We had very little knowledge of the industry and how it actually operated. So knowing where to start or how to get in touch with suppliers was more daunting than we’d imagined. The yellow pages soon became our best friend as we realised websites for suppliers in the industry was a rarity. We then spent the better part of two months finessing our designs, partly due to the fact all our sketches either looked like stickmen in paper bags or body builders with large breasts (quite literally!). So as you can imagine, it was very hard at times to visualise each others’ concepts.
A quick crash course in understanding the difference between knit and woven fabrics was next. Talk about confusing!!! Understanding how fabrics wore over time, and even comprehending the possibilities, or lack there of, in combing a knit (typically a stretchy fabric) and woven (think business shirt, table cloth; stiffer fabric) in one garment was challenging. Once we nailed it though, we were travelling all over the country side to scour out the perfect fabrics for our first collection – we would set off for the day with a Melways, our ipod (good tunes have been critical for our sanity) and a truck load of Mentos and cigarettes.
It wasn’t long until the costs started rolling in thick and fast. Were we freaked out? Hell yes! Especially when we realised purchasing 500m of rope from China for hoodies was a little excessive, as was 500 buttons we weren’t even sure we’d use. But it’s all part of the experience right? And so I’m guessing the lack of sleep is too! “All-nighters” have become part of our daily routine now….sleep is SO 2008! On that note, it would almost be rude of us not to give a special shout out to Mars for creating peanut M&M’s and Lavazza for providing tasty coffee – because without them, our “all-nighters” wouldn’t be possible!
The most challenging part of creating our first collection has definitely been the specking out of our designs; providing exact measurements for every little detail of our flat sketches so our manufacturer can interpret our designs into patterns. We had no idea what we were doing initially…...but with the help of mum and our trusty vintage tape measure, we got there. We almost feel like we’ve now earned the right to wear the dress-maker’s tape measure around our necks whilst working…so professional we are now!
We attended Fashion Palette in Sydney as well as Rosemount Australia Fashion Week back in late April. These were both to help explore ideas for our business and to get some insights from those that have been successful in the industry. Highlights: seeing The Cassette Society show, and hearing from event host Ruby Rose, as well as Cathryn Wills - Mimco, Peter Morrissey, and Kate Vandermeer - iSpyStyle at Fashion Palette. When we heard Kate speak, we knew we’d struck gold! Kate is now a critical partner of Billy Black, supporting us with the development of our marketing strategy and styling.
While we’re on partners of Billy Black, allow us to introduce you to our night in shining armour – New Model Beauty Queen (NMBQ), our pattern maker, sampler maker and manufacturer…..and our industry guru who has really been an advocate for the brand from the outset! We’d never heard of the word “Toile” before meeting NMBQ. Toiles are the rough samples produced before the final sample; generally produced in cheap fabric, or traditionally in calico, and for the purpose of getting the shape and fit right. It’s a tedious process; pick up toile, try it on, mark up changes with permanent marker & masking tape, hand back toile, pick up new toile……etc….We’re now in our third round of Toiling for some of our designs, though the rest are pretty much ready for production.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our first blog – our intention was to bring you up to speed in as few words as possible with where we’re at now in bringing together our first collection. Six months doesn’t sound like that long, but we feel like we’ve climbed something equivalent to the Egyptian Pyramids! We’ve learnt so much about ourselves and the industry and although it’s often not that glamorous behind the scenes, we love it!
Stay tuned for our next week’s blog – Who is Billy Black?
