I just delivered some new styles to Kaight, and in return the shop’s lovely owner Kate McGregor gave me a goodie bag filled with haircare products.  I love when stores give me shwag in exchange for orders!  In the bag was a copy of the July issue of Elle magazine, and on page 32 of that issue is Kate herself looking super hot and wearing one of the Study zipper necklaces available in her shop.  Right next to her on the page is a customer wearing the Study peace silk knotted dress, now available at International Playground.

You look lovely ladies!

What’s so eco-friendly about silk?

I’m using quite a bit of silk in my Spring 2011 collection.  This may come as a surprise to my customers as it was also a surprise to me.  I usually gravitate towards cottons, tencel, hemp and wool (albeit only overstock or organic wool lately).  But this season I was drawn to a certain ikat pattern silk that I absolutely loved, so I went with it.  And I ended up making nearly every style in my 20-piece collection using this fabric, so I am crossing my fingers that other people will like it too!  The silk I’m using is a raw silk, taken from the cocoon after the moth has matured and left it.  But the fact that I’m using silk at all has made me question the sustainability of silk as a yarn.  So I did some research…

I found a very interesting post about the yarn that advises consumers to:

“… look at the whole picture when considering whatever you buy (consider where the final garment is produced, under what conditions, the ethics of the company & designer…) – and don’t be afraid to inquire with the designers to learn more about where they get their silk and how it’s processed, whether it’s raw, or peace silk, etc.”

And in a recent email from friend and eco-textile expert Summer Rayne Oakes, she informs me that:

“Organic” certification for silk does exist though most known certifying bodies to the United States, Canada and Europe haven’t really engaged in certifying the process (standards still tenuous and silk not a “crop” in these countries) so you don’t hear about it much.  At the very least the mulberry crop (if it is a mulberry silk worm) needs to be organic.

GOTS is a voluntary organic standard that has quickly become the lead standard in the industry. There are a lot of certifying bodies that certify GOTS products and there are about 2600 facilities that are GOTS-certified. GOTS does not cover certification of the farm. (Control Union does that). However, GOTS ensures organic status of textiles from harvesting of raw materials, through environmentally-responsible manufacturing up to labeling. So it really does cover production, processing, manufacturing, packaging, labeling, exportation, importation and distribution. Final products could be yarns, fabrics or clothes.  To be listed as “organic” – GOTS products need to have 95% or more of the fibers certified organic. The other 5% can be non-organic but not the same fiber in conventional quality… So the 5% can be Tencel for instance, but not conventional cotton. The only items that GOTS does not cover is air emissions, energy consumption and water consumption.

A lot of information, I know, but I’m sharing what I learn as I learn it.  Hope it helps.

It’s here!

After a few months of development with Apsara Silks in Bangalore, India, my ikat silk has finally arrived, and it’s beautiful! At least I think it is…  I developed two versions of this silk, in different ikat patterns, using the same yarn clrs, so the patterns can be mixes.  I’m very excited to start making samples with this fabric. Very excited!  Most of this fabric was shipped directly to my other factory, also in Bangalore, but I couldn’t resist having a few yards shipped to NY so I could play with it myself.  I know, bad carbon footprint, Tara, bad!  But I couldn’t help it, I’m sorry!

That’s it for today, just wanted to share this with you. Time to start making patterns!

Karolina (pronounced like the state)

In May I received the following email from my fourth (and last, I promise) intern:

Hi!

I am a fashion student from Malmo in Sweden who is very interested in your design and concept at Study. I am very much into the eco fashion and outside of school I have my own little fashion label REDESIGN by KJ where I work a lot with vintage clothes and materials which I update by sewing new ones. You can look at my creations at www.redesignbykj.blogspot.com

I was wondering if there would be any possibility to come and work as an intern for you in New York this summer. I am interested to learn about how you work with your design development and run your business and it would be a great opportunity.

I look forward hearing from you

Best regards, Karolina Johansson

Because Karolina arrived a full month after I started Study Hall, she’s going to be developing 3 styles instead of 4, two of which we’re going to make at the studio to save time and money.  I’m excited about her styles.  Originally she wanted to make t-shirts only, but after attending one of the fittings at Michelle’s sample room (as the very patient fit model) she was so inspired by the silk / hemp sateen that Julianne is using, she decided to make a pant as well.  And it’s going to be a great pant!  As for her tees, we’re going to play with dip-dyeing and spray dyeing using non-toxic eco-friendly dyes (of course).

And not only am I impressed by her design skills, but she’s the fastest sewer I’ve seen.  Way faster than me and ,I’ll be honest, way better than me, too.  So I’m grateful she showed up all the way from Sweden to help out for the summer.

Earlier in the week I talked a little about the sample development process and why everything takes so long.  To give you an example of this, I started designing Spring 2011 in May.  Samples need to be ready for trade shows and fashion week in September.  This seems like a long time, but some of the fabrics I use are custom woven for me, and this can take up to 4 weeks.  Sewing the samples takes another week or two.  And in between all that is a round of fittings (which the interns did last week), corrections and changes.

Samples are shown to buyers during show season in September and October.  My showroom then compiles orders from the buyers (we always cross our fingers and hope the orders come in) and sends them to me to calculate total production orders.  Spring 2011 will start to ship in February.  Early, I know.  While we’re trudging through snow and ice, brand new Spring styles are being shipped to the stores.  I don’t personally agree with this, I think clothing should be shipped in season, when it’s needed. But this is the fashion calendar as we know it.  So between November and February I calculate total orders from the store, order enough fabric to produce the orders, have the sample patterns graded to all sizes, and place production orders with my sample room and factory.  Then they are delivered to me, divided up by customer, packaged, and shipped off in their pretty little boxes.

I’ll expand my rant about shipping Spring in February and Fall in August tomorrow.