One way the Baby Gap collection kept it’s items coordinated was with embroidery. This seems like a trick that’s accessible to DE’s, since embroidery thread,or maybe even screenprinting ink, comes in a lot more colors than the fabrics available to you–& even a little embroidery/topstitching or screenprinting can give the item a coordinated look.

To Miracle’s point, a Manufacturer’s customer is the Buyer. And, the Buyer’s customer is the Consumer. So, it is in a Manufacturer’s best interest to deliver value to the Buyer by meeting Consumer expectations.

One exercise that behooves a Designer and a DE is to know the Consumer so well that you know what is already in their closet. By doing this (keeping an eye on the end use) you won’t stray far from meeting the Buyer’s needs at market. Or as Yoda says: “start with the end in mind”.

Wait… was that Yoda or my Dad? Either way… It’s good advice!

I suspect Miracle’s point was that she is tired of (or, at least tiring of) shopping across 10 lines to find 20-30 separates that *might* work in her store. I can see that point because it makes the Buyer’s job difficult. And, if you makes someone’s job difficult, well… you (should) get the point.

Also… “If you have 6-10 pcs and you can only use 2 fabrics, when your next market date or delivery comes, pick up the same color family. That way if a consumer comes in and buys (for example) a girls pant set, they come back in 2 months later (in the same season) and pick up another piece that still coordinates. The retailer can keep fresh merchandise without having to completely isolate the customer’s previous purchase.” is such sound advice!!

I would add, think like a retailer if you want to be a great designer for retail.

With that said, if you are more of an AE, artist entrepreneur, please follow your dream. If you are doing one of a kind, this is still often great advice to evolve your color story.

I thought it would be best to have at least three groups with different colorways, stories and themes.

ps I want to buy your book so bad but my husband cut me off spending on my business for the moment and the duties on books are pretty high in Canada.

Now I spend my energy and money designing new pieces to coordinate with previous top sellers. So far only one of these designs has been dropped after one season. The rest have sustained themselves for 2 years now. Same with fabrics. I have four fairly standard colors and every year I pick fabrics that are different but are based with these four colors.

I recently designed a line for a school project, and it was incredibly difficult to get things to coordinate in style – do I have enough bottoms? Tops? I’m not making it too similar, right? But now I have to make sure they still work together, etc. And this was only 5 pieces. Once I added color it became a zoo. Each piece came in only 4 colorways, but I had 8 colors. (Not all main colors, but accents too. Don’t shoot me, please, it *was* a class project!) Can you say “zoo”? Coordinating all the colors, and trying to make sure that I wasn’t making one-of-a-kind “outfits” with each color choice was quite interesting!

I found this to be a real problem getting started with my line. I have been trying to create a collection of separates where everything coordinates (although certain styles may not suit being worn together) and have been having a terrible time getting fabrics (with small minimums) to work together. The ‘interesting’ fabrics – which is what I really want to make the line more exciting, seem to come in a range of 1 – 4 colours, the basics come in a wider range, but with both it’s not the same colours as any other fabric, unless it’s black. Most of them don’t match or even coordinate that well with each other. I can’t seem to get a set of 4-5 basic solid colour fabrics in 4-5 matching colours, unless it’s black and white – even the ivories don’t match from one fabric to another.

My first set of sample fabrics I chose mostly based on trying to find a set that coordinated, and although they went ok together, they really didn’t work out very well with being suited to the customer/purpose of my line.

I think if you’re big enough to order custom colours then you’re ok, but if you want (for example) chiffon, satin and lace in the same colour, in less than 100yd orders – it better be black or white.

When I was in school, each year we were assigned the project to design a collection with the criteria that it ‘come from the same closet’. In other words, picture your “ideal” client and then design 13 looks (no limit on the number of pieces) that fit the color story and would all hang in the same closet. The common failing point was that students overlooked what their ideal client already had in their closet (to your point).

In reviewing programs, recently (I’ve considered going to back to finish a BFA) this exercise is now known as the “Senior Project”. That doesn’t provide an opportunity to make mistakes and learn through the experience. I’m curious if the situation you describe is that students are pushed through programs too rapidly and they’re left to mete out this experience in the marketplace?