Toms Movement

Apart from the fact that I really like Toms shoes, I believe they have similar/ really cool philosophies that would look amazing along side my collection. 

This is the toms story:

In 2006, American traveler Blake Mycoskie befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by TOMS customers.

Why Shoes?

Many children in developing countries grow up barefoot. Whether at play, doing chores or going to school, these children are at risk:

•A leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted diseases, which can penetrate the skin through bare feet. Wearing shoes can help prevent these diseases, and the long-term physical and cognitive harm they cause.

•Wearing shoes also prevents feet from getting cuts and sores. Not only are these injuries painful, they also are dangerous when wounds become infected.

•Many times children can't attend school barefoot because shoes are a required part of their uniform. If they don't have shoes, they don't go to school. If they don't receive an education, they don't have the opportunity to realize their potential.

I believe that in order for zero waste to work it would have to have a mantra like toms and a deeper STORY. This encourages people to have more of a connection with items of clothing which prolongs the wearing time reducing mass consumption etc.

Their website is really positive and engages with the customer in a big way encouraging you to get involved. Alain needs to have this open relationship between consumer and retailer.

Patterned t-shirts and pants

Some t-shirts that I put together on photoshop using a t-shirt template. The bottom t-shirt has machine quilting inspired by the 'protective' element of the Margareta collection. Apart from my dodgy photoshop skills I like the way these tee's turned out, especially the bottom one! I think they are unisex (girls could wear them as a dress) and would appeal to my market as they are a great layering leather and easy to throw on.



These are some pants that I also put together on photo shop. I used the gun print that I developed already. I think they look really great on pants. They remind me of ksubi pants or something of this market which fits right in to the type of clothing audience that I want to create. The padded pants could go with padded tee! I should pad pocket areas, both front and back of pants.

Zero waste Shirt and Jacket for Alain

After Holly's tutorial I was inspired to start my Zero Waste shirt. These are the steps that I followed to make the shirt. It is a combination of all of Julia Lumsdens techniques, evolved into something of my own. 

STEP 1: Drape on mannequin to get pattern blocks. I drape because I find it easier to get a better fit and understand what I am designing. For this shirt I wanted my concrete elements to be:

1. Look like a shirt (I wanted to prove that something that was zero waste did not have to be lose and distorted).

2. Grain line down centre front

3. Be cohesive with Alain collection. 

STEP 2: Transferring to Pattern. After Holly's tutorial I decided to combine the jacket and shirt together in one pattern as fabric was very wide and I couldn't get the length of the jacket without combining it with other patterns. I pieced the draped blocks together like a puzzle to make the pattern. 

STEP 3: Transferring to card. I make pleat lines straighter and simplify shapes, merging areas with outlines from blocks. 

STEP FOUR: Toile time! Because I have changed so much of the shape, I need to toile before using the actual fabric. This is the toile for the shirt. I stupidly sewed the back to front i.e. pleats are supposed to be at the back. I also forgot about a button wrap so need to add this to the pattern and re- toile.

Notes from Zero Waste Tutorial with Holly

Zero waste pattern cutting is a design practice that embraces UNCERTAINTY.
- Yeohlee teng
- Tara St James
- Alice Sutton (Selvage to Selvage)
- IDEA: things that enable further mending, leaving a length of a dress sewn up more than usual so it can be unpicked and worn longer or shorter in different seasons.
- Use paper models! "Endurance Skirt" - Using fabric that is already with a garment (connected) for mending.
-Imbedding finishing into a pattern.
JULIA LUMSDEN MASTERS WORDS:
-Piecing
-Merging
-Nesting
-Blending
-Creating.

How to start? Pre determined areas of the finished garment that are fixed and the remainder of the pattern evolves around these fixed attributes.

Piecing: establish pattern is divided into at least two smaller pieces, enabling the pattern to fit the width.
Merging: putting two pieces together/eliminating seams/darts to create useable negative space.
Blending: established pattern pieces are created. EG. creating pockets. First part of call FUNCTION. Mens pants without pockets: utility.
Embedding: Predetermining a garment piece or entire garment to then in bed in the overall garment pattern
Approaches: Cut and drape, geo cut (geometry inspired) planned chaos (blocks for zero waste pattern) -combination.

As long as the new line intersects a seam line it will fit the same. Instead of small fish dart shapes.

Advice from Holly for Zero waste jacket: use tear drop shape for armhole instead of straight slash line then look at Julia Lumsdens Masters folio for how to use teardrop shape for placket.

Zero waste jacket on body

Best toile so far! Left most is how a man would wear the jacket and the right is how a woman would wear it. Still having issues with sleeve. 

Patterns

Playing with th 'protective' theme that comes from the Margareta collection, I wanted to creat a modern print that emphsized this. I came up with the idea of guns and targets so below are two of the prints that I made and then some further developments photo shopped on t shirts. 

This was the first one I did, I can deffinately imagine it on a men's tailored shirt in really small symbols. They re intened to give a basic geometric shape from afar and then you see the atual guns up close. I could play with grey on grey color combintions to make the pattern a little more suttle. 

I then outlined the gun shape and patterned it to create a similar asthetic as the pattern above but a little more suttle and therefore possibly more feminine. Even though guns are always asociated with men, I believe women/girls would deffinately wear a print like this. 

 

Here I am putting some prints on t-shirts. I think some of them are really effective. I need to change the color combinations to fit my collection but apart from that I think they could add a really fun element that would be popular in the market place. 

Design Development - Vests

I think vests are a very valuable piece to own as they are more trans seasonal than a jacket and perfect for layering. I believe they fit into my collection well as a simple belt around the waist can put a feminine spin on a masculine looking outfit. I have started introducing this brown color into the collection. I need to find a marterial that resembles this color and asses how it looks with the other colors.