Create Your Own Fashion Line: Research & Cool Hunting Resources

Nov 28, 20193 min read

Many people want to start a clothing line or clothing brand. But how difficult could it be?

The truth is that clothing brands become successful because they’re created by people who are passionate about clothing or business in general. In this case, we are going to learn more about a particular research process on clothing designs. The process is valuable and insightful to develop your desired creative outcomes.

Research is about the creative investigation. But where does it all start?

Research VS Brief

Brief

Commercial and client-based has very specific aims and objectives that will consider some or all of the following: market, season, genres, cost and occasion.

What’s inside a brief?

Occasion and season: it is important to be aware of whether you are designing for a specific occasion or season. That makes an impact on color, fabric or design itself options.
Muse or customer: it may ask you to design for specific age, size or gender. You may also consider customer profiles such as background, work, lifestyle, and income.
Target market: a brief will ask you to focus on a specific market in the industry high or middle-market price points.
Costing: most of the briefs will require you to consider the price that something will cost.
Practical outcomes: these are simply what you are going to produce. The final outcome can be for example a jacket, a dress, and a hat.

Research

Research is about the investigation; learning about something new or learning about something from the past. It is about reading, visiting or perhaps viewing, but above all, it is about recording information.

Three types of research:

The visual inspiration for the line and this will often help to set a theme, mood, concept, that is essential in developing an identity for your creative work.
Gathering and sourcing tangible and practical material for your line - fabric, trims, button and etc.
It relates to the consumer and market that you creating a design for. You have to identify who you are designing for and understand their lifestyle and interests.

Do you need brief, research or both? That's a question for you, only up to you, what makes yourself clear, how your clothing line would stand out better than others.

Confusion? Don't let the questions to occupy your thoughts. :)

What the research should be about?

Shapes and structures;

Giambattista Valli Haute Couture Spring 2017

Details;

Colour;

Textures;

Print and surface decoration;

The textile surface created by the Chilean artist Serena Garcia Dalla Venezia

Cultural influences ;

Japanese artist Shimura Tatsumi's work feature stunningly simple yet refined images of the "Japanese beauties"

Contemporary trends;

Tangible and material research;

Communicating your ideas

Fashion templates is the best way to start connecting research and design brief if you have no skills to draw it yourself (pret-template or fashionary book). Templates allow you to focus on the design work and not on the figure. They also allow you to work quickly and work many times on the same type of garment you will come up with the strongest design appears.

Croquis for Fashion Illustration - Womens

Above all, if you don’t feel comfortable to draw or have no equipment to get started.

You can always collect reference pictures with comments to make sure you and the designer on the same page. My two favorites www.canva.com (the tool for presenting ideas) and www.milanote.com (the tool for organizing creative projects).

Please take a look at the example of how it should look like. The boards have to be presented detailed and clear.

Also, you should take into account how far you let the designer be creative and implementing their style. As detailed and clear you will be, the result you have had in mind will make you satisfy.

Have you got ideas? Contact us and let’s make it happen!

Resources where you can hunt some cool ideas:

https://www.wgsn.com/blogs/