Fashion1

When the United States began to lose its' once predominant position in the textile industry, most of the industry shifted to lesser developed parts of the world where working conditions often approached "sweatshop" status. With Hollywood taking the lead, consumers boycotted many of the companies that used these ill-treated workers to make the garments and, in many cases, succeeded in changing company policy. This type of boycott was especially successful in getting companies to stop doing business with areas of the world that employed child labor under unusually harsh conditions.In today's world, fashion is becoming more closely aligned with the Green movement and it is becoming fashionable these days to be "eco-chic" and this trend appears to be gaining momentum. As consumers become more educated about the complexities of the garment business, they will want to know about all the details that are involved in getting clothing to the marketplace and will expect to get the same level of transparency from clothing companies that they now expect from the food industry.

Fashion - Catalyst For Social Change

Midway through the last century, fashion and style began to take on a much more complex connection to the social issues of the day. When the Beatles exploded on the scene in the early 60's, style became much more tightly connected to point of view and political persuasion than at any time in the past. As time has gone on, the fashion world has been increasingly vocal about many of the social problems of the day.

One of the first points of contact between fashion and social issues was the Vietnam War and the developing opposition to that conflict. Invariably, those strongly opposed to the war wore their hair long and favored tie-dyed "hippie" clothes while those who supported the conflict wore their hair short and chose clothes that were much more conservative in nature.When the opposition succeeded in hastening an end to the Vietnam conflict, it seemed only natural that these activists (as they were now called) would turn their attention to other pressing social issues and style and fashion offered several flashpoints which could be exploited.

Animal rights activists came down hard on the fashion industry for supporting the cruel capture and killing of animals in order to support many of the popular styles of the day including furs, minks and other clothing. This led to a number of consumer boycotts and those wearing the clothing were often confronted on the street.

It was about this time that Hollywood began to inject itself much more strongly into social issues and thus began a long line of actors and actresses who would take strong stands on these issues and again, the fashion world was the perfect target.

Fashion - Catalyst For Social Change

Future of Fashion - 'dpol' - Eco Friendly/ Sustainable

Over the last years there has been a relative rush of books on eco and ethical fashion published across the globe. We think this is an excellent indicator of the public’s awareness of how, what, where and whom produced the clothes in our closets.

Sustainable fashion is fashion that is designed to be environmentally friendly. Fashion designers have recently adopted the idea of sustainability, using more environmentally-friendly materials and methods in clothing production like reduction in wastage, reduction in chemical usage, usage of scrap fabric, gunny bags etc. But are the apparel made out of them actually wearable? Yes, the answer is Dpol technology which can produce ecoi friendly garments which can actually divert us to sustainability keeping the costs low, so as to influence the fashion market on a big picture
The country where Mahatma Gandhi once created a revolution by wearing a simple locally hand woven cotton garment called the Khadi as a sign of independence is still a leader in terms of textile innovations. From high tech weaving to rediscovering ancient dyeing traditions, India has some interesting new answers for eco fashion design.

The first breakthrough comes from August Designs . which has taken an in depth approach to garment construction and developed a brand new patented technology called DPOL that produces ready to stitch, shaped, woven garment components. This considerably reduces fabric loss by approx 15-20% and lead time by approx 50%. DPOL supports sustainability by reducing chemical and other wastages (dyes, fibers, yarns, energy) by 17%-20%, thus imparting the eco-friendly nature to the apparels right from the inception of the process to develop the garments.
Apart from the eco-friendly aspect of the innovation, there are many notable uniqueness, some of these are: Continuity of design, proportionate design, non repeatable design and motifs etc.

The DPOL technology can be used to manufacture high quality fashion garments with mitering at various panels. Another advantage is that it can also support smaller orders: with quantities starting at one single unit, one can get garments according to their own fit, style and need. This could open brand new possibilities for sustainably minded designers: presently designers source normal fabrics and do the surface ornamentation (embroidery/prints etc) whenever required .This method gives them the opportunity to put the design into the fabrics. One can have different weaves or designs on pockets, collars, cuffs or wherever required. Weaves can produce different textures and designs as desired and fabrics can be designed as per the final silhouette of the final garment so that right kind of design falls at right place, giving a brand new meaning to custom-made!

Fast Fashion Facts

Flashback! Nearly four decades back - lifestyle fashion stores were all the frenzy in the sixties where clothing retailers like Biba and Habitat offered great collection for the young consumers. They displayed model lifestyles lines and made buyers think "which one is better for me?" Most clothing retailers joined the league for the up and coming era of seventies like Marks & Spencer and Mothercare followed by the major player 'Next' in the eighties, which were largely preferred.

Meanwhile, the major Italian player 'Benetton' marched on high street with, offering colorful designer clothing for the whole family. Their strategy resulted affirmative with noticeably contemporary window showcase in all stores with independent units. The company was successful in Britain, however, having a long standing in the market, they witnessed failure to keep up pace with the accelerated high fashion pressure by the other European competitors, which are now the known as Mango, H&M and Zara.

The rise of these competitors on high street has been witness successful because of a higher demand for fast fashion. Styles showed in magazines and other advertorials are what people wish to wear. Top designers have created collection extensions, which cater people who can afford to spend their hard earned cash on triple figure. This resulted success to the affordable collection of European fashion brands.

A Swedish player, H&M offered readymade clothing stores stocked with fashionable collection at reasonable costs. Its successful strategy was its own slogan 'fashion & quality at the best price' innovative design, reasonably priced and competent logistics. Based in Stockholm, a team of 100 fashion designers assures that nothing has been imitated from the runway platforms. They are mostly inspired from street-trends, movies, magazines and exhibitions. Impressively, the designs reach retail shelves within 2-3 weeks. H&M's high profile designer tie-ups with Karl Lagerfield and Stella McCartney have resulted entire collections available to the mass people at lower prices. This strategy is supported by huge advertising campaigns, which easily compete with the major brands.In a world of advertisements and promotions, there is one store that has made strategy to not to spend penny on advertising, "Zara", a wing of Europe's biggest, rapidly evolving and most triumphant fashion clothing retailers, Grupo Inditex. Other well popular stores in similar chain are Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Pull and Bear. Inditex operates business via more than two thousand stores in 56 countries. The first Zara shop was launched in 1975 at La Coruna, Galicia and at present it operates more than four hundred owned stores globally. In the previous five years they have witnessed sales up by 25 percent year on year. Zara runs its own design and production unit in La Coruna, Spain, which leads cancellation of the large out-sourcing operations, like H&M does in over nine hundred firms. It is modern, offering up-to-date lifestyle yet standard clothing lines for men, women and children. Zara offers reasonably priced, radical clothing, however, not of the top quality, which will last only for some seasons.

Fashion Discoveries Through the Years: 1900-1990

In the 20th century, the war and social revolutions brought definite changes to the fashion industry. The most important change might be the women’s fight against politic and social restrictions. On the first years, the corset disappeared and women’s natural silhouette was modeled in the streets along with their legs showing down their skirts.

On the 30’s, the French designer, Coco Chanel reinvented women’s fashion by adding an original piece to their wardrobe, one that was only used by men back in the day: pants. Since that moment, every little detail added to a piece of clothing, every invention, every try, has been considered fashion. These last years, the relation between fashion and advertising has transformed the fashion and textile industry in one of the most financially important worldwide.

There have been key items discovered through the years, in 1914, the first bra ever invented was introduced, and by 1934 the first ever male brief was commercialized. Nylon was presented in 1939 and by 1940 women were already using pants, thanks to the revolution and Coco Chanel’s inspiration. After pants, by 1955 the popular jean was revolutionizing Europe, where 5 years later, the famous lycra was invented by Du Pont de Nemours. The 60’s were a different era, the young generation positioned themselves in a place where everything was prohibited, the mini skirt now showed the knees and more, music played a huge part in fashion in the 60’s, retro fashion was born and The Beatles, Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin and even Jim Morrison were the trendsetters for fashion. The hippie “Power Flower” fashion was more than a fashion trend; it was a social movement, introduced by the Hindu religion being praised in this decade, especially influenced by artists like George Harrison and Jane Fonda.

Entering the 70’s, women were forced to be skinny because of the fashion inspiration in mini dresses, and tight pants, especially influenced by Twiggy and “Saturday Night Fever”, transporting the lifestyle to nighttime and heavy partying. Punk fashion started appearing by 1975 and entering the 80’s, with a touch of femininity by using underwear inspired lace accessories with your clothing. Everything was bigger, makeup, hair styles, blouses, even bows used in the hair. Michael Jackson and Madonna were the biggest inspiration using leather, lace, gloves, and unusual accessories. On the elegant side, “Dynasty” and Lady Di created a romantic style movement involving hats, ruffles and shoulder pads.

Jeans were popularized in the 80’s with their acid pre washed colors and Billy Idol’s punk look was used by every guy that wished to be a rock star, while on the contrary, Miami Vice’s look was essential for every elegant man that wanted a unique style. The 80’s were some years where people searched for their own look, and everything was allowed. Bright colors and shoulder pads were highlighted in the 80’s and continued on to the early 90’s; this movement is still considered as the worst historic moment for fashion.

Want to be a Fashion Creator?

It is the dream of many young boys and girls today to get a foothold in the exciting and glamorous world of fashion designing and go on to a successful career as a designer. Not to discount the potential to earn huge sums of money once your career graph hits a high. Fashion designers use their special creative skills to imagine and create clothes with a difference and herein lies their talent that will set them apart from the other also-rans.So what does the aspirant have to look out for if she wants a career in fashion?

* Hone your skills on the manufacturing of the clothes* Be thorough in your basic knowledge of sewing, about various textiles, suitable materials, and on what is the latest fabric used for production* Be an expert on drawing and sketching out your ideas and designs – make the layout attractive and unique* Have a thorough understanding of colours. See that your choice of colours suits your design and makes it stand out as something unique and charming* Choose your area of interest and talent. You don’t have to restrict yourself to just clothes – you can take up designing accessories like bags, footwear, purses etc. Specialise in what you are good at.* Attend a good fashion design school and learn your basics thoroughly. Try and intern with a good designer – this way you can learn far more than you can at an institute. It is this experience which will mould you into a complete designer as you will learn different aspects of designing.

* Get in touch with leading fashion houses, brand names fashion stores and garment manufacturers where you will have plenty of options to showcase your talents.* You can also work on your own and create designs that can be sold to these companies or showcased in fashion shows if you are able to afford this.

So be artistic, innovative and absolutely exquisite in your designs. Be one up on the latest trends in fashion – it is these qualities that will help you taste success in your chosen career as a fashion designer..