designer vs high street

Our task for this week has been a very interesting and informative one. It was to travel to a large city such as Manchester, Nottingham , London etc and visit 3 different shops. we had to go to a value (Primark, asda etc) middle market (topshop, river island etc) and a premium shop (debenhams, Vivienne westwood). For each shop we went to we had to choose 2 items, i.e shoes and a shirt and had to research them under the heading:

> Price

>Fabric composition

>finish

>customers in store

>Store layout

>Country of manufacture 

I chose to visit Manchester as my researching city, as Manchester is a city I have always wanted to visit but never had the chance to. I think I made the right choice going to Manchester as it is quite a beautiful city with its Victorian architecture mixed with an upcoming modern vibe, it was great.  

The first shop we research was the value shop Primark

photo of the Primark in Manchester, quite a grotty looking,
old building from the outside.

My first initial thoughts as I was walking around were, that it was quite busy.hectic, a lot of customers eventhough it was a tuesday. I also felt quite lost because everything was quite packed and close together, there wasn't much shopping space. Also there quite a few employees walking around with no shop identity,no name tag which i thought was quite bad as you couldn't tell  that easily who worked in the store and who didn't. Another thing I though was bad and as a customer quite irritating was that the clothes are all on the wrong size hanger so it would be quite confusing for possible. However a good point I did notice about the shop was that there was quite a lot of lifts and escalators, also the shop was reasonable tidy.
 The two items of clothing I decided to compare were jeans and shoes, as they are very universal items in every shop you go to.

Primark jeans:
First inital thoughts of the jean section was that it was very crammed and not tidy, There was 5 ways of 6 rales of jeans alone, so a lot of choice which could seem as a bad thing.
The jeans were £11 which was very clearly labeled ;you could see it from far way. The jeans were skinny jeans by denim co. regular 32" standard pair. One bad thing that i did initial notice on first sight was that the jeans were on the wrong hanger.I did really like the fact that the clothes label was fully recyclable, with cardboard and string, this shows that Primark are wary and evolved in saving the environment.

However when I did get a closer look inside it wasn't a great sight,you could definatly tell that they had been rushed and badly made.
>No time taken over zips
>Messy stitches
>Flimsy cheap pockets
>Cheap gold buttons
>stitching coming undone and sticking out.

One Thing I did really start to notice was that a lot of sales assistants walked passed were I was taking notes and a few picture, but none of them notice of commented on what I was doing, or even asked for help, this conveys that they don't pay a lot of attention to customers.
Inside label:
> 75% cotton
   >25% polyester
>2% elastane.

> can't tumble dry

> wash at 40oC

>iron on a cool setting.

In the label i didn't actually say where the garment was produced, which in my mind raises a few questions about ethic issue, especially with all the things that have been in the media in recent years about Primark.

Primark shoes:

First thoughts of the shoe section of the shop was there was so much choice yet again which in my mind a bad thing, as that could lead to a lot a landfill waste. Also no seats to try shoes on and it was very hot, it seemed as if the AC was not on, this could make people quite agitated.

The shoes i chose were a standard  5inch black platform heels, which were on sale from £16 down to £8 which was very clearly shown with sale P.O.S.

There was 4 differant colours and styles in the particular shoe.

>The material is man made

> suade lookalike

>Inside the shoe is plastic

>plastic sole

>manufacture mark all over 

>glue coming out of the heel edge.

 I tryed the shoes on to get an idea of how they fit, how the size would come up and if they were comfortable at all. When first put them on, immediately the material felt stiff and uncomfortable, i could tell that they wouldn't break in easily. In a way i guess that meant the shoes would be hard wearing.

The shoes as same as the jeans, also didn't say the maufacture country, which again raises ethical issues. A great possitive thing i did notice whilst walking around the shoe department was that they have introduced a wide-fit range which is from size 4-9; this to me is good for people who find it hard to fit into standard shoes.

The Middle market shop I chose to research was River island.

My first inital thoughts even before I walked into the shop were that they have a few interesting and unquie window display, which really caught my eye.

The age range for the typical river island shopper would be around 15-30, fashionable and quite out there, as the river island garments and brand and quite rocky and unique. As you walk into the shop everything is quite open and spaced out, there is easy access to each part of the shop. The shop assistants seemed to be quite helpful as well, which is positive.

River island jeans:
Standard skinny jeans £40 which wasn't that clearly labeled. however they were security tagged. The jeans at first sight  looked as if they were a good quality pair, however when i had a closer look inside i noticed that, that wasn't true. The overclocking wasnt great and fraying slightly. The waist band looks as if it had been sewn on wonky and also cotton string was sticking out all over the jeans, so generally not finished very well.
On the inside label, showed that the jeans were made out of 98% cotton and 2% elastane, so better just by looking at that, they are already better quality than the ones in Primark. The country of manufacture is turkey.

picture showing the inside of river island jeans

River island shoes:

The shoe dipartment in river island was laid out very well in a neat order; the shoes that were available portray the customer very well.There was a sale out, however it was very messy and fully of obviously unwanted shoes.

http://www.riverisland.com/Online/women/shoes--boots/heels/black-strap-court-shoes-605453

The shoes I chose to research were a classic black strappy heel which were £65. The heels had quite a huge heel which measure at 5.1 inches, so might be hard to walk in. The stitching was very good quality, fine stitches as well making the finish very good. there was no manufacture faults or threads. The uppers of the shoes were leather suede meaning they are going to be decent quality.  I tried them on to get an idea of the feel. They came up really small at the front and gaping at the back. There was quite a lot of exaggeration on the front of the heels as well due to the height of the heel, also it was clearly labeled that the shoes were made in Brazil. 

The premium shop I looked at was henry hollands H! collection in debenhams. henry holland is a fashion designer and creator of the imfamous slogan tees. He has been a designer in debenhams since march 2010 where he launched his H! collection which has been a massive success. As well as designing for debenhams, Henry Holland has his own label (House of Holland) http://www.houseofholland.co.uk/ which has everything about his designer and catwalk collection on it. The house of Holland Label is for the cool, confident and savvy girl, who wears labels with letting them wear her.
My first  inital thoughts of his collection was that everything was laid out very well in unique looking cages,as well as styled outfits placed around the concession, which gave you me as a customer ideas of what looks good together. Everything was also on its right sized hanger, which gave a professional look to his collection.

I chose a regular skinny jean to research, at first look they have a worn vintage looking print to them, which for a quite a standard jean was quite unique. Having a look a the swing tag in a way shocked me, not beacuse they are fully reyclable but beacuse of the amazing price £25 for designer jeans, i couldn't belive it, also i had a wonder around his other peices and saw that the price of everything was cheap for the sheer and the  designer name of the garments.

Having a closer look at the inside of the jeans to see quality control i wasn't surpirsed to see that the finishing and quilty was just as good as i expected it to be. The seams had all been double stitched with thick cotton, one interesting thing I did notice was that the top on the jeans was the same colour as the denim. the jeans al round are very good quality and for £25 its an absolute bargin. I really loved how the the name of his colletction (H!) was imprinted on the buttons and the studs as well showing more professionalism and quality.
The jeans are made out of 98% cotton and 2% elastane.

H! shoes :
There wasn't a huge collection of shoes, so i chose to research a Chelsea boot with a slight heel, it was the closest to the standard black heel there. I thought the beautiful chocolate brown colour and brogue detail looked great, teamed with the elasticated side made for a statement piece for anybodies wardrobe.
The Price was £65 which I personally thought was a bit steep for the quality of them, as they were quite scuffed. However in saying that the leather upper seemed very strong with a thick, sturdy sole and heel. I did try these ones on as well to get a feel of the fit, unfortunately the size did come up small, but they leather felt sturdy around my foot.

In conclusion to the shop comparison I have found out that even the most expensive pair of jean are not necessarily going to be the better quality. However in saying that, if you wanted clothes to last years buy the most expensive you can afford, because lets face it the clothes in Primark are cheap but they won't last more than 6 months meaning you will spend more in the long run!

High street stores; not all bad!

The seminar I had the other day was all about ethical issue within the world of fashion and textiles. Our task from the week before was to research an article on a chosen store about either consumerism (fast fashion) or labor (sweatshops, child labor). A lot of people chose to research about the stores Primark and Gap for what has been seen in the media in recent years. As this was the case we were split into 4 different groups and had to argue for or against the shop we had been given. 

The group I was in, was given the task to argue For the store Gap, finding out all the good point and what makes gap a good company. We had to debate and argue our side so that the other groups would chose our argument as the strongest, hopefully changing a few peoples minds about what they think about the store.

Picture of the gap logo.

When my group I was working in found out that we were arguing for Gap, we were all a bit taken a back by the idea because we had only herd quite awful things about Gap as a company, about that they use sweatshop and child labor to produce their garment ect... We were all a bit apprehensive about how we were going to argue our point. However when we got to research about the store in detail a lot of great and promising points and information came up, which we were all quite surprised at. We firstly found this great video from the Gap inc. website. which is the Vice president of social and environmental responsibly talking to us the viewer about there social and environmental report. 

Below is a link to the video. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIyXRENRyfE   

In doing this research on Gap these are the point we found out.

Key facts.

> Gap was founded in 1969 in San Francisco 

> There is more  than 100,000 workers in gap

alone.

> 3100 company operated stores and 

200 franchise stores 

Social responsibly. 

>They monitor 99% of they factories 

>They are very proud of P.A.C.E which

stands for personal advancement career 

enhancement this is for women in developing

country's which allows them to advance

in the work place.

>80% of their employee are women

>In 2010 gap employees volenteered 428,000 

hours of their time helping people. The value

of their time, the money that they made

as well as the amount that gap the company

match raised 16 million dollars. 

> Gap want their workers to be trained

with respect and dignity

Environmental

>One of gaps main aims is to reduce their carbon 

emissions by 20% between the years of 

2008 to 2015 

> They have installed 16 thousand light bulbs

in the factories.

>Gap is one of the founding member's of sustainable

apparel coalition which they use to find more sustainable

materials as well as better quality in their factories  

> Gap's clothes are better quality than those in a store

like Primark, meaning more value for money 

and less landfill waste.

 Well just to round this post off i just want to say, finding out all this Positive information  really has changed my mind about Gap as a company, they do a lot of great things for the environment, women is developing counties as well as for charity. It was really great to hear about all the positive things they have done for the world, instead of hearing all the negative, subjective things that have been said within the media about them.

initiative, creative and just plain breathtaking

Recently I have been looking at all the new SS12 collections to see what designers stood out for me personally and what new designers there are out there at the moment. One Collection that stood and and struct me as interesting was The Paco Rebanne house collection. One reason why i was interesting in finding out more about this collection is because Paco Rebanne hasn't done any big catwalk shows for a while, so i was interested to see what he had created. I was also interested to see what was created because Manish Arora is the new artistic director for the Paco Rabanne house, he is known for his Bright, out there colours and motifs as well as being a showman.

I had a look at the picture and the video of the show and was completly blow away by it. It was inivitive, colourful and had sort of a space age/ futuristic look to it.

http://www.style.com/fashionshows/complete/S2012RTW-PRABANNE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lELjGgVI6ig

One of Paco Rabanne's metal dresses
from the 1960's

Some of the piece from this collection sort of reminded me of Paco Rebanne's designs from the 60's when he used metal and other materials to create designs, Expect Manish Arora has taken it took the 21st century by making the collection light and fit the body light a glove. The theme to his stunning collection was light, feminine dresses with exaggerated hourglass waists and sharp shoulders. In doing this extravagant collection Manish Arora asked Phillip Tracey to create the flying saucer hats and Nicholas Kirchwood to create the crystal encrusted shoes, these are both also  initiative and fashion forward designers which really made for in my eye a great collection.

these are a few piece from the collection
which stood out to me.

Unique selling point

Every one has their own individual and personal unique selling point, something that makes them different and sets them apart from everybody else.

I personal struggled with finding my USP, because it was something I felt I hadn't achieved yet. however my mind was put at ease when others in my group were feeling the same, confused about what made them unique. To ease this confusion and to help develop communication skills, we were put into group to discuss things like how did you feel after you first week of university? and where do you see your self in 5 years time? 

One of the questions that really struct me was Tell us something that no one within the group will know? At first I did struggle with this; it took me a while to think of something unique and interesting that no one else knew. I did manage to find that unique thing though, which was last year I was set a project to design a repeat pattern which was to be printed onto a plain Ikea chair and displayed in an Ikea store. This is something I am   extremely proud, just to know that my design was on display for the whole of the general public to see give me a great sense of a achievement. After my chair was displayed in the store for a week they were auctioned off ; the money that was made went to a local charity, which also makes me feel really proud. 

My chair in the Ikea store

In asking and answer those questions to my group, I discovered that I do have unique things about my self that I am proud of, however I think it might take a bit more time to fully grasp what my personal unique selling point is. Once i learn new skill and find out what i am good at, in what area I think it will become clear what it will be. 

“Fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportions.”

Recently i was told that to be a good fashion/textile designer you need to be a "Culture Vulture" a Sid vicious quote  which means a person who is very interested in art to an obsessive degree. I as also told that all designers need to be culture vulture because it keeps your fingers on the pulse of culture! 

Ever since being informed of the Phrase "Culture Vulture" it has seemed to open my eye to  new things, its like i'm seeing things different now for the first time.

 For example, this morning I was just on a walk, when I looked up and saw this absolutely stunning view of a church,  which I was immediately  inspired by: I had to stop for a second to take in what I was seeing. I was mainly take a-back by the beautiful detail of the pillars, it really reminded me of picture I took around london of the architecture. 

The front of the church, i thought it looked beautiful
with the roses and the tree half covering it.

I had to capture the moment

Getting inspired by this made me realize that I have quite the passion for british architecture , especially churches, and old arch ways. This is something that can be linked to fashion rather easily by taking the shapes, lines and structures I see in these building and incorporating them into my designs.
Below are the picture I took when I went to London, these are also building that inspired me by the sheer beauty of them.

Arch way, i love the floral pattern!

Zoomed in view, showing the pattern

On a door of a building, i love the criss-cross leaf pattern around the edge

I thought this was so stunning when i saw it for the first time
it reminded me of the Greek gods and goddesses 

I could defiantly see  that pattern around the edge of the door
on a dress as a repeated pattern or on the hem, that would look amazing!

new beginnings

"Choose a job you will love and will never have  to work a day in your life" this is a very inspiration quote to me ,its something i try and think about in everyday life; something i hope to achieve!