The Fashion Designer Economy: New Relationships Between Manufacturers and DesignersDemelza Galica DISC Global Sourcing ManagerWendy Malem MBA FRSA FCSDDean of the Graduate School Director Centre for Fashion Enterprise,Director Designer-Manufacturer Innovation and Support Centre (DISC) London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London

How do we get manufacturers, engineers, technologists and product/fashion designers to work together?

Where is the innovation in manufacturing coming from?Is it in adding value somehow to manufacturing to elevate the purpose of a factory in Europe?

Should we be looking at new processes?

Craft and Industry

Can craft be industrialised?

Product Development

Do we break down the value chain enough?

What about innovation in processes like tanning, finishing, weaving, engineering, craft processes, supported by an entrepreneurial platform and experience from IFM and CFE who have a track record in bringing innovation to market?

Crafting Social ChangeProduct design through collaboration

Designer-Manufacturer Innovation Support Centre (DISC)DISC supports fashion manufacturers, designers and jewellers within all areas of the production processes. Through our programmes we deliver innovation in product, process and business models.

www.fashion-manufacturing.com

@DISCfashion

Projects

Claire Barrow

Originally buying leather jackets and hand painting them, Claire was spotted by a luxury retailer and was worried that she could not produce the order.

Result of DISC support:

DISC introduced Claire to a leather manufacture and worked with her to get them produced. The collection has now been launched with huge interest from the press.

Agi and Sam

Wherever possible Agi and Sam include a humorous element to their designs. For their SS14 collection the duo wanted to produce garments which included elements of materials used on the tube seats.

Result of DISC support:

DISC introduced the designers to the fabric supplier Camira, suppliers to Transport for London, who sponsored their collection.

Lily Kamper

Jewellery designer with no real metalworking experience wanted to increase her offer of shapes

Result of DISC support:

Help to create some pieces in CAD and the connected Lily to a goldsmith who has developed metal pieces and has undertaken some production (including 3D printing the waxes of the CAD files)

Making connections and crossing borders with design, craft and manufacturers across Europe

Projects

Emma J Shipley

Emma J Shipley produces luxury printed scarves with designs from her own intricate graphic artworks, made in Italy.

Through WORTH Emma will introduce a new product category: unique bags based on Emma’s hand drawn pencil artworks. These will utilise innovative leatherworking processes which the business cannot currently access - translating the artworks through digital print, weave, laser etching and embossing.

James Long

James Long was the winner of the very first NEWGEN Men sponsorship initiative which launched the label, the brand also became the first-ever menswear recipient of the British Fashion Council's Fashion Forward sponsorship prize in 2012 and was nominated for the Menswear Emerging Talent at the British Fashion Awards in 2012. James Long is committed to establishing a greater European footprint and developing innovative casual luxury clothing with versatile appeal for an international customer.

James Long will combine leather and hardware, producing a new product to the luxury Menswear market. This would be realised as a collection of branded accessories including Rucksack, Duffle, Tote, Holdall, iPad Case and purse. The innovative methodology will use bonded and inflatable leather with cutting edge 3D printed branded hardware. This will accentuate signature details with the new technology showing a new use and approach to traditionally separate materials.

Oliver RuugerOliver Ruuger was set up in order to offer avant garde luxury products for the intelligent fashion consumer. We believe a luxury product should be risky, scarce, highly developed and hold investment value as an artistic design achievement. Studio Ruuger designs, develops and manufactures in house.

Eyewear is a product category which fills a very specific role for most fashion brands. A formulaic process is often applied in the design and manufacture stages which inhibits creativity and innovation other than allowing for altering basic function, form and aesthetic.

The Oliver Ruuger project will combine their process-embracing design approach and know-how of unexpected materials with the expertise of a traditional eyewear manufacturer - with the aim to create new and exciting eyewear of value. We are aiming for “collaborative production”.

STUDIO TOOGOOD

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Studio Toogood

Studio Toogood designs, directs and executes interiors and environments from concept through to creation. Offering a full creative direction and interior design service, the studio’s projects range from the two-dimensional page to the three-dimensional space, and from the real to the conceptual.

Studio Toogood also produce a range of unisex outerwear and high-end furniture.

The project will be to introduce a range of hats to our existing unisex collection of outerwear pieces, developing a new process around shapes we’ve previously designed in our furniture collections.

Studio Toogood will develop the product in Norway with their traditional techniques ranging from hat making, to felting and ribbon weaving. This would then be followed by a commercial translation together with a Czech headwear manufacturer.

Teatum Jones

Catherine Teatum and Rob Jones are the designers behind the label Teatum Jones.

The designers are conceptual in their approach to design whilst remaining loyal to an ethos of authenticity, desirability and quality British craftsmanship, hailed as ‘textile pioneers’ by Afsun Qureshi style.com. Teatum and Jones’ signature is within their anthropological approach to design and fashion.

Through WORTH, they will push boundaries with fabric development and add in non fashion fabrics into the collection. The idea is to use new, non traditional fabrics like woods and plastics in their main collection. The aim is for this to be on outerwear and separates and show pieces. This new technology will then be used to add in exciting new products into the collection like shoes and eyewear.