Time to start writing a business plan

Hi everyone!

So, as said previously, we made a presentation about the potentials of down-cycling in Sweden and the wide range of products which can be produced out of textile waste. Now that we had the entire group members on board with the idea it was the time to write it down, map it out and focus further on the business plan, but! little had we worked on business plans previously! So, we spent quite a while readying different samples to get inspired from. Eventually we designed our very own business plan template and asked some of the group members to share their ideas about our business plan idea. However, it was right in middle of summer so we didn't have the luxury of having people who could actually guid us around as they were all on vacation. We didn't have a good luck with weather either as it was such a cold and rainy summer in Stockholm, but ice-creams of Gamla Stan were the fuel to get the work going!

I addition to business plan we started preparing a data base of the prospective clients, so we spent considerable amounts of time looking up different websites and companies and tried to get our head around the type of business they are involved in. Our list included companies and organisations in varied industries like building and construction, interior design, recyclers, etc . Also, we prepared excel files for the start up costs of the required facilities and equipments like sorting conveyer, compressor, workforce and so on.

 

We were almost done and our long summer was almost over... 

My last week

My last week at the company went by so fast. There were still so many things I wanted to do but in the end I just didn't find enough time. Therefore, the company connected me to a program which made it possible for me to check my work emails and respond to them when I am back home in Germany. This way I could finish my pyjama project from home.

During my three months at the company I learned so much about the design and the development of a product, about the materials, the fit, sizes as well as trims and accessories. Furthermore, I learned how to communicate with factories in Asia, what questions to ask, what details to include and how to write in order to avoid misunderstandings.

In addition, I learned how a small company of that size works and operates and what advantages as well as disadvantages there are.
I was so happy to get the chance to do this internship and get such a great project with so much responsibility.

End of intership at Acne Studios

Friday was my last day as a Trim intern at Acne Studios. I have been there for the past 6 months and I have learned a lot about the process from design to finished product, and I have also learned a lot about textile material and trims material. I know more about buttons and zippers now than ever before. This last post will be a reflection of my thoughts about working at a high-end fashion company.

It has been crazy. The fashion process that we have learned in Textile Management courses, that it takes around 6 months to create a collection from research to fashion show (marketing), that does not apply on Acne Studios at all. They work their own way and always manage to create a collection in time, but to do that, requires a design and production team that are willing to work night and day to make sure that the collection finish in time. It also requires a good relationship with all the suppliers in fabrics, trims and vendors, so they can reach the demands with short lead-time and deliver what the designers wants in time. Some periods have been a lot, sometimes a bit too much. But at the same time, it has been fun. Not only have I learned a lot about fabrics and trims, I have also learned a lot about the process from design idea to finished product that sells in store. I have been following designers idea to the finished product, sourced with suppliers, presented selections, followed development of new trims, done quality controls with the production department, placed orders and manage trims to the productions. All of all, I have been through the whole fashion loop except for the marketing part when the productions meets the buyer and sell the new collections.

Now when I’m all done, I’m happy that I got the opportunity to be at Acne Studios. The company is growing so fast, and this is just the beginning of their journey to become one on the big fashion house to remember by everyone.

Q3 Trends

Hej hej everyone J

It´s been a great week at Ellos and most of it …about the Q3 trends (Fall trends)! Last week there has been a workshop atended by all designers from all departments (womenswear, menswear, home and kidswear) about the Fall trends. All designers had to come up with ideas, pictures from magazines,  from catwalks, news, Internet to establish and set the main 2016 fall trends. All pictures have been put together on boards, and each trend has been given a name. Two main trends have been established for the 2016 july-september time span (the collections at Ellos are created for each month, and each month is represented by a specific trend). When the main trends have been set, each designer creates the moodboard and color scheme, adapted to their department and concept.

A few days later, I atended a meeting where each designer presented their own story for each department/concept, based upon the previously discussed main trends. Amongst others, they presented the moodboards, described the personas and suggested a color scheme for the collections. The design manager made sure all departments are going in the same direction and they follow the same ideas. Future prints, styles have been suggested and discussed as well. Later next month, the designers will attend a trend conference in Gothenburg where trend companies present the 2016 Fall-Winter trends (these trend presentations take place twice a year). This process is the first step in building up the collections.

During my internship, I have worked a lot with the swimwear and underwear department and my job was to adapt the Q1(january-march 2016) and Q2(april-june 2016) trends to this category. I am currently doing the finishing touches on the prints for swimwear Q2 before they are sent to the suppliers. I work a lot with the buyers from this department and discuss a lot the prints, colors and styles with them to be sure that I meet the company profile and customer.  It is a great opportunity for me to be creative and use my knowledge in  design J

Mirela

Everest co. ltd

I successfully collected 40 samples via phone at last! Now I can finish up my report. During my 3 years working in the textile industry in Taiwan, I've always wondered how is the waste treated. Though I got short answers, but it is a step forward. I'm happy I have the chance to do this.

Apart from phone interviews, I've also visited one vertically integrated factory called Everest. They own facilities for spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing, finishing and CMT. I am surprised their main ideas about sustainability is highly aligned with what I've learned at the Swedish school of textile. They have adopted the 7Rs discipline, which is  rethink, redesign, reduce, reuse, repair, recycle and recovery. It makes more sense when only a day before my visit did my contact point told me she studied sustainability development in Uppsala university in 2008. They started to publish sustainability report in 2010 which is not compulsory by law. In order to gather accurate information they needed for the report, they begin their source management program.

They are especially proud of their own brand which is 100% made in Taiwan. They had a hard time finding down suppliers, since the biggest down supplier in Taiwan have moved all production overseas. Nevertheless, they insisted on their principle and found another supplier.They only have less than 30 workers in their garment factory, and they only sell in Taiwan, however they are still willing to invest in new technologies. What they are doing is an eye opener to me. But of course fabric exports are supporting their financials.

Ellos X-Mas&Party magalog...

Ellos magalog is a magazine that comes out monthly and it has its focus on design and inspiration. The designers play a very important role in its development and they have the liberty to showcase the products based on how they envisioned the trend and their concept.

After the designers receive the so-called flat-plan- a basic scheme of the magalog which includes among others the placement of photos on each page (basic photos, location photos, campaigns and still lifes) and how many pages must be covered by each concept, they start building the outfits for the magalog according to the product category; the products that need to be showcased are the A products (volume products/trendy key items) which have a really good retail price. The designers, design manager, the stylist and a representative of the marketing department attend a “Handing in” meeting where the designers present the outfits to the stylist and explain how they want the products to be showcased. In our case, the meeting I attended was about the X-Mas&Party magalog, which comes out in November 2015 and the photo-shooting takes place next week in Stockholm. The main goal of the meeting is to make sure that the stylist and marketing department deliver through the photos what the designers want to express with their collections. The outfits are presented, combined with different accessories, placed in the magalog page order to see if it is cohesive and meets the magalog theme. The designers may give indications about details like make-up, hair, accessories, which garments need close-up photos in order to evidentiate sequins, embroideries, prints, but also things like the rolled up sleeves of a shirt, an unbuttoned shirt...small details that create the feeling of the trend and the concept, just as the designer envisioned it....but always keeping in mind the Ellos customer.

In the end, the magalog presents a story in which the outfits, locations and the fashion still lifes merge together. This process is not a common thing amongst fashion companies, but since the Ellos catalog has been changed to a magalog, the design plays a great part. It was really interesting to see how this process takes place and how big of a role the designers have in the creation of the magalog....

Mirela

The last week of the internship

Hello everyone!

I have finished my last week of the internship. It has been great being at Rut&Circle and I have learned a lot. It has been a very interesting and fun seven weeks. I have learned for example how to fit and measure clothing samples, making purchasing order, communicating with suppliers and I have got a good general insight into the purchasing department. I am so grateful of being offered the opportunity to do my internship at Rut.

The next couple of weeks will be spent on the report. I have finished all the interviews and started summing them up. The report will cover a case study of the working strategies of the purchasing department and there is still a lot of work to be done before my report is finished. However I hope that I will still be able to enjoy the summer and be outside in the sun a little bit before September comes!

Best regards, 

Michelle

Data collecting stage

I've finished my three interviews as planned with a representative from Taiwan's spinning association, a manufacturing company and a founder of a company focusing on selling inventories. I am surprised that they are very helping. Next week, I will start interviews via phone to collect more data. I don't expect things would go that smooth since I'm calling randomly, I don't know the exact point of contact. I will ask for the boss directly, but the case can be they are seldom in the mill. This problem would mostly occur in spinning and dyeing mills which are much more capital incentive than weaving or knitting mills. Also, email is not commonly used. I am aiming at collecting 50 samples. I hope I don't have to make any changes to that.

Joanne

Reflection (2015-07-24)

The field study was an interesting and instructive experience for me. I learned to be more flexible and to improvise and work independently and self-employed. Since the companies were not able to support my research due to their busy schedules, I chose a quantitative approach instead. I created an online survey for textile management students instead and interviewed five former and recent students with different backgrounds in the textile or textile related field.

            It was very interesting to find out how my fellow students experience our program, to hear their suggestions for improvement, and to see the differences between different textile universities.

I found out that the large majority of our students is satisfied with the program, but that they wish for more interaction with textile companies, better support on their search for an internship or a job and a better understanding about what jobs they can do later and what those jobs are really about, with practical examples. Moreover, computer programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator and recent subjects such as social media and online marketing should be addressed more detailed, according to many students.

Finally some progress (2015-07-01)

Nearly two weeks ago I published my online survey where I ask (former) textile management students about their experiences with textile and fashion companies, and I already got almost enough answers to continue my research. Moreover, everyone who I asked for a short interview agreed to be interviewed. It is very pleasant and exciting to finally make some progress and be able to complete the research.

            The perspective is a different one now – students’ impressions instead of companies’ – but since students study the program, they can probably best reflect the strengths and shortcomings of it. Therefore this change will hopefully not make the research any less meaningful.