Time to give an update on how things are progressing!
On my iPhone, I now have a ToDo list that is subdivided into the different categories of what a business needs and does : Management, Administration, Marketing, Sales, Design, and Production. I propose to follow these rough categories to give you an update on how things are going.
Management : By management I mean resources management, of which there are roughly three types currently - staff, finances and inventory. In early February I hired a part-time assistant who's been very productive at getting a whole set of initiatives moving forward while I've been handling design, some marketing issues and also keeping my university career on the ball. I also now have a bank of three going on four or five couturiers/couturières (seamstresses and/or tailors) who I can call on to help with prototype development and the early vetting of production garments. The funding got worked out, although I am still finding dealing with the accounting software to be a major challenge. I think hiring a part-time accountant will be a priority once we start to generate some revenue. Finally, there is no inventory to speak of yet, but we are negociating to rent some office & storage space so that when the inventory does start to arrive we have the space to put it! We shall be acquiring a computer and phone as well for the office in the next few weeks. Also, we obtained a CA # for our clothes, a Canadian legal requirement for the clothing industry.
Administration : By administration, I really mean the top-level meetings, issuing shares and so on. Not a lot going on right now.
Marketing : I have put on a major effort to get an online presence established, and this is going quite well. I have a website with an active blog and a twitter presence that channels back to the blog and website. I've done quite a lot of SEO tweaking and the results are beginning to pay off. Viewership of the website is now above 100 a week and climbing steadily, with a moderate to low bounce rate (40%) and along average viewing time (16 minutes and 12 pages despite the bounce rate) - people are clearly looking at the whole site and not just the blog postings. This bodes well for an online store. I'm also negociating with a company to do the online store after spending some time preparing a website design brief that explains in detail what I want. Locally, I've been promoting the business mostly by word-of-mouth, through my different communities. I am almost finished organizing a Facebook page for the business as well. Also, a newsletter will be issued shortly.
Sales : None yet, of course, but interest is running quite high. We are just in the process of finishing up the first production prototypes, and these will help us garner interest among small boutiques in the region. I've developed a coding system for the garments - the first production run is quite complex and the codes will be needed to make sense of the production and to keep track of where things are at.
Design : Design has been the bottleneck in moving forward, but I've found to my chagrine that it can't be rushed. I can put in at most about three hours a day on design. Then my brain cells start complaining about the intensity of the work! But the first line of garments is (almost) finished, while the first two models of the second line of garment are also more or less completed and ready for production.
Production : While the whole production process was quite mysterious to begin with, we've more or less worked out most of the kinks and know how and where to go to do this, how much time it takes, and more or less how much it costs. We know what labels need to be made and where to make these, and are in the process of working out packaging requirements. We expect to be in production for the first batch of the first garment line by the end of March.
Our local (Quebec City) launch event won't be in April, but we believe we can meet a deadline in mid to late May now. Our online launch date will be several weeks after the local event as the online store will take a bit of time to develop and, hence, we will be able to use the photos and video footage from the launch event on our online site.
The stress levels have come back down to a more or less reasonable level, while the excitement factor remains high. The adventure continues!
Showing posts with label clothing design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clothing design. Show all posts
Friday, March 4, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Plans within plans
While I'm in the process of moving my designs forward to final versions in readiness for production, I have been doing a number of activities on the side to keep the ball rolling. This includes taming the twitterverse so that my company can develop an internet presence, on the one hand, but also putting down on paper a series of preliminary versions of policy documents.
As a researcher with a reputation for "out-of-the-box" thinking, I have long recognized the value and importance of planning, and writing down one's plans. Twenty years ago, as I was entering the academic world as a young professor, I set down on paper my long term plans, which at the time consisted of developing a cogent linkage/platform between the arts and the sciences. In 1990, this was a radical goal - academia was a long way from welcoming such a prospect with open arms. Even today, although there are many more venues where collaboration between the arts and the sciences is taking place, there is still a great deal of resistance to this program. So it seemed unusual and daring at the time.
Mind you, I didn't proclaim my goals up and down my department, but I did quietly work away at them, so that, 20 years later, I achieved what I set out to do.
Over the course of those years, I was involved in setting up a major and well-funded research network as well as managing a research centre and initiating an arts-science business venture. I learned how to write a business plan, and initiated and led several large-scale consultation exercices aimed at developing strategic plans. So I have a good deal of knowledge and savoir-faire about how these things are done.
For my fledgling company, in order to solicit a bank loan, I had to write a business plan. These last couple of weeks, using the business plan as a basis, I have started to set down on paper my understanding of where gdotmoda's marketing efforts need to go - i.e. a marketing plan. Right now, the company consists of only me, but within the next few weeks I shall be hiring an assistant as well as a number of production seamstresses/seamsters. For the assistant, at least, I need to work out a clear approach to marketing. But even simply for myself, writing down my understanding as it develops through voluminous reading is an important task. There are so many things to remember, that a clear set of plans to steer by seems to me, essential. My marketing plan has two major sections, one for internet marketing and one for local marketing. These two subareas have very different marketing needs, and require almost separate marketing plans.
As a researcher with a reputation for "out-of-the-box" thinking, I have long recognized the value and importance of planning, and writing down one's plans. Twenty years ago, as I was entering the academic world as a young professor, I set down on paper my long term plans, which at the time consisted of developing a cogent linkage/platform between the arts and the sciences. In 1990, this was a radical goal - academia was a long way from welcoming such a prospect with open arms. Even today, although there are many more venues where collaboration between the arts and the sciences is taking place, there is still a great deal of resistance to this program. So it seemed unusual and daring at the time.
Mind you, I didn't proclaim my goals up and down my department, but I did quietly work away at them, so that, 20 years later, I achieved what I set out to do.
Over the course of those years, I was involved in setting up a major and well-funded research network as well as managing a research centre and initiating an arts-science business venture. I learned how to write a business plan, and initiated and led several large-scale consultation exercices aimed at developing strategic plans. So I have a good deal of knowledge and savoir-faire about how these things are done.
For my fledgling company, in order to solicit a bank loan, I had to write a business plan. These last couple of weeks, using the business plan as a basis, I have started to set down on paper my understanding of where gdotmoda's marketing efforts need to go - i.e. a marketing plan. Right now, the company consists of only me, but within the next few weeks I shall be hiring an assistant as well as a number of production seamstresses/seamsters. For the assistant, at least, I need to work out a clear approach to marketing. But even simply for myself, writing down my understanding as it develops through voluminous reading is an important task. There are so many things to remember, that a clear set of plans to steer by seems to me, essential. My marketing plan has two major sections, one for internet marketing and one for local marketing. These two subareas have very different marketing needs, and require almost separate marketing plans.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Dynamic Clothing Prints
As part of a research project earlier this year, a colleague and I developed an idea about the use of dynamic garment prints which we presented to a scientific conference concerned with a special kind of computer data structure (called the Voronoi diagram). I often don't think to connect my fashion/sewing blog to some of the more relevant research projects with which I'm involved. In the future, I'll try to remember to do this more, as I think some of these projects may be of interest to people interested in fashion design.
Our original idea was to use this particular kind of data structure as a support for software that could be used to combine the stages of printing, layout, garment construction and garment wearing. Using modern animation techniques such as dynamic cloth simulations, it is becoming easier to link the garment construction and the overall look of the garment under motion, and existing software packages allow one to specify fabric and layout and infer garment construction. However, incorporating the printing stage is still very difficult to do, even though, with digital fabric printers, it is now possible to custom design prints to create the final garment appearance. Right now, the process of getting from the printing to the appearance of the final garment is very much by trial and error. It would be great to have access to software that would allow one to "slide the print around", or make changes to the print and see instantly the effect on the final garment.
There are a number of technical problems that have to be overcome to be able to do this. Although not the only solution, and perhaps not even the best, the Voronoi data structure offers some flexibility in being able to do this, which is why we investigated this for our research.
However, once we got onto the idea of being able to "slide around and update" a fabric print within the garment layout, and see instantly the result on the final garment, we realized that a similar procedure might be used to generate "dynamic patterns" that change in real time on the garment's surface. This rather cool idea, requires new technology to actually implement - we are not (yet) at an era where fabrics are a kind of flexible computer screen, which is what one would need, ideally, to achieve such an effect. However, with a little imagination and technical know-how, it is possible to conceive of a number of lesser effects that would still provide interesting garment experiences.
(a) One way to do this would be to equip a garment with an array of LEDs (light emitting diodes). LEDs are cheap (less than 2 cents a diode) and there are now a number of technologies that allow them to be integrated into clothes. Although controlling a large array of lights is still quite demanding, controlling a smaller number (a dozen or so) is relatively straight forward, even for the amateur. Over time, controlling arrays of LEDs should become easier. However, this is perhaps not the best solution.
(b) The use of chromothermic inks provides another means to dynamically change fabric prints - however, the principle is fairly constraining. Essentially, different colored inks can be used that become transparent at different temperatures - for example, red at 15 degrees celsius, blue at 16 degrees, green at 17 degrees and so on. By heating the garment with a low voltage electric circuit (or simply as the ambient temperature changes), the garment's printed pattern will change its appearance. A number of new garments presently emerging from experimental stages are using this principle. However, for dynamic garment prints, the applicability is still limited.
(c) An alternative approach, and one closer to our interest, is to use augmented reality. The term refers to the idea of viewing a camera image which shows the "world" as it is, but overlaid on top are virtual objects, which, in sophisticated AR applications, appear to be part of real world objects. Traditionally, the use of AR involves wearing specially designed glasses or goggles that incorporate the cameras, but recently the iPhone and similar devices has been used to provide a similar capacity, not "glued" to our eyes in the same way. That is, when you look "through" the iPhone, you see the world "augmented" by the virtual elements.
(d) A fourth possibility, related to the AR approach, is to project images onto the garment. This could make sense, for example, for a play or dance show that one watches from a distance - the effect is limited to a particular viewing direction. This has been done on several occasions by avant-garde artists, so it is not particularly new, although before the arrival of Augmented Reality software modules in the public domain (of which there are now several), this effect was very challenging to achieve!
To explore what this might look like (either option (c) or option (d)), we simulated the use of a dynamically "corrected" print using a virtual development environment (Poser 7). In the video segment below, you will see a virtual woman wearing a blouse with a static print (the usual!), lean forward and then back, followed by a sequence showing the same movement using a dynamic blouse pattern. The idea is to note that the dynamic blouse pattern leads us to view the body differently than does the static pattern. There is a bit of a "moiré" effect, due to the single perspective and the "perfection" of the dynamic pattern - in a real implementation, one would not expect to see this effect, as there will be many small imperfections in the way the pattern will look, but overall the different perception should still be maintained if the print changes over time.
Of course, there are many other ways to make the print vary over time - in our work, we were particularly interest in body image and body perception.
Our original idea was to use this particular kind of data structure as a support for software that could be used to combine the stages of printing, layout, garment construction and garment wearing. Using modern animation techniques such as dynamic cloth simulations, it is becoming easier to link the garment construction and the overall look of the garment under motion, and existing software packages allow one to specify fabric and layout and infer garment construction. However, incorporating the printing stage is still very difficult to do, even though, with digital fabric printers, it is now possible to custom design prints to create the final garment appearance. Right now, the process of getting from the printing to the appearance of the final garment is very much by trial and error. It would be great to have access to software that would allow one to "slide the print around", or make changes to the print and see instantly the effect on the final garment.
There are a number of technical problems that have to be overcome to be able to do this. Although not the only solution, and perhaps not even the best, the Voronoi data structure offers some flexibility in being able to do this, which is why we investigated this for our research.
However, once we got onto the idea of being able to "slide around and update" a fabric print within the garment layout, and see instantly the result on the final garment, we realized that a similar procedure might be used to generate "dynamic patterns" that change in real time on the garment's surface. This rather cool idea, requires new technology to actually implement - we are not (yet) at an era where fabrics are a kind of flexible computer screen, which is what one would need, ideally, to achieve such an effect. However, with a little imagination and technical know-how, it is possible to conceive of a number of lesser effects that would still provide interesting garment experiences.
(a) One way to do this would be to equip a garment with an array of LEDs (light emitting diodes). LEDs are cheap (less than 2 cents a diode) and there are now a number of technologies that allow them to be integrated into clothes. Although controlling a large array of lights is still quite demanding, controlling a smaller number (a dozen or so) is relatively straight forward, even for the amateur. Over time, controlling arrays of LEDs should become easier. However, this is perhaps not the best solution.
(b) The use of chromothermic inks provides another means to dynamically change fabric prints - however, the principle is fairly constraining. Essentially, different colored inks can be used that become transparent at different temperatures - for example, red at 15 degrees celsius, blue at 16 degrees, green at 17 degrees and so on. By heating the garment with a low voltage electric circuit (or simply as the ambient temperature changes), the garment's printed pattern will change its appearance. A number of new garments presently emerging from experimental stages are using this principle. However, for dynamic garment prints, the applicability is still limited.
(c) An alternative approach, and one closer to our interest, is to use augmented reality. The term refers to the idea of viewing a camera image which shows the "world" as it is, but overlaid on top are virtual objects, which, in sophisticated AR applications, appear to be part of real world objects. Traditionally, the use of AR involves wearing specially designed glasses or goggles that incorporate the cameras, but recently the iPhone and similar devices has been used to provide a similar capacity, not "glued" to our eyes in the same way. That is, when you look "through" the iPhone, you see the world "augmented" by the virtual elements.
(d) A fourth possibility, related to the AR approach, is to project images onto the garment. This could make sense, for example, for a play or dance show that one watches from a distance - the effect is limited to a particular viewing direction. This has been done on several occasions by avant-garde artists, so it is not particularly new, although before the arrival of Augmented Reality software modules in the public domain (of which there are now several), this effect was very challenging to achieve!
To explore what this might look like (either option (c) or option (d)), we simulated the use of a dynamically "corrected" print using a virtual development environment (Poser 7). In the video segment below, you will see a virtual woman wearing a blouse with a static print (the usual!), lean forward and then back, followed by a sequence showing the same movement using a dynamic blouse pattern. The idea is to note that the dynamic blouse pattern leads us to view the body differently than does the static pattern. There is a bit of a "moiré" effect, due to the single perspective and the "perfection" of the dynamic pattern - in a real implementation, one would not expect to see this effect, as there will be many small imperfections in the way the pattern will look, but overall the different perception should still be maintained if the print changes over time.
Of course, there are many other ways to make the print vary over time - in our work, we were particularly interest in body image and body perception.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)