Tuesday I took to NY to expand my vision for Quell Collections and expand my knowledge of the inner workings of the fashion industry. Since my very 1st sketch years ago the only thing I could think of has been “who’s going to produce this for me?”. Well I’m finally closer to the answer. F.I.T held a manufacturers expo where about 60 manufacturers, pattern makers, markers etc all located in NY displayed their services in one room. Most of these companies are hard to find businesses who’s phone number doesn’t show up in the Yellow Pages or on the internet. In most cases to get good manufacturing you just have to know someone who knows someone. So of course I was thrilled to know someone being a part-time student at F.I.T. I figure this would be my opportunity to connect w/ a pattern maker & manufacture to bring my sketches to life.
This was the 1st expo of this sort and it felt like it. Some vendors either didn’t show or showed up late. You could tell many of them spend most of their time in factories and studios and not around many people. They weren’t very welcoming or charming towards the potential clients. I didn’t take that personal though. I just started approaching tables picking up what little info and paperwork some vendors had to offer. The entire expo wasn’t bad though. I met a few reps that had samples available and video presentations of the insides of their factories. 1 sale rep in particular, a short Asian man with a broken NY accent really peaked my interest. He had a great display of finished and unfinished samples. He was very clear in describing what his company offered for menswear. He didn’t want to name names but he mentioned that his company was helping another well known company with their new project customizing jackets (Nike Destroyers maybe). I was more impressed with the quality of the different types of women’s wear he had on deck. The range and execution of the garments showed good craftsmanship. Coming from Baltimore its not easy to get face to face with good manufacturers. I feel a bit relieved now that I know decent American manufacturers are not ghosts. I have a feeling production and manufacturing is one of those circles that once you’re in you’re in and right now I’m standing at the front door.
Visiting A.P.C in Soho
After I gathered all the contacts I could I headed off to the city with my main Icy. We were in search of a book to accompany a task managing app he’d just learned about. As we’re walking down the street talking about how we love NY because there’s always something going low and behold we walk right into a sign directing us into a fashion industry textile tradeshow. How ironic! So we look in, check out the set up, saw all the people buzzing around and decided that this is something we need to check out. As Icy would say “I need to be on THAT email list”. We popped in, registered then began our journey through 3 levels of people super passionate about fabric and color.
They even had folks there from what’s seems like some kind of Color Palette Association who determine and predict what colors will trend next season and they had NO problem reminding guests that pictures were not allowed of the palette chart. You were only allowed to sit and take notes. Moving from booth to booth I recognized some gentlemen who were vendors at the Capsule Show last year. The name of their brand escapes me but I just remember quality denim and workwear garments. That definitely let me know that we were in the right place. We went on to learn about waxed materials, prints, outerwear sketches and more.
Menswear Trend Forcasting
More Menswear Trend Forcasting
This was our first time at an event like this with fashion insiders from all over the world. I’d like to think we handled it pretty well and didn’t get too overwhelmed. Between production factories in Brooklyn and textile mills from Portugal it’s safe to say now we’re on some of the right mailing lists.
