Range Planning: From Ideas To Inspiration For A Men’s Casual Line

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blog, bold prints, brand consultant, colorboard, fashion blog, fashion blogger, fashion brand, Fashion Business, fashion consultant, fashion designer, fashion trends, growing demand for streetwear in 2019, inspiration, linear stripes, Men's fashion, mensstyle, mood board, printboard, range planning, street fashion, Street wear trend spotting, street wear trends, Streetwear, Streetwear trend spotting, stripes print

In the previous blog, we discussed range planning and how inspiration boards, color palettes, and sketches can be used in sequence to design a women’s clothing line. This week, we see how the same process can be used to come up with the men’s line.

Fashion designers have superpowers. One of those powers is creativity, while the other is the ability to break creativity down into a process. The most crucial superpower is the ability to find this inspiration and make something of it even before the trend actually hits the shelves.

Without further ado, it is time to exercise some of those powers!

Part 1: The mood board

This is perhaps the single most abstract element in the entire design process. While color and print boards represent those attributes respectively, mood boards reflect what the collection feels like. While designing the mood board, it is worth asking yourself some of these questions:

• What is the objective my mood board wants to achieve?
• What are some key inspiration points for my range?
• What unique ideas am I implementing with this mood board?

The last question is fundamental because we often generalize collections based on the season. For example, summer and men may always mean nautical stripes and pastels. However, adding in a unique element, such as the fact that many people also travel in summers can bring in a new feature to the range. For our casual athletics range, the mood is athleisure. This range is for those people who love being sporty and being outdoors but also don’t take themselves too seriously. A bomber jacket over tracks takes them from the gym to the streets in next to no time. The mood is casual, carefree, outdoorsy and charming.

Part 2: The color board

The color board, as the name suggests, is a collection of at least five colors you’d like to see represented in your range. Picking out colors is heavily dependent on the theme. For our casual athletics theme, we chose urban, outdoor colors like shades of brown, grey and green.

How do we come up with these colors? You can save images of clothes you like and use a digital color picker to identify the different shades. You can also use the Pantone color guide to spot the exact tone you’re looking for. Moreover, you can also use color mapping tools to help you pick colors that complement all others.

In any case, be sure to pick at least five base colors and two shades for each color that you’d like to work with.

Part 3: The print board

If there is one street trend that is taking over the world, it is the idea of prominent prints in menswear. Small, inconspicuous origami doves are giving way to large, placement prints and even outfits that are printed all over. Neon highlights are an excellent option for the colors we have chosen, as are geometric prints and stripes in a variety of sizes.

Part 4: The concept board

This is the stage at which all of your work comes together. A concept board is centered primarily around the main sketch it represents. The sketches themselves are inspired from all of the other boards and incorporate aspects from each of them.

 Around the sketch are images of what the style would look like in real life as well as the primary colors that make up that particular outfit. Long jackets are the staple in our range, keeping with the global trend and K-pop sensation. Our pants are loose, drawstring and aimed at people who want to move freely. It is both casual and athletic, perfect for today’s city dweller.

From here, the sketches are followed by choosing the fabric and picking the colors that closely match your original palette. This is followed by designing a few prototypes which then go into manufacture.

What is your menswear design inspiration this time around? How are you using the range planning process to come up with the collection?

Tell us in the comments. Need a hand? Book a 30 mins free session for an in-depth consultation and help with range planning.

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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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The Quick How-To for Creating Mood Boards

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#fashiondesigner, #fashionstartup, #moodboard, brandconsultant, colorpalette, conceptboard, creative, fashion, fashionbiz, fashionbrand, Fashionbusiness, fashionconsultant, fashiondesignprocess, inspiration, silhouette, style, trends

A mood board is one of the essential communication pieces in the fashion design process. It can be used both within teams and with external partners to bring alive the concept of a design. Mood boards are fairly popular in the fashion industry, but creative agencies from all walks lean on them to explain their ideas to clients.

Not designing a mood board can be a mistake of the same proportions as some of the others we discussed earlier, and can cause your team to run around in circles.

In this article, we cover the five primary elements of a mood board and how you can create an impactful one.

1) The mood of the collection: This forms the basis of your color choices, as well as your designs. For example, hearing ‘urban desert’ immediately inspires ideas filled with muted greens and browns, while ‘floral’ evokes an equally distinct image. Choose the mood of your collection carefully- it becomes the basis for all design decisions.

Mood board created by Fuel4Fashion, inspired from the Minimalism lifestyle for SS’18 women’s start-up fashion brand.

2) Concept board: The concept board is the idea behind the idea. ‘Floral’ is a concept. ‘Active wear’ is a concept. The concept board details which aspects of a design to highlight and which ones to assign a second priority to.

Concept board created by Fuel4Fashion, inspired from the Minimalism lifestyle for SS’18 women’s start-up fashion brand.

3) Style board: A loose crop top or a well-fitted blouse? Should trousers be narrow cut or broader? A style board defines the aspects of your collection that will eventually drive who will buy it. Indeed, most brands have a clear target audience and design exclusively for their body type.

Silhouette board created by Fuel4Fashion, inspired from the Minimalism lifestyle for SS’18 women’s start-up fashion brand.

4) Color Board: Be sure to use the right swaps and choose your colors carefully before they go into a mass product. The color palette you select underlines the entire collection. Not getting a shade just right can ruin the whole process. Having a fixed color palette solves the problem.

Color board created by Fuel4Fashion, inspired from the Minimalism lifestyle for SS’18 women’s start-up fashion brand.

5) Collection planning: This aspect determines how many pieces of a category you wish to have. For example, you may choose to design ten blouses, five skirts, three trousers and two accessories. Use past buying trends to of your customers to make these choices.

6) Optional: Artwork Inspiration: You can choose the art forms that you want to see represented in your collection. These can further be translated on to clothes through embroidery, sequins, digital prints, etc.

Creating A Mood Board :  When creating a mood board, think of these elements- your reference imagery, colors, and typography. The last one may not seem too critical, but it often offers that extra dash of inspiration for your team.

Recap of complete Mood Board created by Fuel4Fashion for SS’18, women’s casual wear collection for startup fashion brand

While both digital and physical mood boards are in use today, you can choose the format that serves your purpose best. If you have elements of embroidery and other work involved, a physical board may be ideal.

Experiment with different layouts for your images. Even the way an image is laid out (in a grid, triangular, scattered) in itself can represent the essence of your collection. So spend some time thinking through the layout.

Lastly, use color and type to highlight your ideas and give them new life. Today, there are many fonts and styles you can experiment with. Use those elements that add to your central them and do not distract from it.

On the whole, think through who your user base is. Whom is this mood board being designed to help? Design with their perspective in mind, and you are sure to succeed.

Also, are you following our inspiration cards on Instagram? If you find them thought-provoking, be sure to add them to your mood board and let us know!

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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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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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Our 1st guest article about Fashion Design Process on Fibre2Fashion

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#FashionDesign, #Fashionentrepreneur, #fashionstartup, #Fibre2Fashion, #FreelanceFashionDesigner, fashion, garment

It gives us great pride to announce that we have been invited by Fibre2Fashion, India’s largest portal on the textile, apparel and fashion industry to contribute a series of articles on Fashion design and entrepreneurship.

The first article on “End-to-end Fashion Design: A guide for the Fashion Entrepreneur” is now live on Fibre2Fashion. It outlines the entire design process in brief for new Fashion entrepreneurs looking to set up their own fashion label, specifically those who may not have a design background before coming into the fashion industry.

It covers all the technical aspects of the design processing including:

• Trend Forecasting
• Mood Board creation
• Range Planning and Style Selection
• Concept Sketches
• Trims and Embellishment
• Techpacks and
• Prototype Development

Check out our guest article here

Feel free to connect with me if you have any questions regarding the fashion design process or need any assistance in creating your new collection.

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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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What is a Tech Pack and How to Create One…

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apparel, apparel manufacturing vendors, apparel production, Fashion Business, fashion designers, fashion illustrations, fashion startup, garment, garment files, garment manufacturing, measurement charts, patterns, sizing, start up fashion brands, start up fashion labels, style, technical design, technical designers, technical specifications, technology, techpack, what is techpack

Anybody looking at the fashion industry from the outside sees a lot of creativity and glamour. But behind the glitzy glamor and the creative capabilities lies a tremendous amount of hard work and effort. Those of us who enter the world of fashion entrepreneurship soon realize this. Fashion design does not just start and end at the drawing board. Just like a beautiful monument without plans detailing every minute element, or a race car without an exact engineering drawing, garments cannot move from the concept to the production stage without a tech pack.

What is a tech pack? It is to a fashion designer what a building plan is to an architect – a complete map of the product to be created. A tech pack essentially converts your design from a dreamy concept into a practical piece of clothing that can be produced, in small or large quantities. It tells a garment manufacturer what elements need to be included and where, the type, quality and dimensions of the fabric and other elements

Tunic techpack for a women’s casual wear brand.

A good tech pack consists of a combination of images and measurements, made in such a way that every detail of the garment is captured. It usually consists of:

• The flat sketch of a garment from front and back, with close-ups of the complicated sections
• Details for the stitching, fabric, trims and embellishments. This may include details of the suppliers as well, and can include a swatch of the fabric as well as samples of the embellishments such as lace, buttons, etc.
• Measurements of all the important dimensions including the size of any added portions or cutaways.
• Details of the embroidery, print, patterns and labels to be used.
• Packaging instructions

With a tech pack, a designer need not be present during the entire manufacturing process, and the garment manufacturer can execute production of the sample and final order to specifications. Be sure to include as many details as possible. A good tech pack will help you with grading, pattern making, calculating cost and yield of the material and determine your approximate cost of production.

At times, modifications may be required due to technical constraints in the production process. These changes are incorporated in the tech pack and the new one is used, just as building plans may change marginally when construction is in progress to account for unforeseen obstacles. Keeping the tech pack updated ensures everyone has a clear idea of what needs to be done.

Unlike fashion design concepts, tech packs are purely technical tools with strict guidelines. However, it is essential for any designer to be able to create a tech pack, so that you know the intricacies of the design. This makes it easier for you to guide the factory and ensure that the garment created meets your requirements. You can create a tech pack using tools like Adobe Illustrator, or work with a technical designer like Fuel4Fashion, who will convert your sketches and concepts into production-ready tech packs.

With a tech pack, you are now armed and ready to convert your concepts into a physical garment that the world can wear and flaunt. If you need any help, do get in touch with me at here with your queries.

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Supriya Ghurye is the founder and owner of Fuel4Fashion. She is a Freelance Fashion Designer, Sourcing and Manufacturing Consultant helping fashion brands to plan, design and develop new collections with small quantity garment manufacturing. Fuel4Fashion social links: Twitter, Pinterest Instagram

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Growing Your Fashion Label Basics: Design Studio vs. Freelancers

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creative, fashion, fashion designers, fashion illustrations, fashion sketches, freelance fashion designer, Fuel4Fashion virtual design studio, global fashion designers, global platform, new fashion brands, pattern, Product design, start up fashion labels, style, trends, upcoming fashion designers, Virtual Fashion Design Studio

The Relative Merits of Using a Fashion Studio vs. Independent Fashion Designers

As an upcoming fashion label, you would want designs that are cutting-edge, attractive and can make a mark against established brands. Price is a factor and hence you need to ensure that your costs in designing and producing your collection are kept within your budget. One of the ways to do that effectively has been to outsource the designing work to freelance designers. With platforms like Elance and Freelancer, it is possible to find hundreds of freelance designers who will work with you to create your fashion collection at a fraction of the cost that an in-house full-fledged design team would require. And you will be able to interact with them directly, so getting your ideas across is simplified. You will also get more personalized attention from a freelancer.

Image courtesy : http://goo.gl/R44vWt

While you are likely to find a number of good designers on these platforms, identifying them can be a difficult task, involving contacting dozens of them and filtering the ones that you can get along with. At the same time, you have very little guarantee that the freelancer will deliver the work as per your timelines and specifications, since (s)he is usually a lone worker with no backup. Fledgling fashion labels on tight timelines can be stuck at the mercy of such freelancers.

So what is the solution? What you would ideally be looking for is a combination of the best parts of both sides. You would like the reassurance of a talented designer team that can be selected and deliver as per your design brief in a short time. At the same time, you would like to keep your costs low and have the assurance of an experienced professional handling the project. With virtual design platforms like fuel4Fashion, you can get both.

Fuel4Fashion is a virtual design studio that brings together talented design professionals from across the world, giving you a diverse talent pool from which you can choose who would work on your project. You get a chance to view their previous work, and have the assurance that a team of experienced professionals is managing the design process at an affordable cost. The additional advantage is that you get a variety of designs that you might not find in your local talent pool – African prints, bright Latin American colour combinations, and the style and cut of sophisticated European design houses become possible with this platform. You are assured of timely project completion, access to new ideas and efficient communication that ensures the outcome is as good as, if not better than what you visualized.

Image courtesy: http://www.fuel4fashion.com/about-us.html

While working with both freelancers and agencies have their respective advantages and shortcomings, using a virtual design studio like Fuel4Fashion gives you the best of both. This will ensure that your fashion label will make a strong impact and yet you keep your creative costs within control.

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Supriya Ghurye is the founder and owner of Fuel4Fashion, the first virtual design studio that caters to new and upcoming fashion design labels with a diverse portfolio of design services. She is a member of the Cherie Blair Foundation’s Women Entrepreneurship Program and has over a decade of fashion industry experience with international labels and start-ups.

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Influence of colors on fashion designing

Fashion designing, that is creating pretty garments and party wears centers around the use of colors like red, green, yellow, blue, orange etc. The prime job of a fashion designer is to look for fresh and innovative ideas to spice up the designs and this job will stay incomplete if there are no colors thrown in it.  There seem to be a lack of understanding as to what primary colors can do for you, so there were thousands of tints and hues innovated every day to give in a new blush to the garments.

Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/wtPgyZ
 Designs by colors

Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/2zRNDB
 Fashion color spring Pantone

Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/YfNX7g
seamlessly colorful

Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/3XRHyu
Pantone colors of the years

Earlier there was a time when fashion industry was full of dark tints and hues which were mostly consisted of the ethnic tribal prints, where maroon was the favorite color of the woman’s attire and black was the favorite color of the gent’s suit.

Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/K6xxYy
Title: Colors of the bird called fashion

With changing times, many other things have also changed like people gradually saw the replacement of cultural and gaudy prints with sober and stylish prints. Also maroon was replaced with other primary colors and soon people started using lighter shades in pairs with each other like sky blue and pink. Also men started using shades of black like light and dark grey. People started becoming more open to colors since the stereotype was broken.

Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/I1fTpO
Influence of Art as well as colors

Then the new era brought with it the dazzling and cutting edge designs which were showcased during the trendy Fashion Week. New designers, sexy designs and dark colors dominated the first few fashion weeks. Later with time some of the same designs will turn upside down with fashion becoming less on work and more on colors and fabrics used.

Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/h5a40w
Colors everywhere

Nowadays people are more and more inclined towards the use of bold colors that produce a statement like cherry red and funky orange.

Sometimes cheeky, sometimes tacky these eccentric colors hold the key to our heart and makes us more fashionable than we were earlier.

What’s your opinion on these changing trends? I would love to hear it in the comments section.

Fashion sketches with graphic software

Tags

Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, colors, concepts, corel draw, croqui, fashion blog, fashion designers, Fashion Sketchpad, freelance fashion designer, garments, Indesign, proto, sketch, stick figure

In your entire lifetime one must have at least once wondered that how good sketches of a professional designer looks.  True, the sketches drawn by a professional fashion designer do looks smooth and clean but it’s not an easy task. However today I will give you some techniques to create fashion sketches and that too very neatly.

Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/FpE4Y0
Traditional method of painting

To create sketches, there are other platforms available other than just paper. Graphic software is such platforms. A graphic software or image editing software manipulates visual images with the help of a computer. One such software is Adobe Photoshop. Also to improve the creative process there is another tool called Fashion Sketchpad which is a revolution to the designing world. If you want to get rid of the preprinted female croquis then it’s much easier and faster to get a professional quality and proportionate designs on paper but my advice is to start off with a pencil so that one can learn the ABC of designing.

Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/JrEOki
Sketches

Now To create a sketch of an elegant woman of 20’s, follow the steps:

Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/shizat
Fashion Sketchpad

1. Always start with the balance line, also known as the body’s center of gravity. This is the line along which the figure is balanced and it extends from the base of the neck till it meets straight to the ground. Then draw the head at the middle of the line. To draw a head sketch, a large circle and a smaller circle on below it. Connect these two on sides as shown.

Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/4I3VpM
Step first

2. Measure the head and draw nine small dashed of equal distance apart then number them from chin(#1) to bottom(#10). Then for the top half body and extends it from 1 ½ heads as shown below and you are done.

Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/ehmHGo
Step 4

Now to create a body with movements, draw the balance line and put down 10 marks then tilt one side on the shoulder line. Tilt the right hip so to show the walk movement but with opposite side higher.

Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/1cmQfw
First step.

Thus by tilting different parts of the body the rest of the body movement will follow suit. Anything that is above the high hip will follow the bend of the shoulder and anything which is below the hip will follow with the bend of the hips.

Also another cardinal rule is that the leg that comes from the high hip cannot be tilted and this foot must be on the balance line.

Image Courtesy: http://goo.gl/UX1lKU
Moving figure

Easy wasn’t it? Apply these techniques and let me know how they went.