Category: Inspiration

Transparency in the fashion industry.

19/1/2016

NOTES ON THE HEALTH OF THE FASHION INDUSTRY AND SOME IDEAS REGARDING WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO HIGHLIGHT IN MY NEXT COLLECTION...

One of the key elements of the creation process is the talented machinists and other crafters that help to construct the garments we design. It is a symbiotic partnership where one cannot function without the other. The exploitation of workers in the garment industry has been a hot topic in social media generating massive momentum with the hashtags #whomademyclothes and #fashrev along with the proudly South African #lovezabuyza. Documentaries made after the Rana Plaza collapse, such as The True Cost have also highlighted the plight of workers in the garment manufacturing industry

In a recently published paper concerning transparency in the fashion industry titled IT'S TIME FOR A FASHION REVOLUTION the following interesting points were made.

The current fashion business model is broken and operates in a fundamentally unsustainable way…we cannot keep chasing the cheapest labour and natural resources. Eventually, they will run out.
36 million people are working as modern day slaves, many of them producing clothing for western brands.
They touch on the topic of paying a living wage rather than the bare minimum wage which in many eastern countries covers only 60% of the cost of living in a slum. Waste is also an intricate part of how the fashion industry currently operates with huge amounts of fabric and clothing ending up in landfills. Clothing donated to charities in Western countries end up being dumped on or sold in third world countries killing any chance of developing sustainable fashion industries in these countries.

WE ARE THE FASHION REVOLUTION

Our main focus is to change the narrative surrounding fashion. To transform it into a force for good. We believe that it is everybody’s responsibility; not just the fashion designers, buyers and big retailer, but also the end consumer, who allows this state of affairs to continue by purchasing the “poly-blend T-shirts and runway rip offs”

Highlighting WHERE and by WHOM clothing is made is an integral part of the Fashion revolution’s mantra, telling the stories behind the clothing. Transparently is key to insure that consumers don’t unknowingly aid and abet dubious practices “and contribute to a future that is bad for people and the planet”

WE BELIEVE IN A FASHION INDUSTRY THAT VALUES PEOPLE, THE ENVIRONMENT, CREATIVITY AND PROFIT IN EQUAL MEASURE

As a fairly well established designer in the South African fashion industry I feel that is is my duty and privilege to help spread the message. I have always believed in creating sustainable jobs especially in the labour intensive clothing industry and thus I’ve kind of approached the topic back to front.

In a recent "Eureka!" moment I realised that being an ethical designer does not end with paying a fair wage, crediting all input in design and well as production and insuring that as little as possible waste that we generate ends up in landfills. I need to tell people; consumers, fellow designers and other members of this huge industry, what I’m up to.

The main reasoning behind it is so that my loyal and amazing customer know what they are buying and why they are paying more for my clothing than mass produced runway-ripoffs. I want them to share in the feel good glow; contributing, in whatever manner, to creating more a sustainable industry. I want this ethos to rub off on my fellow designers, most of whom are already ticking all the #fashrev boxes, and inspire them to talk about what they are doing.

By adding more voices to the movement and using any available platform to broadcast it the Fashion Revolution will happen. We have committed 30 years of fast fashion atrocities and created an unsustainable monstrous industry that generates trillions of dollars annually yet fails to honour its most key member.

AFRICAN HANDS CREATING CLOTHING FOR AFRICAN BODIES

South Africa sits at the tip of a culturally rich continent with access to a huge pool of talented craftsmen and -women. Before the rise of the industrial far East we used to boast many successful fabric mills and production houses. Our bodies do not fit the Chinese, European or American mould and we have been forced to feel shame rather than celebrate being healthy human beings. Our sense of style and ethnic signatures has been appropriated the world over, yet we still flock to support cheap, badly made Western fast fashion.
We need to change our own narrative and stop allowing ourselves to be exploited. We have the power to unite the local fashion industry and ignite a revolution to radically change the way we think about clothing.

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On the topic of interns...

30/1/2014

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To start at the beginning; after finishing at lisof I worked as a shop slave (technically shop assistant, but “slave” was a more fitting a term) for a year. After that I was fortunate enough to secure a position at a Cut Make and Trim factory (CMT) that produced clothing in downtown Joburg. The owner; my first patterns lecturer, Erica de Greef, guided me exposing me to all the different elements in this insane industry. I worked under her guidance for the next four years learning more about the gritty, practical aspects of fashion than I ever thought existed!

The local fashion industry is fairly small and well guarded. Sure, anybody can walk into Golden Glow (a fabric wholesaler in Fordsburg) and buy fabric.. in theory.. In real life; it’s tricky. Who to speak to, how to tip, what to ask for, what to avoid, who has the best quality, best price, who is the most reliable, how to find out what fabric is being brought in just after the buyers return from the East and so much more. Having a mentor helps you avoid some very expensive mistakes. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve made my fair share of f#ckups, but it could have been worse.. On my own I would have struggled to survive one season.

On that note; I’ve also been blessed with an amazing financial guide, who happens to be my father and who happens to turn 60 tomorrow. Very few aspiring fashion designers value the importance of being able to draw up a little spread sheet showing their predicted income and expenses. Most fashion diplomas/degrees have only recently started adding business as a possible subject for students to take and then, in most cases, it is presented in such an abstract way that students don’t realise the value of it.

I want to say that I’ve been lucky, but I’ve also put in a fair amount of work.. luck and hard work do seem to go hand-in-hand.. But either way, I wish to continue the cycle of sharing. For the past six years I’ve accommodated interns from the various fashion design institutions/institutes in and around the country. Some helpers have been more successful that others; some have been chased away and some became close friends.

It is a huge risk letting these creatively charged, excitable and oh so young personalities into your space, into my creative bubble, into my secrets that I’ve spent the past decade gathering. I’ve been hurt, had designs stolen and copied; down to the pleats inside the pocket! But I still feel internship is a vital rite of passage between student and designer.

I currently have a little troupe of helpers, some have become valued employees and some are still busy completing their degrees; that, on paper, will leave them more qualified than me. Yet I feel that the time they spend working in the industry is more important. Some days are a bit mad; I’m not the most enthusiastic micro-manager of people and rely greatly of them to find something they are interested in doing within my operation and run with it. I prepare worksheets that cover everything I feel I can teach, but it does rely greatly on interns taking initiative. And that does become tricky. The entire reason for you being here, taking up energy, taking up my time and mental space is for you to learn, to work and to grow. The only way to sustainably succeed in this industry in this industry is to work your perky ass off.

I want you to thrive, to grow as designers, as entrepreneurs, to contribute to the industry. This little rant is also in no way aimed solely at my current interns, but at aspiring fashion designers and student in general. Appreciate what we as hosts, as mentors can teach you. Not by buying present at the end of your internship, but by using this opportunity, by learning and growing and working. There is precious little that is more rewarding that seeing my interns fly...

Photographs of some of my fabulous interns courtesy of Lingo Rodrigues and Jess le Roux, depicting some of the mad things we've done. So much love to all my interns, wherever you may be <3

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Welcome to 2014

17/1/2014

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So 2013 came to a slow and painful end...queue 2014...Oh wait! We’re halfway through January already!

In the middle of a heat wave and I've kicked of winter production. I get light headed every time I have to try on a sample to make sure the fit is right or to check if the length needs adjusting. This is always the tricky part; staying ahead of the consumers’ demand means I need to think at least three months ahead. That means shopping for boiled wool and heavy weight knits in the middle of summer, convincing your wholesale clients to, just quickly, slip on this long sleeve hooded dress. It takes some getting used to, but I guess its part of the job.

This week I also had to book my time slot at SA Fashion Week (SAFW) for the spring-summer 2014-15 collection. I personally love winter and find designing summer collections arduous. It’s weird; most SA designers tend to prefer summer and only do a minimal winter collection. Summer tends to be a more commercial season and as great as that is in terms of being able to pay rent on time, it makes designing for a fashion show harder.

As the owner-manager-designer-financial-and-HR-departments of my own business I tend towards trying to streamline all processes as much as possible. In the design process this translates to designing one collection per season that I can show at SAFW and, six months later, send to my retail outlets. Most large fashion houses have the resources to present a fantastical fashion show, then has a team of designer translating it into a commercially viable collection. As much as I wish I could, I simply can’t operate like that.

I started designing my summer collection last week; merging the most successful elements from this summer into fresh silhouettes. I've approached it from the same angle that I usually reserve for my winter collections; adding textured knits and layered detailing. So far it looks like my least summery collection, yet I’m more enthusiastic about it than I've ever been for a summer collection. I feel like designing and experimenting, playing with new techniques and generally having fun...strange how it shows in my work when I’m passionate or when I've lost the love...oh well! Here’s to creating from a happy place.

May 2014 rock your socks off xx

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Relativity of fairy tales to my design technique.

22/9/2013

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I would like to explore the similarities between fairy tales and what I do. I’ve been labeled a fashion designer even though I try and stay far, far away from “fashion”. I am a creator of clothing. I studied with freaks and poppies and worked as a minimum wage retail slave. The start of my happily ever after began when I was mentored by an amazing creative with a strong academic interest. She nurtured my love for sculpting and diverted it from clay to pattern making.

While working in a factory that produced high end, ready to wear clothing, I started my own journey. With a bottle of red we christened it SIES!isabelle. Initially it was slow going; trying to find a path leading deeper into the woods, and I passed the “don’t quit your day job” marker a good couple of times.

After four years of skirting the perimeter I dove in and launched my collection at SA fashion week, a year later I quit my day job and I haven’t looked back once. It’s been a rollercoaster ride ranging from huge orders to begging for breadcrumbs.

Currently I supply over 30 stores nationwide and internationally (if you count Namibia), own a small studio/factory and produce around 120 units of clothing each week. I employ 5 fulltime staff members and provide part time work for another 10. SIES!isabelle is a regular on the SA fashion week circuit and is starting to get noticed by the glossy media and general public.

At the moment I’m busy with the dregs of winter; sales and markdowns. I’m launching my summer collection next week. And I’ve started designing for Winter 2014; which brings me to the original topic; exploring the similarities between how I design and fairytales.

My inspiration became real when I found this quote by Angela Carter. “Ours is a highly individualized culture, with great faith in the work of art as a unique one-off, and the artist as an original, a godlike and inspired creator of unique one-offs. But fairy tales are not like that, nor are their makers.”

The basic concept that I found appealing, other than wishing to create clothing that is magic and fantastical, is that I’m not creating “unique one-offs”. Everything in wearable fashion has been done at some point. What fashion designers essentially do is tell the story in a new way. As Roger Zelanzy said:

“Editors believe they are buying the stories, but they are not. They are buying the way the story is told”