Week 12 @ Freedom Rains (Final Post)

For my last post this term, I thought I'd do something a little different! Instead of lamenting about how I had to go to Mood a million times this week or how we had to figure out every zipper that would be used for each coat, I'd recap some of things I've learned thus far on co-op: 

1. A conscious designer is a good designer. Often times I think people overlook all the tiny details that go into making a piece of clothing - and I'm not just referring to things like color selection or shape. We have to consider so many things like zippers, fit, how durable a certain fabric is going to be, the list goes on and on... At the end of the day, we're not always making an art piece. The design element is the first step and any issues we cause will only trickle down. A real person needs a functional garment that can survive the real world and we should be able to give that to them. 
2. A perfect pattern makes the perfect piece. I don't know how many times I've heard this from our lead designer (I'm not referring to prints here, know the difference!). When you're working with different factories, there can be numerous opportunities for miscommunication. When you're not in control of making your own patterns, the work you'll get back will never be up to  fit standard. Save time by making and perfecting your pattern early on so you'll save your company money later. 
3. Fabrics come first. Oddly enough, we sourced most of our fabrics and determined our color story before we even began sketching and looking at different coat bodies. In my head it still seems weird; one would think that you would sketch first and then decide which fabrics to use. Everything works out in the end, however. Once all the sketches are complete and we know what we're putting into work, we can distribute color evenly across the line and make sure we're using a variety of different materials. Everything must be merchandised to create a consistent story for the line.
4. Vogue is not your bible, tech packs and line sheets are. I mean, I'll still be a lifetime subscriber and WGSN will always be one of my favorite websites to browse. This is the real world though, and it's easy to get lost in the fantasy land that the rest of the world thinks our industry is. A lot of times, our design team is spending hours inputting measurements into Excel spreadsheets or recording every single trim that will be used in one of our coats. It's definitely not as glamorous as it seems from the outside, but these are things that are vital to our process. 
5. Inspiration can come in unexpected places. One of things that I think will stick with me for the rest of my career in the fashion industry is my mentor telling me that "Any dress can become a coat if you just use your imagination." I just think that's absolutely genius and I think it'll influence the way I take inspiration from the rest of the world. 

I'm so excited to continue the rest of my journey on co-op! I'm really proud that I pushed myself to take a fashion design job instead of doing something like PR or marketing (I think I would have been really bad at packing gift bags anyway). Not only am I witnessing the growth of a company and brand, but I'm seeing the lifecycle of a product and the infinite amount of care that goes into planning a line. This whole experience has opened my eyes to things I would have never learned otherwise and I know I will only continue to learn over the next few months. I wish everyone the best of luck on the rest of their co-ops!