News
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Its been a while...
Well, it has been a while since I have posted any updates. The highlight of last year was being accepted as The Iconic's first plus size sportswear brand. The downside was the length of time it took to get my brain back to normal (or what passes for normal for me!) after our car crash.
But now I'm back with a vengeance - and what a vengeance! I decided that as CurvyChicSports and the desire to help plus size women feel great, though looking good and feeling comfortable and confident in sports apparel, is a passion for me then I was going to give it the best shot I could. So I cashed in my Vodafone UK shares (I worked for them for 11 years) and hired an marketing guru to keep me focused and on track. It is amazing the number of paths I get side track down and new designs that spin off of new samples being made up - it is truly amazing that we have even got close to a collection. Talking of being side tracked.... Any how, Stephen has changed the logo to reflect the various areas of apparel that we are producing. This has meant new labels, updates to the website and so, so much more. This season we have designed some funkier cheerful clothing that is still made here in Oz from quality fabrics that perform and feel great. Better still they look fab on. I think that the new look is fresher and more fun.
As always this has included lots of learning opportunities.
All the new changes hinge on having the collection photographed. I am sooo glad that this isn't my everyday job! I thought that it would be easy - book the photographer, book models and a hair/make up person and job done. How hard could it be??? Yeah, I really thought that... Now I know better and it wasn't even me driving the session! First, to get a date agreed well that turned out to be about 3 weeks later than what I initially planned on. Then to agree the models - just ask Stephen if he ever wants to send me photos again after I have had a really hard long day! Now we apparently have to have a casting call to make sure that they (the models) look as they do in their photos and that the clothes suit them. Fair enough call, some of the photos didn't flatter the models or the garments, so I get the point of checking first. But for me this is akin to prolonging a torture session!
The big day is next week, so stay tuned to find out what a casting call is really like!
Catch you then! Jacquelyn
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The Trauma of Choosing Names!
One (more) thing that I have struggled through out this whole manufacturing process is choosing a name for each garment...
Each garment has to have a name - right? It can't be a model number or that would sound silly - model 102-112 has flowing lines with 4way stretch... It just doesn't sound very inviting does it? Then again we could go for random female name.. Jessica has flowing lines with 4way stretch... but that doesn't sound right to me either. Who IS Jessica and why does she have flowing lines? Why did she inspire this garment? To many questions.
I decided to go with semi descriptive names - Bamboozle Tee as it was made out of bamboo (leaving the naming up to some one who names their cats big cat and little cat is a bit risky...). All was going well with that as the naming convention until we got to our latest item - an anti-bounce bra that reduces back fat rolls.....
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I sat up in bed wide awake at 2.57am the other morning....
absolutely convinced that our whole production run was so wrong that it was going to be a disaster! It brought me upright and wide awake withing a second in a cold sweat :).
I had woken early the day before and put the size guide together and published it on the website. Then it was off to one of the makers to go through the elastic and waistbands on the 3/4 active and swoosh pants (making sure that they put the right elastic in and that it wasn't to tight or too loose and that the channels it sat in were perfect). I then picked up the bike shorts and active 3/4 pants from another maker and took them back to the shop. We commented that the bike shorts waist looked rather small but as the samples had fitted well, we put it down to being an optical illusion as they are in grey and the sample was in black. My brain must have been ticking over it through the night though as when I woke all I could think of was that the waist size I had published for an 18 was 85cm which is also the most popular size in belts for size 8-10 ladies.
Panic on! Frantic emails to the pattern maker ensued along with me running around with a tape measure checking every one in sight to see what they were (no objections allowed). We also checked a range of other size guidelines which all concurred with our size guide. I have to say at this point that I am a sceptic of size guides though as we sell breeches in waist sizes of 26", 28", 30" etc which bears no resemblance to actual waist size, and I have long wondered about that. It may have one day but doesn't today. Any way we measured our waistbands and they didn't agree with our size guides either, so we have altered the size guide. This fashion business seems downright weird to me at times - guides that don't really mean what they say...
Any way that is the story of how our guidelines show real waist sizes -give or take 5cm due to elastic and the stretch fabric that we use!
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What a great birthday present!
It was my birthday yesterday, and everything came together in a great way so that that we can finally get this show on the road! The changes to the website have been finished, the PR person is on board, I picked up the last of the first batch of clothing and also some new patterns that we have been working on and testing. Stage 2 is starting to come together as well - long sleeve hoodie for winter, bra with back fat minimiser (will think of some much more PC term by the time we come to launch), succky inney exercise underwear, netball shorts and long pants as well as a couple of more tops. I am really fortunate with the people that I am working with - all fantastic, positive people and quick and ready to help. Makes life so much easier than having to nag and plead for things to get done - or have tantrums :). So start speading the message Curvy Chics is open for business! -
So close but so faaaaarrrr....
I am learning a lot about patience - having lots of patience, oh and waiting:). I thought that we would be launched by now and that all would be going swimmingly. Well, we aren't launched but we are going swimmingly (and with all the rain around that isn't such a great choice of words!)! I found a new maker just over a week ago. Talk about quick. Samples turned around in a matter of days and the quality of work is just awesome. The netball shorts and long leggings (part of the butt dart family) are superb. The new control bra in bigger sizes looks great on and does all the things it is supposed too. No unsightly bra bulge on the back with this one! Just waiting for feedback on the control briefs and then those will hit the grading and manufacturing line. The control top is going to have to go back to the design board for now though. The fabric cost alone (uncut) per garment is over $40 making it uneconomic to produce.
The remade swoosh pants are awesome though. All prior doubts have been swept aside. Repositioning the swoosh added just the right touch. Shame the manufacturer is out of fabric in the colour I want.... . I had approached another maker to manufacture (the same one that made the original sample), he stated a price that was higher than the original sample (samples normally cost double the making cost). I don't think he wants the work:)
Visited with my wonderful graphic designer Caroline (braving floods to get to her, but that is another story) to work on the website graphics. She is just fantastic, another person who understands my poor attempts to describe what I want and always delivers something better!
The funniest thing about this whole range? The more people I show the garments too who are not size 18-26, the more requests I get to make it in smaller sizes. Ironic really :)