Fashion Incubator » Textiles and Inputs

Fashion Incubator » Textiles and Inputs http://www.fashion-incubator.com How to start a clothing line or run the one you have, better. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:36:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 NEW! Wholesale fabric show, low minimums NY http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/new-wholesale-fabric-show-low-minimums-ny/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/new-wholesale-fabric-show-low-minimums-ny/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:36:57 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=10519 it is critical that this go viral -promote this show to all of your friends, colleagues and contacts because not sharing the details can kill a show like this faster than anything. If you don't make an effort to tell -oh let's just say ten other people- don't be dismayed if this is the first and last year this show is held. If you don't tell ten other people, I never want to hear you complain there aren't any shows for small designers. You should promote this show even if you don't live in NY or plan to attend! If this show doesn't succeed, the vendors will not be convinced to do it anywhere else. Meaning, if you want a show like this to open in a location more convenient to you, the best way to make it happen is to do what you can to make a show you're not even going to, a rousing success. Make sense?]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/new-wholesale-fabric-show-low-minimums-ny/feed/ 118 Your dress plan for 11|11|11 – it’s Corduroy Day! http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/your-dress-plan-for-111111-its-corduroy-day/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/your-dress-plan-for-111111-its-corduroy-day/#comments Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:39:19 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=10312 whale_or_wale

First somber, now silly. I gave you the warm up for tomorrow's festivities last year [Normally I would quote it but that makes the pipe key slanted and that simply will not do. I mean, compare this: 11|11|11 to this: 11|11|11 and you see the former simply will not do]: I’m sure my announcement is anti-climatic what with the ribald festivities taking place in your workplace today but for the few who may not remember, today is Corduroy Day! November 11th is the only obvious choice, 11|11 being the date that most resembles corduroy. I can’t imagine how wild next year’s parties will be on 11|11|11 but better make party reservations now. [Please note you should use the pipe key {|} rather than the forward slash {/} when writing 11|11 since it looks even more like corduroy.] I’ll bet that even if you did know today was corduroy day, you might not have known that the official symbol of the Corduroy Appreciation Club is the whale; whale being a homonym of wale.

If you're wailing to wale for the whale, see this. I regret to report the event in Portland has been sold out. All 11 slots were taken early on. Uh oh, the Facebook page says 14 are confirmed attending. Say it isn't so! No matter, there are festivities pending in NY -and even commemorated with a special Two Item Rule cocktail! And if that's not enough for you, see this run down of the 11 days of Corduroy. Another fan posted this item (Etsy) described as "Pinwale Pin Whale". Ha ha. Pinwale pin whale, get it? Ha ha. It's a corduroy whale pin cushion made especially for the Corduroy Appreciation Club. Thus ends today's public service announcement. Now you know what to wear tomorrow. All the cool kids will be wearing cords. Yeah.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/your-dress-plan-for-111111-its-corduroy-day/feed/ 1 Wholesale fabric shows: Premiere Vision or Texworld? http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/wholesale-fabric-shows-premiere-vision-or-texworld/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/wholesale-fabric-shows-premiere-vision-or-texworld/#comments Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:49:09 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=9679 Premiere Vision (July 13-14) and Texworld (July 19-21). One show isn't better than the other, each represents different value. Here's what I can tell you. I went to the Premiere Vision show in Paris (two years ago) but have never been to the PV New York show. I would imagine the NY show isn't quite as good as the Paris show (you'd be surprised how many people can't get visas or don't want a piece of the US market) but few would argue that PV NY is not the top tier designer fabric show in the US. Let me qualify that. Premiere Vision is a better choice if you have a fashion forward bridge or contemporary line with high price points, and have or aspire to have a presence in the EU or Asia. I liked the Paris show very much. See the review I wrote of it (do that enough times and you'd never need to buy a sourcing directory). The ambiance is professional and muted, very conducive to business (as is Texworld)]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/wholesale-fabric-shows-premiere-vision-or-texworld/feed/ 10 Wholesale Fabric Show -Chicago May 26-27 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/wholesale-fabric-show-chicago-may-26-27/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/wholesale-fabric-show-chicago-may-26-27/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 22:26:49 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=9435 Chicago Fabric & Trim Show which takes place next week, May 26 & 27th. Mostly targeted at independent designers, most vendors offer low or no minimums! This is an excellent opportunity for folks in the Midwest to shop for fabrics, trims and guts. A partial listing of the 100+ vendors can be found on the AIBI site. If you're a member of the F-I forum, check this thread to meet other members who are going and to get the details of Jay's open house the day before. If you can't make the open house on the 25th, there will be a meet up on the 26th. Jay is a wonderful host; rumor has it that he buys the first round.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/wholesale-fabric-show-chicago-may-26-27/feed/ 3 Why jean legs skew http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/jeans-jeans-jeans/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/jeans-jeans-jeans/#comments Thu, 12 May 2011 23:04:59 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=9393 twill_denim_marker

My friend and esteemed colleague -but not my competitor- Valerie Cooper called me to ask if I knew that Cone Mills and other denim producers deliberately introduced skew into the denim they weave during the finishing process. As many of us know, skew (sometimes called torquing) is something to be avoided. This was news to me! Oh say it isn't so! Just goes to show how much we knew. They do and it's a good thing. Here's the back story which some of you know already (and more). Denim is a twill weave. The nature of twill weaving shifts grain under required pressure dictated by the weave itself. If you look at vintage denim, the legs skew badly. Today, not so much because -and this is what we didn't know- Cone Mills and other producers started to introduce skew deliberately in the finishing process to compensate for the shift that is inherent to twill weaves which reduces the overall skew. You know, a course correction (talk about defying the laws of physics and not thinking through things to their logical conclusion). I knew they did something to get it back into shape, but hadn't really thought about it much. ]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/jeans-jeans-jeans/feed/ 13 Open tabs 3/8/11 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/open-tabs-3811/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/open-tabs-3811/#comments Tue, 08 Mar 2011 21:25:27 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=8848 seyed_alavi

Too often I don't share what I've been reading or finding across the web but several sites compel today's effort. That and I have too many tabs open in my browser. Typical. On the heels of yesterday's entry I found three textile glossaries courtesy of Textilesmithing, glossary one, glossary two and glossary three. There's a fourth but it's not loading for me. Textilesmithing is a newish blog featuring topics on surface design, weave, pattern and with a healthy smattering of stuff you should have known a long time ago. Such as, sharkskin suits are not made of sharkskin. Yes indeedy! I imagined they weren't made of shark skin but I didn't really know what they were made of and so now thanks to the internet, I can pretend I always did. Be careful though or you can waste a whole day there -speaking of the Lexus carbon fiber circular loom that amounts to nothing less than autie-porn. The photo above is Sayed Alavi’s Flying Carpet installation at the Sacramento Airport, again courtesy of this entry on Textilesmithing. If you follow Seth on twitter, you can pick up more tres cool stuff like this gizmodo story about a brief history of bulletproof fabric.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/open-tabs-3811/feed/ 15 Designers must know: textile performance http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/designers-must-know-textile-performance/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/designers-must-know-textile-performance/#comments Tue, 08 Mar 2011 00:00:17 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=8834 Things you must know if you have a clothing line) but didn't know what to call it. I think I will call it "Designers must know:...". Theresa and Sarah suggested names similar to it so they get the credit. There are earlier entries in this series that I can't rename but I will retag them and include those links at close. Today's entry is about understanding textile performance. If there were ever an area for which meta-cognition were invaluable, it would be in textiles which is why I wrote that pre-entry last Friday. As I said then

...specifications, protos and sketches are useful devices to create understanding. However, there are some situations in which it is nearly impossible to have meta-cognition no matter what you do. More specifically, it is almost impossible to have meta-cognition about textile performance... The worst part about it is that the other party doesn’t know you don’t know and since they can’t know you don’t know, they can’t help you with it. That is why designers are expected to know textile performance.

Textiles are tricky on several levels. First is design and then is performance. There are costs and risks associated for each. Because misunderstandings are inevitable, I will tell you some things to watch out for as well as how to try to get around the lack of meta-cognition between you and another party.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/designers-must-know-textile-performance/feed/ 5 Textile geek fest http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/textile-geek-fest/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/textile-geek-fest/#comments Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:26:04 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=8483

The 8th edition of Techtextil North America, the international trade fair for technical textiles and nonwovens will be held March 15 - 17, 2011 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. I have never been but I must confess I am sorely tempted. If you attended SPESA last year, you got a small sampling. As I mentioned then, this show is exemplary, very well managed from start to finish. And no my friends, this isn't the place to source cuddly or cute stuff for your lines. It's very specialized. If you're putting out any kind of technically oriented product (read: high tech applications in medicine, safety etc) then you might consider going. The neat thing about the show is that in addition to the seminars (40 of them) the vendor space is a vertical opportunity with suppliers who focus on everything from research and development, raw materials, production processes, fiber and goods conversion, fiber treatments and applications and last of all, sustainability and recycling. Looking over the attendee brochure (pdf) would give you a better idea.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/textile-geek-fest/feed/ 3 Knit fabrics research question http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/knit-fabrics-research-question/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/knit-fabrics-research-question/#comments Wed, 26 Jan 2011 22:50:51 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=8477 What percentage of clothing made today contains stretch (lycra/spandex) versus five to ten years ago? I'm trying to figure out what the impact of stretch knit fabrics is on the clothing industry today. If I were permitted to broaden the question, I'd wonder what the percentage is today versus thirty years ago. Does anyone have any idea how to find the answer to this question? If you can help, you will have my undying gratitude.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/knit-fabrics-research-question/feed/ 10 Value Circularity: cotton, colanders & the specialty store market http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/circularity-cotton-colanders-value-and-the-specialty-store-market/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/circularity-cotton-colanders-value-and-the-specialty-store-market/#comments Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:38:02 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=7929 nearly enough thought. If consumers don't fully understand the mechanism of cost increases, neither do producers. When you send work (money) off shore, those economies become better off. If they're better off, they start buying goods and services they couldn't afford before. If those (local) consumers can buy more stuff, producers who used to work for you will produce stuff for their own markets. And why not? With proximity, their overhead is lower. This also impacts things like cotton prices because they now need the fabric for their increasing consumer market meaning less for you and higher costs for what is available. The summary being, in order to make it profitable to continue making stuff for you, they'll charge you more when you and your customer can least afford it because their increasing consumer base takes up the slack.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/circularity-cotton-colanders-value-and-the-specialty-store-market/feed/ 12