This week in blog history 6
Posted by Kathleen Fasanella on Jul 23, 2006 at 2:18 pm / Admin / Trackback
Here are the noteworthy entries from one year ago for the week of July 8-14 2005:
How quickly we forget
A review of one student’s work. However well intentioned, the result bore scant resemblance to actual sewing. One thinks she should have dispensed with formality and used a stapler instead.
Push manufacturing; subverting the fit feedback loop
Part 3 of the myth of vanity sizing series discussing the effect of large push operations; how push manufacturers contribute to the homogenization of styling, the continuing degradation of apparel fit and the far-from-benign influence big-box retailers add to the mix.
With the trend in returns -retailers abdicating responsibility of their buying choices- and manufacturers increasingly expected to assume all of the retail cycle profit risks in addition to their own, there is no other anticipated outcome other than the continuing degradation of poorly fitting and styled apparel. If manufacturers must concentrate on the best bets of the market, this can only lead to continual design stagnation and the flattening of innovation and detail. Concentrating on the best bets of the market leads to homogenization and manufacturers will be even less willing to assume the risks associated with innovation.
Sizing evolution
Part 4 of the myth of vanity sizing series discussing the evolution of sizes.
I know that the relative dimensions of what is designated as a size 0 today is what constituted a size 4, twenty years ago but that doesn’t mean clothing is sized for vanity. People are missing my point which is: sizes evolve, just like people do. If sizes did not evolve -normalizing to the population- then we’d still be making clothes to fit people from the 1500’s.
Be Corrigible
In part, why lower wages do not lead to lower overall costs. The too-infrequently discussed wisdoms of Edward Deming and his gestation of the Japanese miracle.
Deming always said that you don’t have to motivate or otherwise intimidate the help. He said you didn’t need to watch them to make sure they’re working. He said you needed to listen to them and respect them enough to follow their advice. He said you could be a good clean business, making things without harming a community or the environment, you could be a good corporate citizen and get involved in worthwhile activities that benefit the community and he said you could pay your employees fairly and honestly and for it all, you’d make more money, not less.
