What is a Fashion Lookbook and How to Create one?
Once you have perfected the design process, product development and sample making, your marketing should begin in earnest. Catching the eye of important buyers, press and potential customers can be done in many ways but the most effective is to send out a fashion lookbook.
What is a Technical Drawing in Fashion Design?
Providing factories with a “Technical Drawing” otherwise known as a “Flat Drawing” is one of the essential requirements when manufacturing garments or accessories. Whether you are a designer who has skills in fashion sketching, or a newcomer with moderate drawing skills, sketches are great for relaying an impression of your design ideas but should you […]
How to Protect Your Designs From Being Copied
Individuals and brands don’t mind copying a design, if they think they can get away with it. In this article, we cover various ways in which you can stop getting plagiarised and protect your future designs.
“Who Made My Clothes” Movement – How it All Began
Who Made My Clothes Movement was [and still is] a powerful event in the history of fashion. It compelled various brands, designers and the industry to think about the repercussions of their actions.
What is a Fashion Mood Board and how to create one?
At the start of every new season, fashion designers sift through their research and distil the essence of it into what is commonly referred to as “fashion moodboard”. A visual diary of details and inspirations that will later serve as a guideline and constant source of further inspiration while finalising the new collection.
How to Start a Handbag Line?
To start a handbag line in such a competitive retail marketplace is a brave endeavour and definitely not for the faint-hearted. All aspects of its development need to work harmoniously in order to create a ‘perfect storm’.
Top 5 best fashion inspiration sources for designers
Ever wondered how top fashion designers manage to create multiple collections per year? Season after season, year after year, seemingly never running out of ideas. Fashion inspiration is behind it all.
What are the Basic Costs Associated with Sample Development?
What is sample development and how to work out & plan how much money you will need for sample development if you are just starting out?
How to size label your clothing range – letters vs numbers
Selecting the correct size label for your clothing range and whether you use letters or numbers sends a clear message about the market you aim to enter. Their use isn’t based on random selection. Both letters and numbers are used to communicate very different things in the industry. In regards to sampling size selection, this […]
Consumer Wants Personalisation: What Does it Mean for Businesses?
Can a business fulfil every demand put across by consumers? These days consumers have become creators as well as critics and it has put a good load on small businesses. Find out what consumer personalisation means for businesses.
Fashion Job Opportunities for Students After Graduation
Are the students learning anything valuable (i.e., updated) in terms of the real-world fashion jobs? After graduation, students are not left with enough opportunities thus, leading to designers only. Here we explore more fashion jobs opportunities after graduation.
The Couture of the Present and Future: How it is Surviving
In the past, we have covered haute couture designers through the ages: 1900’s-1950’s. In this post, we will cover the present day haute couture designers, how it is surviving, who is buying it and how it has changed.
How to Get the Best Out of Your Mentor [and grow your business]
We all need mentors in some point in our lives. Whether it’s our own business or a 9 to 5 job, these top tips will definitely help us find the right mentors for us and get the best out of them.
Haute Couture Designers Through The Ages: The 1930’s-50’s (Part 2)
The “couture” of the past – what it means – history and origins, who did it, who bought it, couture techniques that make couture – couture. Here we talk about the period 1930s-50s part 2
Haute Couture Designers Through The Ages: The 1930’s-50’s (Part 1)
The “couture” of the past – what it means – history and origins, who did it, who bought it, couture techniques that make couture – couture. Here we talk about the period 1930s-50s.
Are Retail Stores Dead or Are They Getting Redesigned?
Is the Retail vs E-commerce battle, really worth fighting over? Can’t they both live in harmony and both the worlds coexist?
Read the author’s view in this article.
Silent Goods: Bravery in the face of adversity
Silent Goods is a brand that asks the question – Is it really possible to go against the grain and to create a fledgeling, sustainable and transparent brand that’s distributed through online sales only?
Women’s Sewing Groups – Revolutionizing Manufacturing in London
Women’s Sewing Groups formation is an age-old concept that London Fashion Manufacturing Industry has taken on with full force. Read what it’s about, how these groups work and what are the living conditions of women here.
Made My Wardrobe – From Passion to Business With Lydia Higginson
I “made my wardrobe” is not something you often hear someone say. There are many motivations behind the decisions to make your own clothes. Utelier meets Lydia Higginson who did just that and in the process turned her passion into a business.
7 Eco-Friendly Practices Every Small Fashion Business Can Do
Brands with any integrity have been thinking of ways to build their businesses with a sustainable advantage for a while now. Below are 7 Eco-friendly practices that a fashion business can do to contribute to sustainability in the fashion industry.
9 Top Tips to Get the Best Out of Your Pattern Cutter
How to get the best out of your pattern cutter should be at the forefront of your mind if you’re about to embark on developing a fashion range. Learn how to prepare for your meeting.
How to Make the Best of Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ)?
MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) is a requirement of factories – the lowest quantity of a certain product that a supplier is willing to produce.
Haute Couture Designers Through the Ages: The 1920’s
Unlike ready-to-wear which is about predicting the future, couture while expensive is an altogether more relaxed affair. The point of haute couture fashion is that it symbolizes the present for future generations to learn about the past. Learn the history here.
How Cutting Fabric for Production can Bring You Savings
Cutting fabric for production is a skill seasoned professionals know about and use as a way to make savings. Scaling up from sampling to production is a huge leap in regards to fabric and trimmings consumption.
How to Make a Handbag When Your Background Isn’t in Fashion
Every day newcomers enter the fashion industry. While they may bring new ideas and enthusiasm, their lack of knowledge of how the industry works, development and sourcing know-how and process often leaves them exhausted and with depleted funds.
Haute Couture Designers Though the Ages: The 1900s
Every industry has its own way of expressing technical might and glamour. Car manufacturers have supercars that showcase their expertise. In fashion – it is the Haute Couture collections that showcase a designer’s most outrageous ideas, where budget is no limit to ambition and clients are few and far between. This is Part 1 of […]
What are Fashion Trend Forecasting Agencies?
Fashion trend forecasting agencies are the “archaeologists of the future”. Read what they do, how they do it and why are they important.
What Makes a Perfect Fitting Session?
Read on to learn what makes a perfect fitting session and what you must ensure you have in place if you do not want to waste time and money.
Fashion Product Testing: Basic Tests you Should be Doing Regularly
Fashion product testing Furthermore enables the reduction of risks such as product recalls, helps protect your brand and gain the trust of the consumer. Learn what are the basic tests you should perform for your product.
How Denim Manufacturing Impacts the Environment
If you are a denim-wearing eco-warrior then perhaps you are more fashion and less eco-conscious! Read below and get the basics of why the current denim manufacturing has a negative environmental impact.
The Importance of Fashion Care Instruction Cards
Care instruction cards are an excellent way to communicate your brand values and educate your customer about your product, especially if your products are handmade or use any specialist materials.
3 Tips to Make a Perfect Garment Sample
Making a perfect garment sample good enough for the factory to follow through to production, can be approached in three ways. Whichever way you choose, your final outcome is to produce items to a very high standard so that they can be used by a factory as a template for your production.
Fashion Insider Tips for Sourcing Fabric Efficiently
Sourcing fabric for new fashion collections is one of the most exciting aspects of running a fashion label. Learn how to do it better with our top tips.
A fashionista’s guide to the basics of Pattern Grading
Creating pattern for garments is exciting, but the art of pattern grading is a skill not many posses. Yet the mass market relies on it for scale.
The vital importance of fashion archives for fashion brands
Fashion archives allow new designers to delve into a past that was very different to the present. It can be used in order to gain some insight into the brands DNA.
Finding a Pattern Cutter can be easy if you know what to look for
Finding the right pattern cutter for your needs can be a daunting experience. Often people in the industry say that good pattern cutters are like gold dust. Knowing how to find the right one can be hard or easy if you know how to look for one. Read on to learn what to look out for.
What is sustainable fashion and is fashion sustainable?
Now, more than ever, we should be thinking about sustainable fashion. But what is sustainable fashion? And is fashion sustainable?
9 Tips To Help You Find The Right Fashion Manufacturer
Finding the right fashion manufacturer for your idea is not an easy task at the best of times. In fact, entering the world of manufacturing can be a heady mix of initial excitement followed by angst, unnecessary expense, and frustration.
Edward Enninful is ushering the dawn of a new era for British Fashion
Out with the old guard and in with the new. The appointment of Edward Enninful as the next Editor of British Vogue is a bold move for the British fashion industry.
Everything You Need To Know About The Sample Making Process
Embarking on garment sample making is one of the most exciting and satisfying parts of the design process. Bringing your ideas to life in the form of a tangible product is the icing on the cake after months of designing, fabric sourcing and pattern cutting.
The Impossible Choice: Fast Fashion vs Slow Fashion
Making a choice between fast fashion vs slow fashion may seem like an obvious choice, yet it is not an easy choice for many to make. One has moral implications while the other is more practical and economical. So what is it to be?
The Power of Fashion Collaboration
The landscape of fashion has become increasingly democratized, and the formula of offering limited edition pieces designed in collaboration with another brand or person has proven to be extraordinarily lucrative.
The Importance of the Pattern Cutter in Fashion
Every successful fashion brand has a hidden pattern cutter in the background. Read why it is so important to have one and the types of pattern cutting available to designers today.