Twelve Active Wear Trends For 2019: Are Your Designs On Par Yet?

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#fashiondesigner, #Fashionentrepreneur, #fashionlabel, #FreelanceFashionDesigner, activewear, brandconsultant, fashion, fashionbiz, fashionbrand, Fashionbusiness, fashionconsultant, gymwear, sportswear, trendalert, trendspotting, womensfashion, womenswear, yogawear

Have you started planning for your Spring Summer 2019 collections yet? If you haven’t already, now is an excellent time to begin. In this article, we curate the sportswear and active wear trends that are most likely to dominate collections in 2019, much like how athleisure is the running trend this year. Without further ado, here they are:

The Disruptor

 Why follow the pack when you can lead one down your own path? This is a thought that every millennial understands, and as a consumer wished to emulate. Literally, the disruptor style is about making a statement in unconventional ways.

1. Statement Prints And Placement: Look to incorporate messaging in bold across a crop top, or a loose basketball-inspired pullover. Stripes are always in, except now, they’re coming to clothing in bold, vibrant colors.
2. Street Style: Why do so many hip-hop dancers dress the way they do? Because not only do these clothes have a high style quotient but, more importantly, also a high performance aspect. Think loose joggers with a fitted bralette, or a bright neon wide-legged runner. It is all about comfort.
3. Crop It Up: Style should be a bit risqué, after all! Adding oomph and function to these elements are cropped running shorts with mesh detail, loose tanks and bras that let the arms move.

The Survivor 

With CrossFit comes the idea of endurance at its very extreme. 2019 will take this idea even further, and active wear for the survivor is on the cards. Clothing in this category is not just ideal for gyms, but also for surviving and exploring the vast outdoors.

1. Balanced Colors: Sportswear in the wanderer category uses an eclectic mix of warm and cool colors that are both earthy and vibrant. Think the skies, soil and desert rose. A clever combination of these colors can help build the idea of camouflaging while also making a statement.
2. Stylish Utility: Who says reflector apparel should only be bright silver strips on a green background? As more people step out and run or cycle along the road, neon colors and metallic bases are sure to take over. Think metallic shades of rose gold or a deep copper tracksuit.
3. Crisscross And Mesh: Giving priority to comfort again, mesh details make an appearance, adding a sense of aeration to clothing. Similarly, crisscross patterns offer greater hold and flexibility for high-endurance workouts.

The Activist

Do you care enough about the planet? Because your future customer surely does. The activist style is all about sustainable fabric, native prints and muted shades interspersed with those that make themselves heard, much like the activist wearing them. 

1. Swimwear Done Differently: Thanks to a conscious juxtaposition of colors and prints, a line of endurance swimwear that isn’t boring (finally!) is in order. It is all about staying close to nature, isn’t it?
2. Futuristic Statements: An activist is only trying to make the future better, after all! This explains why spacesuit inspired garments and muted metallics fit for an astronaut are in order. Add in some huge floral prints, and you’re good to go.
3. Standout Details: Interestingly, mesh detailing will be taken to a whole new level in this trend. SS ’19 is the season in which eco-conscious clothing gets a fashionable new update with huge mesh inlays.

 The Karmic Energizer

 There is a positive shift towards holistic wellness, and all the fitness and meditation apps out there prove a point in this regard. Colors inspire moods, and this collection is all about using color to feel strong, centered, powerful, peaceful- the choice is yours. 

1. Blues, Greens, Pinks And Reds: Muting of colors is not a concept that belongs in this collection. The swatches here scream, ‘this is how I’m feeling!’ Think bright, happy colors.
2. Straps And Bandeau: There’s nothing that offsets the effect of bright colors quite like a bodycon adaptation. Not only is the collection bright, it flatters your figure like there’s no tomorrow. Perfect for the inner gymnast.
3. Geometric Details: Geometry is not limited to prints alone! Think steep-cut sports tops, yoga pants with horizontal stripes, and square cutouts on the sides of clothing. When it comes to shapes and their placement, anything is possible.

 

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Supriya Ghurye is the founder and owner of Fuel4Fashion. She is a Freelance Fashion Designer and Brand Consultant helping fashion brands to create great products from idea to launch. Fuel4Fashion social links: Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram  

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Amp Up Your 2019 Design Efforts With An Extended Virtual Design Team

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#FashionDesign, #Fashionentrepreneur, #fashionlabel, #fashionstartup, #FreelanceFashionDesigner, brandconsultant, designhouse, fashion, fashionbiz, fashionbrand, Fashionbusiness, fashionconsultant, fashiondesignstudio, fashiondesignteam, virtualdesignteam

It perhaps comes as no surprise to you that most creative efforts begin well before they actually come into existence. Design houses and fashion labels the world over are already gearing up and designing their Spring-Summer 2019 collections.

Years before trend reports make it to the pages of reputed publications, councils decide the colors and trends that would dominate the fashion scene. Yarn manufacturers exchange swatches with design houses and perfect the color compositions. And all of this happens behind the scenes, so much so that only professionals in the domain know where to look for this information much before it becomes public.

Fashion is a very traditional industry. Trends and forecasts are made well in advance. Even before the Pantone colors for the year come out, WGSN predicts, often accurately, the colors that will take over the world in the coming year.

In a world that thrives on creativity but also encourages compliance with what is expected of a fashion label, it is not always possible to have an in-house team that outperforms itself every single year. For one, hiring and retaining such a team would be expensive.

This is where an extended virtual design team comes into play. With the advent of social media, no one wants to be seen in the same clothes twice. Enter- fast fashion and labels changing their collections multiple times each season, you need to amp up your game with an experienced team of professionals who understand your fashion brand’s DNA and work diligently to ensure your designs are ready in time.

This is how a virtual design team can help you:

1. A virtual design team is cost-effective. Since they spend a quantum of time with each client, they can give you commitments based on what you wish to pay.
2. Hiring a Creative Director with enough experience to guide the junior designers can be expensive and add to your product costs. However, if you were to hire a virtual team, they can also help guide your junior designers, and you get the job done for much lesser.

• Today, quite a few founders of fashion labels don’t necessarily come from a background in fashion. A virtual team that is well versed in the business and executive aspects of fashion can help turn your passion for the art into a viable business model.
• Just like automation in technology that helps reduce costs to a great extent, hiring an extended virtual design team enables you to outsource critical aspects of your business for same, or better, results.
• Start-up labels may not fully utilize In-house designers. For example, once the design process for one or two cycles is complete, the resources you have hired full time may not have much to do until further predictions come in. With a virtual design team, you only pay on a per-engagement basis.
• Attrition is an unfortunate reality of most industries, fashion included. Every time you hire someone new, there is a gap period in which they need to adapt to your label’s DNA. The more designer changes you go through, the more your brand’s DNA gets diluted. However, when you bring an experienced team on board and address design as the core of your label, you have a chance to be consistent with designs.
• In most cases, a start-up founder’s plate is full with many business aspects to manage. In such situations, it may not always be possible for a founder to be involved with the small details that make or break a design. Hiring an extended virtual team gives you the advantage of having a skilled designer by your side who can micromanage on your behalf.

A freelance designer can also provide all of these benefits. However, as an extension of your team, a virtual design outfit also understands costing and Minimum Order Quantities to help you bring down production costs and optimize sales.

In other words, a virtual design studio helps you fine-tune your design process, execute your designs and take them to the production stage; all while you focus on other aspects of building your business. Before you know it, fashion labels will be designing and producing clothing for Spring-Summer 2019. Join their ranks and do design right- get in touch with us today for more information.

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Supriya Ghurye is the founder and owner of Fuel4Fashion. She is a Freelance Fashion Designer and Brand Consultant helping fashion brands to create great products from idea to launch. Fuel4Fashion social links: Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram 

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Creating A Successful Fashion Brand

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design team, fabrics, fashion, fashion brands, Fashion Business, fashion illustrations, fashion labels, fashion sketches, freelance fashion designer, mood board, pre-production samples, Product design, product development, proto, selling price, Size sets, Supriya Ghurye, technical designer

Image courtesy : http://www.imodae.com

Today, several professionals from domains other than fashion choose to set up an apparel or accessories business when they look for a switch in careers.

However, starting and running a fashion label is no child’s play. For one, consistency is important as a certain form of apparel attracts and retains customers with specific preferences. Then, there is the actual design process itself. Moreover, you need to make careful choices about every aspect of business such as operations, production and sales.

Given all these elements, is there a way to streamline the process of creating and running a fashion label? We say yes! This article helps you understand some of the basics.

1. What Is Your Plan?

All those adages about failing to plan stand true in the context of fashion design. Plan out every single aspect of your label, including the ‘known unknowns’, or risks. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• What is the niche I will be operating in?
• Who is my ideal target consumer?
• How can I stay consistent with design even as trends change?
• Will I launch the entire collection at one go?
• How do I reach my ideal consumer? Which platforms (online/ offline) are they currently present on?
• How is my production team and process going to work?
• How can I gauge interest for my product?
• What is my distribution plan? Which sales channels will I be selling through?

Asking questions and answering them in granular detail helps you plan your business’s finances, your own commitment and exit strategy if any, your pitch to future investors, and most importantly, your parameters for when your creative business is succeeding or failing.

2. Who Is Your Team?

No one can live as an island, and it holds true for creative services too. The business idea may be your vision, but you still need an execution team. Specifically, in the fashion domain, you have several steps to think of- design, production, marketing, sales and analytics.

This is where a team of experienced professionals can come in handy.

Today, it is more a norm than the exception to outsource design to a skilled team that understands your business considerations and your target audience very well. Such a team can help you plug gaps in your own creative process, work with you to design a saleable product and help you understand the nuances of what makes a readymade garment viable.

3. How Are You Making It Happen?

Now that you have a sound plan and an excellent team, you can shift gears up into execution. You can either choose to create and sell in small volumes or you can go big and outsource manufacturing.

In both cases, your design team can help brief the production team about the expected output, tweak the samples and smoothen out any kinks while manufacturing the products.

Every product requires a storage facility, and this is something you need to think of very carefully. Too much inventory can eat into your working capital, while too little can cause you to lose out on sales.

4. What Is Your Selling Price?

In the planning stage, you would already have considered the pricing aspect. It is always good practice to have an optimistic price point (the standard price a few days’ post launch), a moderate price point (your launch price- early bird offer) and a pessimistic price point (your product price during sales season). Ensure that all of these prices stay above your cost price.

Once the manufacturing process is complete, reconsider your price points and adjust for any incidental expenses you may have incurred.

5. Where Are You Selling?

There’s no doubt that your choice of sales channels establishes your label’s position in the market. A product sold at Harrods is expected to be higher in price and better in quality than one sold at Primark.

Sales channels also determine your operational model itself. Do you have stores of your own, or do you stock products in some other store’s aisles? Perhaps, you’d like to ignore the offline channels entirely and sell exclusively through certain marketplaces.

The choices you make determine not just how your fashion label is run, but also the means you employ to reach consumers and bring them to these channels.

Once all of these steps have been completed and your fashion label is a real, quantifiable business, do remember to review and course-correct. Understanding what your consumers want and tweaking your label to suit those needs is the best thing you can do to build a sustainable business model and a fashion label that everyone is waiting to wear.

Stay tuned as we go into detail about each of these business aspects in the coming months. Subscribe to our newsletter and we promise you’ll be the first one to know when we publish. Meanwhile, here’s something to get your brain cells working on the business aspects of fashion.

 

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Supriya Ghurye is the founder and owner of Fuel4Fashion. She is a Freelance Fashion Designer and Brand Consultant helping fashion brands to create great products from idea to launch. Fuel4Fashion social links: Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram

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