy
We received the following excellent insider article from fashion designer and writer, Stacy Lomman. Stacy has much experience working in NYC for various apparel companies and like many of us she has a lot to say about the business of fashion. So please enjoy the following post and stay tuned for part two from Stacy next week.
I refused to eat the shark fin soup. It sounds crazy, but I’m convinced that played a major role in the recent loss of my design job. Over the past fifteen years, I have held some rather difficult jobs and worked with some seriously crazy people. It’s definitely been character building, to say the least. I had been working in my latest role for just over eight months and I walked on egg shells every day because I feared that I could lose my job at any moment. I knew it was coming, the pattern had long been established. I heard from a girl in the production department that the owner fires a designer every six months or so. Apparently, some of them had quit long before that and walked out in tears because they were treated so badly. I was there when the designer from the other division was fired after she had put in eight months. “I can’t work with you,” the owner told her. Hmm, I thought she was a lovely person.
A little while later, with my eighth month rapidly approaching, I was informed that I had to make a trip overseas. I spent twelve excruciating days working in the factories in Hong Kong and China with my boss, and then I returned to New York, tied up the spring line in a nice little package and awaited my fate. I felt excited in a way — like I was about to be released from prison. A couple of weeks ago, I went into the office and discovered that my password on my computer had been changed. Great, now I was forced to march into my boss’s office and practically fire myself! “So, you must know my password doesn’t work, right?” I said. “Yes,” he replied and handed me my expense check that was sitting on his desk. This is so surreal, I thought. “Is there anything you want to say?” I asked him. “I can’t work with you,” he replied. I resisted the temptation to snap, “It’s because I wouldn’t eat the shark fin soup in Shanghai, isn’t it?” Instead, I just marveled and the insanity of the situation and went home and took a run in Central Park. The noose I wore around my neck for almost nine months had been cut.
This story is not uncommon and I’m not writing this article because I’m feeling sorry for myself, but rather to speak up and try to change the way that creative people are treated in this industry. The fashion business has always been challenging, finicky, cutthroat and unorthodox, but these days, more than ever, designers face adversity. We’re totally dispensable. We are being phased out due in part to the economic situation as there are less companies and less jobs, but also because creativity is no longer a priority. Many of my design colleagues have noticed this over the past several years. While senior level positions used to demand ten years of work experience, now the ads for senior designers sometimes request only three to five years of experience. I call them “CopyCAD’s.” It’s standard practice these days for companies to simply buy garments from a store and pass them to a junior level designer to copy and send overseas. Therefore, it’s sufficient to employ an individual who can create a half decent sketch in Illustrator (Computer-Aided Design), measure a sample and pack a Fed Ex. And it’s cheaper than hiring a designer with significant industry experience and knowledge. Price points have become such an important factor with the American consumer that quality has suffered as a result. Manufacturers must source the cheapest labor in order to meet their margins and this means producing offshore. In many cases, the factories have become so powerful that they are the ones paying our salaries and making the decisions. Garment manufacturing has moved almost entirely overseas and has taken along with it, jobs and opportunities for New York designers, technical designers, print artists, patternmakers, etc. The recent HBO documentary, Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags, confirms exactly how much apparel we actually manufacture in the U.S. today. A whopping 5%! That figure has decreased from 50% since 1995. I have witnessed this drastic drop-off over my fifteen year career and I am dealing with the ramifications right now.
I had an interview the other day. The creative director carefully scrutinized my portfolio and spoke without making eye contact. He complimented my sketching, admired the photos of my samples and praised my choice of fabrics and color. I was feeling confident when he said, “This is great, I’m just going to take this in the back to show the owner.” A couple of minutes later he returned and blurted, “She said we’ll call you, she came in late this morning and is really stressed out.” He shuffled me away so fast it seemed like he was scared for his life. Quite possibly they copied a few pages of my portfolio (which happens all the time) or perhaps the owner did, in fact, send him away like a scared little boy. When I relayed the story to my friend and former colleague, she was not surprised. She had actually worked at that very company a year ago and told me to consider myself lucky things didn’t go any further. “The owner will make you cry,” she said. “Everybody cried. It didn’t matter how tough a person was, she managed to make them crack eventually. That was her thing, she got off on it.” My friend told me about the day she finally broke down and walked out (therefore, forfeiting her right to unemployment). “The owner gathered the entire staff to watch and took all my sketches and stacked them into a neat pile and dumped them into the trash can. She said they were garbage and that’s where they belonged.” It sounds shocking, but I know that designers, artists, technical designers, patternmakers, sewers, etc. have to deal with this kind of behavior all the time. We are all talented, educated, hardworking people who deserve more respect. Hopefully, one day, when and if the garment manufacturing finds its way back to New York, there will be better opportunities for all of us. Meanwhile, I’m searching WWD and StyleCareers on a daily basis; I’m networking, reconnecting and keeping my skills sharp. I’ve pretty much given up on head hunters. Occasionally, one will contact me but it’s usually for a design job overseas. “I cannot live in Asia,” I always say. “I don’t eat shark fin soup.”
Stacy Lomman designs for private clients, and if you are interested in contacting Stacy please email her at tamarastacy@aol.com. She also sits on the publications committee for The Fashion Group and is a contributing writer to Lookonline.com the longest running fashion web site.
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Topics: designer, fashion industry | 10 Comments » 
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November 23rd, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Right there with you sweetie! Love the title too.
Bottom line, until companies return to valuing their designers (really all employees) and stop outsourcing to reach the lowest price, their products will suffer. It is no wonder apparel companies churn out mostly generic unoriginal garments when they treat their creative departments like assembly lines.
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:22 pm
I finally decided to write a comment on your blog. I just wanted to say good job. I really enjoy reading your posts.
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Every time I read about someone taking some else’s work under that table or ‘borrowing’ ideas it had me seeing red! Be original dammit!
XOXO,
Amy
ps – never tried shark fin soup either…!
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Wow, thanks for sharing. I had no idea that copying was so rampant (like during interviews!)
I hope Stacy finds something awesome and boo to the copycads!
November 24th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
@ Berry G “stop outsourcing to reach the lowest price” — it would be nice if the average consumer weren’t so damn cheap. People want to make a living wage themselves but they don’t pay anyone else a living wage. If you ask for a price that’s high enough to keep yourself in business, certain people think you’re ripping them off. Then they’re shocked — SHOCKED! — by overseas manufacturing practices. I’m really disgusted by the whole situation.
I found Stacy’s piece to be very enlightening, and I also enjoyed it from the “misery loves company” aspect!
November 24th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Again, a fascinating inside perspective, and beautifully written! Bring it to the masses!
November 25th, 2009 at 12:08 am
Wow, took the words out of my mouth! Thanks so much for putting down online!
November 25th, 2009 at 12:32 am
Thanks so much for this wonderful post. We are from the fashion industry in NYC and have experienced the same craziness of the industry. You have great experience and something good will result of all the madness you went through.
PS Didn’t eat the shark fin soup in China either!
November 25th, 2009 at 12:47 am
Great post first of all. It’s certainly very enlightening to those of us outside the industry. My heart goes out to all those designers, it sounds like a terrible situation to be in! What is the solution though and how can we help?
—
Enter part 1 of my Holiday Giveaway Bonanza to win Perricone MD’s Cold Plasma!
http://highmaintenancewoman.blogspot.com/2009/11/holiday-giveaway-bonanza-part-1.html
December 4th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
This is fucking disgusting, I hate when employers treat their employees this way, in all aspects of the fashion industry from design to wholesales everything is the same. I have been treated like crap since being an intern, to being a merchandiser, working in sales at showrooms and I am so fed up with the way we are treated in this industry. I had to face racism, crazy hours and ignorant bosses. I dunno if one day I will disclose the real names of these bastards but I’m planning on writing my experince from the beginning until now working in various aspects of the industry. I sometimes feel like I am so burn-out and don’t want to return to the industry anymore, I feel fed up, sometimes med school looks like a better option, but why, why? do I love fashion so much, I don’t know I’m so torn and disgusted by the industry right now after 7 hard years that hasn’t really helped me much. Sorry for the long rant love you guys and the post was magnificent.
Much love always,
Glendy