The Business of Fast Fashion

I was made aware of a wonderful illustrative video from the MinuteMBA series. This one in particular hits home because over the last few years working for an small ethical/fair-trade fashion company, I am able to really see what fast fashion has done. It's difficult, of course, with a limited budget wanting something cheap and on trend once in a while, but long term these clothes don't last and are out of style within months. It is not sustainable. I have become more conscious of my purchasing choices and will now opt for a well made dress or sweater rather than grab 5 cheap things from a fast fashion store.

Since I started designing at Mata Traders and seeing the process of fashion from start to finish, it has reinforced my desire to design but with fairness, social justice and sustainability in mind. Maybe if society as a whole starts to think about purchasing choices and less of quantity and trend, we would be able to find a healthy balance that fits all types of budgets & styles, while heading in a more ethical and sustainable direction. 

Created by OnlineMBA.com

Closer Look: Harvest Textiles

While perusing pinterest yesterday I happened upon a pin I adore. These little purses in the image below stopped me dead in my tracks. My jaw may or may not have dropped  (ok it totally did!) and I was in awe. This image is from Harvest Textiles in Melbourne, Australia.

Harvest Textiles.

Harvest Textiles was established in 2010 and is run by a team women who are passionate about quality handmade textiles, learning, sustainability and community. They run screen printing and textile workshops, host guest lectures & seminars, exhibits, pop up shops and Artist in Residency programs from their workroom in Melbourne, Australia (I am clearly very jealous). 

Products, projects and process at Harvest Textiles. 

This place looks like a textile and craft workspace haven (I so wish we had something like this in Chicago). They have such a vibrant community filled with artists and creative individuals who want to go through the motions of textile design by hand. Most textile design for the industry is done digitally but Harvest Textiles does everything the old school way, using screens, stencils, squeegees and arm strength! To me, that really is the joy of textile design and screen printing - working with your hands and sharing that process with others. 

Screen Printing Workshop at Harvest Textiles.

Harvest Textiles has many wonderful Artist in Residences that have passed through their work room; Some of which include the colorful Emily Green, the porcelain work of Sophie Morris, the team at Full Drop Co., illustrative pieces by Alice Oehr and many, many more! Their blog is chock full of collaborations, events, samples of student work, photos of workshops and other wonderful things to explore. Check out their flickr page which is loaded with wonderful photographs of these creative people at work. Their products are beautiful and if I had some spare change I would buy everything! 

Luckily I have a reason to fly to Melbourne, Australia within the next three years, but I am now putting this wonderful place on my to do list when I visit down under!

Korean Design Inspiration

While designing for the Spring '13 collection for Mata Traders, we noticed a trend in simple geometric shapes and clean lines. I suddenly remembered a book I own on traditional Korean pattern design and the more I thought about it, the more I believed we could use some of the designs for the collection. These patterns are so traditional and incorporated in Korean design & culture, that it makes it possible for us to use without needing copyrights or licensing!

The great thing about Korean pattern designs is that they are extremely simple and feel very modern. After combing through the book multiple times, we had to narrow our list down to 3 patterns to work with. Here they are in their original designs.  

Once we selected these 3 patterns, we began to play with color. By doing this, we automatically changed the whole appearance and vibe of the prints. These designs are traditionally in black & white or at least in just two colors. We used one print in it's original state but also gave all 3 prints a contemporary feel by using the bold & bright colors in our color story for Spring '13. 

Korean Dots Print. Textile design by Shifra Whiteman. Garments by Mata Traders.

Let's start with the Korean Dots print. Here we created 2 different color variations for 3 garments. On the left, we worked with a bright pink and dark blue color combination (on the Garden Party Dress Polka Dot), giving the print a playful edge. On the right, we reversed the black and white from the original print, which sometimes plays tricks on my eyes (used on the Obi Crescent Dress Black and Yin Yoke Skirt Black). You might notice that both prints, look slightly different aside from their color. That is because the print on the right is a block print and needed slightly thicker lines in between each dot, while the print on the left is a screen print and can have daintier lines. 

Korean Blocks print. Textile design by Shifra Whiteman. Dresses by Mata Traders.

This Korean Block print is a block print that we decided to use both the original print as well as a colorful version. The original black and white is used in the Shibuya Dress and is paired with the monochromatic block printed Korean Dots print. The blue and green version is used in the Obi Crescent Dress Blue. This use of both colors incorporates the white of the fabric and really makes the dress pop. Both dresses have hand stitch details that really add the special element of hand crafting to the garments. 

Korean Hexagon Gone print. Textile design by Shifra Whiteman. Garments by Mata Traders.

The Hexagon Gone print  was my personal favorite to work on. Playing with placement of colors, and so many of them, was a thrill. Here we have 2 versions of the Hexagon Gone print, and they really do transform the feel of the garments from simple and traditional to vibrant and playful. There is a slight edge to each garment (on the left Kyoto Color Block Dress Blue, middle is the Tea and Honeycomb Dress and on the right is the Singapore Sweetheart Top Blue). These products can be found at Mata Traders and the majority of these garments are on sale.

These prints are a wonderful example of modernizing traditional styles and elements with color. I hope to be inspired and possible use more Korean patterns in the future because I believe these really did turn out great. 

Giant Folk Art Company Stealing from Small Artists

Last night, a friend of mine posted a link to a Jezebel article that left me fuming. A giant folk art company stole art work from small artists. As an artist and designer, I understand being amazed by other artist's work, however there is a fine line between using someone's art work as inspiration/mimicking design style and actually stealing it! We, the small artists, should be recognized and fairly paid for our work and creativity. Below is the article straight from Lisa Congdon's blog. 

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My Art Was Stolen For Profit (and How You Can Help)

by Lisa Congdon

If you follow me on social media you are probably aware that on Monday morning I found out that the wholesale company Cody Foster copied my original work for use on holiday ornaments in their 2013 catalogs. The copy is so blatant — down to the design elements on the animals’ jackets — that it literally made my stomach turn when I saw it. An online acquaintance who is a vigilante for all things Cody Foster Copycat (they have been at copying the work of independent artists for years) alerted me. She keeps a Flickr set of all the rip offs that she has found.

Some info about this particular artwork: it came from my imagination. There are no photographs online of actual animals wearing jackets like this. The patterning and elements on the jackets are very emblematic of my style. You will see them repeated in a lot of my artwork. The only way Cody Foster could have transferred the same imagery to their ornaments is by using my artwork as reference.

In the world of art & illustration, you can use the artwork of artists on your products as long as you ask permission, sign a licensing agreement with the artist, and agree to compensate them. I sell my images to companies all the time, companies who ask my permission and compensate me for my intellectual property. In this case, I was never contacted, asked permission or paid. That is called copying. It’s also called stealing.

Another thing you should know: I don’t care about the money.  What I care about is exposing Cody Foster for what they have done and continue to do to independent artists. The people I want most to expose them to are the retailers who purchase from them. You see, Cody Foster is a wholesale company. Unlike other larger, public-facing retail companies who have been accused of stealing from artists, Cody Foster is hidden from the public eye for the most part. Except for a showroom in Atlanta and booths at gift shows designed to show their wares to retailers, they have a very limited public presence. Their products do not bear their logo. You buy them at your local gift shop or even some larger retailer. You might have Cody Foster products in your home, and you wouldn’t even know it. You can’t even view their catalog without having the login and password reserved for retail stores that purchase from them.

Last night as I lay in bed, I fantasized about being in a room with Cody Foster and his sister. Cody’s sister, by the way, purportedly scours the internet for him and purchases things that they copy. Many artists from whom they’ve stolen (including my sister three years ago), have sales records from her. I fantasize about looking them in the eye and asking them to explain themselves. How is this okay? How do they go to bed at night and feel okay about themselves? How do they justify this grossly unfair practice?

They have settled out of court with many artists. The way these things work, those artists can’t talk about their experience, because they’ve likely signed non-disclosure agreements with the company. This all makes you wonder if Cody Foster builds the legal & lawyer fees involved into the cost of running their business. They have ripped off so many artists, received a lot of bad publicity on the internet over the years, and been approached by countless artists and lawyers. And yet they still continue to steal from artists without apology or explanation.

I want to thank jezebel.com for being the first to write about this story. You can read the story here. But we need more exposure. How you can help: please spread the word of this to everyone you know, especially retail shop owners who buy from them or press contacts at larger media outlets you might know. 

Battling the Bedrock Print

Let me introduce you all to the Bedrock print.  This was yet another print that has been in the works since I was an intern at Mata Traders in the fall of 2011. I had just finished my thesis project and was obsessed with hand drawn doodles. The Aztec/Southwest trend was at it's peak and I decided I wanted to make a pattern that merged the two ideas! 

This turned out to be a bit more difficult than I thought. Not necessarily drawing the pattern and getting it into repeat, but the color combos drove me crazy! We had our color story ready and nothing worked well together. Should we use 4 or 5 colors? Should we stick to similar colors or go crazy and use complimentary colors? Is this even the season to use this print? It was a lot to handle. I had never had this problem before, but then again this was the first time I was designing for mass production!

Sometimes it really is better to take a deep breath, acknowledge that you have a great start on something and then put it away for a little while. We brought out the Bedrock print a season later and began to rework it in a different color story, with a new selection of garments and most importantly, fresh eyes.

Here we have the Bedrock print in three different garments. On the left we have the Singapore Sweetheart Top, in the middle the Kyoto Color Block Dress and on the right the Patterns and Pockets Skirt. All three items are now on sale on the Mata Traders site! Check out how Laura, from the Mata Traders Blog, found the Patterns and Pockets Skirt at Loufest and Dus, from Cuddly Cacti, wears and styles her Kyoto Color Block Dress.

Don't these ladies look great wearing the Bedrock print?!