ETHICAL FASHION

(FMP)

•I decided to create a new clothing brand, which has the perfect element behind it and excludes the negative aspects that come with global known brands.

•Working conditions have to be satisfactory for the employee. Employees must feel comfortable to work within the factory and health and safety must be considered integral.

•Animal welfare will also be addressed. I can truthfully assure to the audience no animal’s death will be utilized for our advantage.

•Fair Trade (Price) as well as the quality we aim to display through our clothing. We want to sell our products at a fair and reasonable price.

•Sustainable production is also going to be utilized. We’re proud to say our fabrics are from eco-friendly resources. We really believe in the three R’s Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

First of all I want to tell you what ethical means from the official English dictionary. “If you describe something as ethical, you mean that it is morally right or morally acceptable.” Collins English Dictionary.

I also discovered these 10 points are integral for ethical fashion brands which I definitely have to address whilst creating my own

Countering fast, cheap fashion and damaging patterns of fashion consumption
Defending fair wages, working conditions and workers’ rights
Supporting sustainable livelihoods
Addressing toxic pesticide and chemical use
Using and / or developing eco- friendly fabrics and components
Minimising water use
Recycling and addressing energy efficiency and waste
Developing or promoting sustainability standards for fashion
Resources, training and/ or awareness raising initiatives
Animals rights

Furthermore, through being recommended into looking into “Humans of New York” I have grown to like how the photographer Brandon Stanton captures a portrait of someone, then initiates them into telling a short story on an event or transition that has happened in their lives

Fashion theories

Lehmann (2000) describes fashion as a random creation that dies as an innovation is born. He views fashion as contradictory, both defining the ancient and contemporary by randomly quoting from the past as well as representing the present.

Robinson (1958) defines fashion as pursuing novelty for its own sake.

Lipovetsky (1994) claims that determining factors in fashion are the quest for novelty and the excitement of aesthetic play, while Roche (1994) describes fashion as dynamic change.

(Entwistle, 2000) Fashionable dress embodies the latest aesthetic and what is defined as desirable at a given moment.

Individuals Perspective

Another element I would like to bring to my FMP is why certain individuals wear certain clothes. This could be because they want to represented in a certain way or follow a most recent up to date fashion or trend.

Rogers (1983) suggests that this process involves five basic stages: awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and adoption.

The person takes notice of the fashion, develops an interest in it, and evaluates it as having some relative advantage that could range from a new fabric technology or simply as being consistent with to what one's friends are wearing. If the individual evaluates the fashion positively, the procedure then transitions to trial and adoption.

Stella McCartney and the Ethical Fashion Initiative began their partnership in Kenya in 2011. Stella McCartney produces beautiful handmade accessories with Kenyan artisans specialized in screen-printing and tailoring. The video depicts the Kenyan production of Stella McCartney Autumn/Winter 2014 Made in Africa accessories. Each item is made by human hands and the stories of each artisan are woven into each product.

The Stella McCartney brand is renowned for its strong ethical and sustainable values. This made Stella McCartney an ideal match in joining forces with the Ethical Fashion Initiative’s mission of building a responsible fashion industry.

The Ethical Fashion Initiative is a flagship programme of the International Trade Centre, a joint UN and WTO agency. The Ethical Fashion Initiative produces quality fashion goods, under ethical and fair conditions, with artisans in Africa and Haiti.

Leaders & Followers

Theories of fashion distribution can all agree the identification of leaders and followers. The fashion leader frequently wears a certain look by first approving it and then shares it to others. Fashion followers consist of large numbers of consumers who undertake and wear the clothes or something similar that has been visually communicated to them.

The leader is not always the originator of the fashion or the first to wear it. The leader ventures to be different by wearing what the innovator displays as new. By adopting the look, the leader influences the flow or distribution of fashion. However, the innovator within a group is also influential in helping to convey to the followers of the new style. Generally the leader has been influential in some desirable way and possible leaders consist of athletes, movie stars, royalty, presidents, or fashion models.

Characteristics & Influencing Factors

Basic tensions spoken about by fashion in Western culture are status, gender, occasion, the body, and social regulation.

Craik (1994) suggests potential fashion instabilities, such as youth versus age; masculinity versus femininity; androgyny versus singularity; inclusiveness versus exclusiveness; and work versus play (p. 204).

This video highlights how has fashion altered during the last couple of decades.

Basic tensions spoken about by fashion in Western culture are status, gender, occasion, the body, and social regulation.

This video highlights how has fashion altered during the last couple of decades.

Social Change Within Fashion

Social change is explained as a sequence of events that substitute present societal patterns with new ones over time. This progression is pervasive and can change the roles of men and women, lifestyles, family structures, and functions. Fashion theorists believe that fashion is a reflection of social, economic, political, and cultural changes, but also that fashion articulates modernity and signifies the spirit of the times (Lehmann, 2000; Blumer 1969; Laver 1937). Fashion both looks back and conveys the specific time in history.

How people dress for work and sports has altered over time. A persistent trend of the twentieth century has been a rising need to look leisurely. Wearing casual clothing and leisurewear increased in the 1950s because families moved to the suburbs and became involved in many outdoor activities and sports. Clothing for spectator sports has boosted, as has clothing for involving in many sports, such as tennis, football, golf, jogging, cycling, skiing, and rock climbing.

APPEARANCE & IDENTITY

Clothes are important to the modern consumer's personality. “That criticism of one's clothing and appearance is taken more personally and intensely than criticism of one's car or house suggests a high correlation between appearance and personal identity” (Craik, p. 206).

People perhaps may purchase a new product to be recognised with a particular group or to express their own personality. Flügel (1930) interpreted paradox using the idea of superior and inferior, that is, an individual tries hard to be like others when they seem superior to them. In this way fashion can provide identity, both as a symbol of rankings and effect of appearances.

Whether or not fashion and the way you dress can be considered, as a visual language, it has been highly debatable in recent years. Barthes (1983) insists that fashion be perceived as a system, a network of relationships. Davis (1992) concludes that it is better to consider fashion as a code and not as a language, but a code that includes expression of such fundamental aspects of an individual as age, sex, status, occupation, and interest in fashion.

Culture, Observer & Wearer

Fashion adores the critical stares of the observer, or the one "in the know," and the wearer who wears the clothing for his own pleasure and satisfaction. Views of the observer and wearer of fashion are established upon the adaptations in lines, shapes, textures, and colours. Fashion changes occurred in the layout of the garment, which in turn focused attention on the silhouette and details, such as bias cutting and shaping (DeLong 1998). Societies where traditional dresses has been worn, Korea, for example, fashion in traditional dress has resulted from the colours, motifs, and patterns.

POPULAR CULTURE

Fashion within popular culture is an important communicator of social distinction and belonging. This movement preceded and contributed to the consumer and technological revolutions of the eighteenth century. Today fashion within popular culture is enhanced by the influence of mass media, and the medium has become the message, in many ways. According to Wilson (1985), fashion has become the connective tissue of the cultural organism and is essential to the world of mass communication, spectacle, and modernity.

Pursuit of Modernity

As a way of signifying modernity, Western fashions have been taken on by non-Western societies. In some societies where traditional styles of dress were customary, the men were fast to wear Western business suits. Women have been slower to adopt Western dress in favour of traditional styles that signifies historical continuity. This produces a debatable message related to gender: Are women left out from the modern world or are they simply the prime candidates of carrying on tradition? Traditional dress in South Korea is more usually seen on older women on occasions of celebration. Both Chinese men and women have been encouraged recently to take on Western styles of dress.

GENDER & DRESS

A tension occurs when women have been assigned the both role of being fashionable as well as the lower class gender). In the last two centuries fashion has been primarily given to women. Male dress has been somewhat overlooked. Veblen (1899) in the nineteenth century described separate spheres of the male and female, with feminine sartorial dress as a symbol of enforced leisure and masculine dress a symbol of power. This gave rise to the opposite non-expressive male dress codes that held high the uniformity of the city suit as the model for respectable middle classes for males in most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

These expressions of difference in gender roles and fashionable appearances of men and women also happened in other historical periods. Within medieval culture, the display of masculinity and femininity ranked according to class, age, wealth, and nationality. Clothing, fashionably cut, moved toward overt display of the body and its sexual characteristics (Breward, p. 32). The male clothing represented power and strength, nobility; the female clothing represented diminutive size, delicacy, and heightened colour.

MARKET FORCES

The fashion industry has led the way, or followed, depending upon the nature of the fashion and its origins (Wilson 1985). Fashions are seen as a reflection of their time and place and can be established by society, culture, history, economy, lifestyle, and the marketing system. The couture fashion system and the couturier, who commonly displays a collection of clothing, originated in Paris, France. The couturier helps deliver the handmade, made-to-measure, exquisite product. The dominance of Paris as an international centre depends as much on its sophistication as a fashion centre as on the superiority of its clothing (Steele 1998).

Other countries beside France have fashion leadership-notably, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States-and each country has placed its unique stamp on fashion (Agins 1999). For example, Milan, the heart of the Italian fashion industry is close to the country's leading textile mills in the Lake Como region. The Italians don’t only create attractive fabrics; they also design gorgeous clothes as shown by such as: outstanding abilities as Giorgio Armani and Krizia. Some people might see fashion as dismissive; it is also measured a serious, profitable business in capitalist society. The United States has been a leader in the technologies for mass production and mass marketing of clothing, making fashion a democratic opportunity, available to all.

MASS PRODUCTION

To provide clothing at moderate cost for all citizens took two primary developments, mass production and mass distribution (Kidwell and Christman 1974). Mass production required developing the technology for medium quality clothing that could be made available for the majority. Mass distribution had to rely on the retailing of ready-made clothing and innovations in salesmanship and advertising. Lots of department stores appeared in every city following the Civil War and by the end of the century; mail-order houses were established sufficiently to reach all citizens in the United States. To provide clothing at moderate cost for all citizens took two primary developments, mass production and mass distribution (Kidwell and Christman 1974). Mass production required developing the technology for medium quality clothing that could be made available for the majority. Mass distribution had to rely on the retailing of ready-made clothing and innovations in salesmanship and advertising. Lots of department stores appeared in every city following the Civil War and by the end of the century; mail-order houses were established sufficiently to reach all citizens in the United States.

America was dependent upon England's textile industry so the rich purchased fine-quality silks, wool, and cottons while others had limited access to fabrics. The tailor and dressmaker made clothing for the rich and the poor made clothing for the average person.

Ethical & sustainable

“Ethical" and "sustainable" has been trying to force into the luxury fashion industry for the last couple of years. This increasing awareness mixing it with high-profile designers and the media in developed countries is setting trends that will reverberate from the catwalks to workers in developing markets. While there is still improvement to be made, increasing consumer awareness and demand are making the long-term gains for sustainable fashion bright.

Fashion designer Tom Ford has heralded it. Julie Gilhart, senior vice president of Barneys department stores, is buying it. And from fashion critic Suzy Menkes to the editor of Vogue Italia, Franca Sozzani, the powerbrokers of the international fashion media are endorsing it. Ethical and sustainable fashion is style. The experiment now is to bring it into the mainstream and onto the streets.

Textile exports are worth £132 billion (US$ 222 billion) annually to developing and transition countries, most of which are dependent on these exports for their economy. For example, textile exports represent 53 per cent of Sri Lanka's economy, 80 per cent of Cambodia's and 73 per cent of Bangladesh's. But an understanding of the social and environmental conditions under which these garments are produced is still far from transparent. This will inevitably change as consumers begin to demand more knowledge about who made their garments and how.

Ms Sozzani says, "I think that in the future, approaching fashion in an ethically responsible manner will be the way to behave. The problem is not only for the designers but also for consumers because it will take time to teach them how to recognize and choose sustainable items."

The media are already taking part. This growing understanding towards ethical practices within the fashion industry is in large part due to media news coverage and the exposé of child labour issues and unfair working practices within supply chains, such as those revealed in the BBC's Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts documentary series.

"Sustainable luxury" has made it onto to the topic of several high-profile events including the International Herald Tribune's Luxury Conference and Ms Gilhart's Future Fashion Project which included sustainable designs from over 30 well-known luxury brands including YSL, Proenza Schouler and Donna Karan.

Engaging high fashion in the debate for the ethical fashion movement is essential to its impact. According to the curators of the current Cittadellarte Fashion: Bio Ethical Sustainable Trend exhibition, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Franca Sozzani, the impact of the luxury market's influence on mainstream brands, the media and consumer behaviour is all too evident. Put simply, the high end of the fashion market sets the agenda for the trends that subsequently distil into mainstream fashion.

"If a big name in the fashion world launches eco-friendly as the way to be in fashion today, then success in sustainability will be much quicker," says Ms Sozzani.

Source: http://www.tradeforum.org/The-International-Value-Chain-of-Ethical-Fashion/

Starting an ethical fashion brand: Why it’s a good a business idea?

According to Mintel’s UK consumer trends report for 2015, both the ethical treatment of workers and environmental implications were two of the top issues for customers when considering shopping with a particular brand. Three-quarters (76%) of UK adults stated that they pay notice to the ethical and green identifications of their products (including manufacturing and distribution processes) as well as the reputation of companies or brands.

Big retailers are responding to this, with fashion houses like Topshop, Marks & Spencer and ASOS getting behind ethical and sustainable brands – signifying both a increasing market and a chance for them to possibly get their fashion line into a high street store.

Topshop now has a range of UK-based designers and sustainable brands including prominent ethical fashion activist Katharine Hamnett; Marks & Spencer has a platform for its UK made brands titled Best of British; and ASOS’s Green Room is a section dedicated to ethical fashion and eco-friendly brands.

In addition to this expanding and retailer demand, there are also a number of different organisations devoted to helping new designers launch an ethical fashion brand.

Not for profit platform Ecoluxe London is dedicated to supporting ethical clothing brands from help with product and business development to market strategies and hosting exhibitions. It also works through government incentives Growth Accelerator and Skillset to deliver sustainable and ethical fashion brands with training and guidance on where to get funding.

UK-based but globally known is the Ethical Fashion Forum, which supports businesses within the sustainable fashion industry through its SOURCE database and presents information on brand leaders, market and sales reports, and supply chain innovation. The organisation also has a directory that has key stockists, material suppliers and manufacturers; and SOURCE runs a network that allows new companies to link with ethical fashion brands all over the world.

The London College of Fashion (LCF) established the Centre for Sustainable Fashion (CSF) in bid to revolutionize the fashion industry, and also to offer support to start-up ethical fashion brands, including workshops, one-to-one business mentoring, and courses in designing for sustainability and growth strategies. It also runs the FIREup project – which concentrates on building up collaborations between University of Art London and ethical fashion start-ups. Furthermore, LCF help encourage ethical fashion at London Fashion Week with Estethica, where each season the group showcase eco-friendly and ethical fashion companies.

Source - http://startups.co.uk/business-ideas-for-2015-ethical-fashion-brand/

Ethical fashion brand business opportunities

Fashion start-ups seeking to get into the industry will have to ponder about all the usual requirements when starting a fashion brand. However, an ethical and sustainable brand will have to pay extra attention to where they manufacture, and what type of fabrics they utilise. Because of this, research is fundamental, as well as reaching out to the top organisations.

An opportunity for start-ups working on a budget is to utilise recycled and retrieved materials, meaning using materials such a human made fibers like polyester without the eco-headache. One ethical fashion brand, French-based Ambrym, utilises overstock from Parisian couture houses to produce their line of eco-friendly clothing. With the UK throwing away one million tons of clothing every year – 50% of which is reusable according to Waste Online – customers have a large number of material to choose from when making a first clothing line.

In the past, ethical fashion has remained fairly premium – and this is where the most productive ethical fashion brands are to-date. However, it is becoming more expensive to start up a mid-market brand, depending on the cost of materials and the production.

The most vital aspect, according to industry reports, is the quality of the designs and the manufacturing the brand. Manufacturing in Britain is increasingly popular for ethical brands as it permits you to monitor quality control while also certifying the brand remains ethical.

Hackney based Oh My Love London vows upon sustainability, British manufacturing and working side by side with factories to guarantee ethical practices but its prices equal high street retailers such as River Island and Topshop. Since the launch it has developed from market stalls to being stocked by brands ASOS, Nasty Gal, Nordstrom and Urban Outfitters.

Other companies choose to outsource in developing countries but guarantee that the workers are being paid a fair living wage and work in good conditions, this will need broad research and a side by side working relationship with the factory. Ethical fashion company Annie Greenabelle strictly utilises factories that act in accordance with the Ethical Trading Initiative – an agreement of companies, voluntaries and trade unions – that is working towards bringing equality to workers everywhere.

Source - http://startups.co.uk/business-ideas-for-2015-ethical-fashion-brand/

Magazine Spread Analysis

When influencing the reader on the design, it should have meaning. Readers will most likely concentrate on the top parts of the spread. This is the first place where their eye will stop when they skim through the page, so you cannot start your story by placing headline on bottom right page. This is not natural starting point.

It is not a very good design if the reader has to search through the page to find most important thing (if there is no image on the page), and that’s the headline. It is even worse if you put the headline at the bottom and you put beginning of the story on top of it.

This is not a natural way of reading the story. Everything should have flow. You should work your way from the meaningful top left and then continue to the bottom. Headline, intro copy and then the main copy. That should be your guide.

Image & body text arrangement

Probably the most important magazine page element is the body text or body copy as some refer to it. Magazine readers do not notice properly set body text. They notice nice images, powerful headlines, but they do not notice body text. And this is a good thing. Properly adjusted body text should be unnoticeable and it should not interfere with the process of reading. It should be invisible so that the reader is never aware of the reading process.

When placing big blocks of text, try not to break them up. You should not throw elements on a page just for the sake of throwing them around. Let it have a meaning. A flow. If you put barriers on the page, reader will have hard time following the flow of the story. Keep the flow of the text columns tidy and even.

Things should be simple, and you should simplify the design by aligning the columns at the top and placing images above them. In this way reader will have no problem to follow the text part of the story.

Source - http://www.magazinedesigning.com/magazine-spreads-good-bad-practices/

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

During the past years Street Photography has become widely accepted as a form of art and expression. More and more people have learned to appreciate it and to understand how hard it is to get it right. The reason why Street Photography has become more mainstream is because of some influential few that have managed to spread the word about it through their style, their blogs, their videos and their constant sharing of their experiences.

Charalambos Kydonakis, also known as Dirty Harrry is a Street Photographer from Rethymno, Crete in Greece. He shoots in his own, unique, artistic style and offers to his viewers images that look like they come from dreams. His imagery is unique and full of emotion. He is a strong flash user and has also been interview by Eric Kim for his excellent use of flash. Most of his shots are from his home town of Rethymno and the surrounding areas but he also likes to travel to other parts of the world just to do Street Photography. Dirty Harrry has managed to create his very own, unique style. That dreamy, emotional style of photography that can’t be achieved easily.

Source - streethunters.net

vivienne westwood

Dame Vivienne Westwood's popularity knows no bounds. Her punk attitude is more alive now than in the movement's Seventies heyday and her outspoken, Union Jack waving Englishness (with a few added safety pins and tea stains), is undiminished. Cutting edge but classic, her collections are unflinchingly rooted in her interests and beliefs, whether it is human rights or classical fiction.

Westwood was born Vivienne Isabel Swire in Glossop, Derbyshire, on April 8, 1941
She began designing clothes in 1971 with the opening of her first shop, Let It Rock, at 430 King's Road. In 1974 it was renamed Sex
In 1981, Westwood showed her first seminal collection in London, entitled Pirate
In 1990, Westwood launched a menswear collection in Florence. She was named British Designer of the Year that year, as well as in 1991
In 1998 she won the Queen's Export Award
In January 2003 Westwood controversially sent men down her catwalk wearing fake breasts. The models for her autumn/winter 2003 menswear collection wore them underneath cashmere sweaters and polo necks.Westwood explained that, "the inspiration for the man with breasts was Fifties sweater boys."
In 2007 she was awarded the gong for Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Design at the British Fashion Awards - but she was late on to the stage to collect it since she'd popped out to go to the loo
Alongside her fashion range she launched a range of stationary in 2010 including notebooks and diaries in classic Westwood prints. She made her mark on the interiors world the same year with a selection of new table-cloth designs in support for eco charity Cool Earth. The designs were covered with bold, bright prints often with Westwood's trademark political polemics emblazoned across.
In 2011 she was named Britain's Greatest British Fashion Designer in a poll conducted by Greenall. Over 3000 people voted with the Westwood scooping 24 per cent of the national vote.
She dedicated her spring/summer2012 menswear show to the Olympics. Westwood made sure each catwalk look referred to the Games in some manner including T-shirts that came covered in printed torches, medals and statuesque Greek figures.
Vivienne Westwood and photographer Juergen Teller went to Africa in 2011 to work on her autumn/winter 2011-12 Ethical Fashion Africa collection. A programme which enlists thousands of local women to use their skills to produce bags for Westwood and earn a fair wage in return. "This project gives people control over their lives," she said. "Charity doesn't give control, it does the opposite, it makes people dependant."
To celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, she launched a new capsule collection inspired by gowns Queen Elizabeth had previously worn. The range, entitled the Red Carpet Capsule Collection, also paid homage to the British flag.
She selected the grand setting of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office to show her spring/summer 2013 Red Label collection. The choice of the venue was a result of Westwood's involvement in the government's GREAT campaign. The designer fronted an international campaign as part of the initiative, which celebrated excellence in the creative industries, while promoting Britain as the preeminent place to study, visit or invest.
In 2012 she partnered with The Woolmark Company to create a luxury 12-piece-collection made from the finest Australian merino wool. "When I first began as a fashion designer, well over 30 years ago, I succeeded in re-introducing into fashion the idea of knitwear, the English twinset," Westwood told British Vogue. "Wool is one of the world's great natural fibres, famous for its versatility and comfort-warm in winter, cool in summer."

http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/vivienne-westwood-biography

katherine hammett

Other campaigns included the Cancel the Third World Debt' Autumn Winter 1990 catwalk show, Green Cotton by the year 2000" Spring Summer 1991 which was presented in a short film, directed by Ellen Von Unwerth and starring Naomi Campbell, due to the Gulf War Katharine wanted to invent new ways of presenting a collection.

In 1997 Katharine addressed more social and environmental issues including Save Tibet'(for Dalai Lama) and Worldwide Nuclear Ban Now'.

Katharine received an honorary professorship from Central Saint Martins College of Art for her continuous expertise in Fashion. Including her fashion label Katharine Hamnett has launched tie, shoe, and knitwear, underwear, loungewear childrenswear and eyewear licenses worldwide.

2003- Autumn Winter 2003 Womenswear collection was shown at London Fashion Week, the 'Stop the War' T shirts featured on the catwalk, this resulted in UK and International newspaper coverage including front pages worldwide. Andy Birkin from The Stop the War Coalition commented that this tee instigated the 30,000,000 demonstration that took place the following year.

Katharine is invited by OXFAM to visit African cotton farmers in Mali, to promote Fair Trade. Katharine met with African farmers and visited government officials to help raise awareness, photographs and interviews appeared in key UK and International Newspapers and Television Worldwide.

2004- Spring Summer 2004, Katharine Hamnett on schedule at London Fashion Week, featured amongst others Naomi Campbell wearing 'USE A CONDOM' and 'SAVE AFRICA' tees aimed at raising awareness of using protection, because there is no cure.

Since 1989 Katharine Hamnett has been trying to change the industry from within, working with normal manufacturers, to help farmers convert to organic, Katharine wanted to make contributions made from sales of each pair of jeans, this has proved impossible, Katharine was reduced to taking a Channel 4 crew to one distributor to collect a cheque owed to African cotton farmers.

Source - http://www.infomat.com/whoswho/katharinehamnett.html

shepard fairey

Frank “Shepard Fairey” is a very famous graphic artist, muralist, and overall artist. He was born on February 15, 1970 in Charleston, South Carolina in the United States. In 1988, the artists graduated from Idyllwild Arts Academy in Palm Springs, California. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island in 1992.

As a young adult, Shepard Fairey became very interested in art. He soon began to use his drawings in T-shirts and skateboards. He was a skateboard-obsessed art student. While in school, Shepard Fairey held a part-time job in a skateboarding shop. Soon after, he hit the skateboard community hard by pasting homemade stickers all over the place. It was then that he realized his desire and interest in the street art culture and graffiti movement. Another strong influence was his love for punk music, which he demonstrated stencils.

One of the first images he ever used was that of Andre the Giant. Shepard Fairey found this image in a newspaper ad and he chose to introduce it to the streets.

Shepard Fairey is one of the most influential street artists of our time. Shepard Fairey’s work has been used in screen-prints, stencils, stickers, masking film illustrations, wheat paste, collages, sculptures, posters, paintings, and murals. Shepard Fairey enjoys working with the colors black, white, and red. Fairey has constantly shifted between the realms of fine art, commercial art, street art, and even political art. His most famous art includes images of Andre the Giant, the Obey trademark, the propaganda poster of Barack Obama, and many more.

Shepard Fairey’s work combines elements of graffiti, pop art, business art, and Marxist theory. His work has been seen in galleries around the world and even museums. Not only that, but is often recognized in graphic designing and signature apparel. One of his most famous works includes his portrait of Barack Obama. In fact, this portrait drew national attention to Fairey and his work quickly exploded after that recognition. This poster also received the Brit Insurance Design of the Year Award in 2009.

Shepard Fairey has held solo and group exhibitions across the world. Some of his more famous ones include Capsule, Birmingham, England in 2000, Kantor Gallery Window in New York, New York in 2003, OXOP Gallery in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2006, and Merry Karnosky Gallery in Los Angeles, California in 2007.

Shepard Fairey currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California in the United States

Source - http://www.streetartbio.com/#!shepard-fairey/cd7u

FOCUS GROUP

Recently I have been looking at ways to acquire more primary research. My classmates and I teamed up with my teacher for the day to conduct a focus group to gather responses on our FMP. Before preparing for this I had my laptop with me to show my classmates my site. Before even started I looked upon how other previous students did their focus group and I didn’t like it one bit. They showed an abysmal lack of leadership and organisational skills. They were a lack of responses from the audience as well. So before we even started I said to my classmates I didn’t like the vibe and the atmosphere wasn’t encouraging. As a result I told them to speak more and expand on their responses for me. At first I wasn’t sure how many people knew what is ethical fashion – for the people who didn’t know I explained to them what the term meant. I also made it sure to them that the clothing line is fictional to avoid confusion.

There were good question in the focus group such as: why is the name Dier. Meaningful and does it has a slogan or abbreviation. I totally haven’t thought about a slogan so that question did catch me off guard. Furthermore, before I participated in this focus group, I told them there is no point taking part if you do not challenge me. I wanted them to throw questions at me. Catch me off guard. They did that superbly when they asked me why is it only a menswear. I told them that it is difficult to find girls and it was easier to make it a menswear. There were many positive feedback when the laptop was going round such as: very professional, “looks like ASOS’, very nice. Moreover, my teacher asked me how am I going to promote these clothes so my brand enters the market and hopefully grab the spotlight.

Below you can listen to the sound recording of the video below

questionnaire

21 Responses

I have chosen this question because it is a great way to discover out what methods my customers utilise to acquire their shopping. As you can see above - online and buying clothes in the shopping centre are tied head to head. Since Dier. is solely an online platform I don’t think it will struggle to get many customers. Shopping online is easy because customers can shop from the comfort of their own home. Furthermore, they might not be aware of the product description when they are inside of the shop. The product details of clothes online is definitely more descriptive than the ones in the stores and I made sure of that.

This question got a really dissimilar amount of responses. This question also doesn’t work to my favour. As you can see most people went with the third option – ‘I don’t care, makes no difference me.’ This means people will go probably go real fur or buy from companies such as Primark without a care in the world. The other answers were encouraging. 7 people said that it is actually is quite important to them. I feel like if they saw an advert of mine, or if they visit my website they’re probably be swayed by all the ethical nature elements situated inside there. They could be persuaded that they might purchase from there because it is quite important to them already. 2 people said that it is really important to them, so I think it is fair to say they would definitely buy a piece of clothing from Dier. This response combine with the fashionable designs and fair prices this will most likely make a sale to these two people.

Well there you have it. The killer question. This question speaks for itself – it sees who is already a lover of ethical fashion and who isn’t. It is also a great way to measure how far Dier. needs to reach out to people. I think this question as well has a correlation with question two. Hypothetically speaking we can say 2 people who are aware about the ethical nature of the clothes currently buy eco-friendly clothes. The 7 people who said it is quite important to me might occasionally buy eco-friendly clothes currently, and lastly the 12 people whom claim that eco-friendly clothes makes no difference to them have never bought of piece of eco-friendly clothing in their life.

This question right here is just not for me. I have said before that Dier. is solely just an online platform to purchase ethical clothes. However, since I am trying to get ‘a word of mouth’ gossip going around I would want to know if the shop was actually near these people, would they pop in and buy something or have a look. The most encouraging aspect is that 10 people said yes, why not. This shows that they are not totally against the idea, but they are not claiming they’re ethical fashion lovers. This group could probably be persuaded to buy something in the future. 5 people said yes of course. This is fantastic. It’s reassuring that there is hope that a small collection of people would definitely go inside. 4 people said that don’t know. I can’t really say much about this. It is just a matter of luck on the day. It is as simple as that. 2 people definitely said no. That’s okay. It is a very small amount and I shouldn’t focus on this at all because it can be dismissed straight away.

This question is something of a learning process. It helps me get an idea of what the customers would be most against. I would then have to exclude the most negative aspect of my clothes. I have chosen this question to be answered more than one time. The reason I have done this because there could be more than one negative aspect when it comes to customers buying clothes. After I have done that I arguably chosen the three most off-putting annoying aspects. Expensive prices, reusable textiles and unfashionable designs. Surprisingly nobody said reusable textile. Well it is a surprise to me because throughout my research, I have constantly reminded my audience that a lot people wouldn’t want to wear clothes or textiles that somebody previously wore. This is an enormous relief for me. 15 people said expensive prices - I don’t think that my clothing is expensive. The price range is kind to customers and even I wanted my prices to be high it wouldn’t work because ethical fashion stores are behind high street known stores in the pecking order. Why would people swap their usual trustworthy store for a brand new expensive ethical fashion store that nobody knows about? 16 people said unfashionable designs; the biggest response from the audience. I don’t think the designs displayed on my website are unfashionable so I wouldn’t pay attention to that – I have too much faith in the clothes I have handpicked for my models.

The reason I asked this question is because people don’t only just buy clothes for themselves. It could be for a member of their family, a gift to their friends could be on the cards as well. Perhaps a special occasion such as: a birthday, Christmas or anniversary. Maybe not even an occasion is needed to buy clothes. The biggest response was from 8 people who would buy clothes for 1 or 2 people. This is good because even if these people do not like ethical fashion it means someone else does. In the results 2-4 people and more than 4 people were tied. This is great because more purchases will be made. Furthermore, when the clothes are given to the person it will raise awareness because that person might not had known the ethical clothes brand Dier. existed.

Knowing this will give me a rough estimate to see how well my sales will be projected. You can see the trends and if the selling of the clothes are increasing or decreasing. There were 20 people in total and have half of them would go my ethical fashion store once a month. 1 of them would go once a week. 3 would go once a year. 1 of the respondent skipped the question. I think it is fair to say the respondent wouldn’t go at all. However the fact, that everyone minus one would at some point go during a whole year is good news for the future.

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