How fashion products are designed to be changed

Fashion editors and department stores have the biggest say in how designers design products that meet market demands have been around for a long time,. But now, this pattern is changing slowly because of the more connected social-networking culture, the more convenient online voting tools, online buying and customization.

To make designers and buyers better connected, some of the lower-profile brands give the opportunity to consumers to decide what to produce and what to design.

This allows both sides to better participate in the entire purchase process, but also in the manufacturer's resources to reduce waste, manufacturers and retailers can better forecast demand to put into production.

As a buyer

"Fashion is changing to a two-way pattern. Vivian Weng this way. She successfully conducted the adventures of E-commerce in the fashion field, and last fall established fashion stake shopping site with the Harvard Business School classmate Daniel Gulati.

While FashionStake still somehow has the taste of traditional shopping websites, Vivian Weng and Daniel Gulati have realised that consumers are also eager to become part of the creative process throughout the fashion.

Vivian Weng and Daniel Gulati are also trying to become bole, to explore the fashion industry rookie. They have created an excellent platform: designers and consumers can work together to produce products and create them before the order is completed. Clothes will be put into production only after they have reached the order quantity.

Traditional E-commerce sites are also in the process of slow change, such as ebay. This February in New York Fashion Week, designer Derek Lam unveiled its original series of 16 pieces of design, inviting ebay shoppers to vote, choosing five votes over 120,000 (see chart), and adding 6 extra designs to the show when it comes to surprise.

In these two examples, consumers, rather than buyers, are given the final decision (or cooperative decision) as to which designs should be mass-produced, and the most popular design for natural scale production meets market demand.

As a designer

Some brands are trying to get buyers involved in the design process, after Burberry brand Blank label and Gemvara, another brand that allows customers to freely select patterns, materials and other details through the online application process, Consumers can have their own unique clothing or accessories. It is reported that later this year, Burberry will let customers design their own windbreaker!

With Web applications, consumers are free to choose styles, colors, and other details in Burberry's "predetermined" category. As more and more materials are rolled out, the product will have more than 12 million combinations of possibilities, and consumers may create some maverick designs.

In this proven example, clothing is produced only after an order, thereby rejecting the possibility of any excess inventory.

Accessories designer Rebecca Minkoff to give consumers more freedom, she turned to online fashion styling community Polyvore to design her next season "Morning-after clutch" products. The Rebecca Minkoff provides a name-marked image of the material, including leather, hooks, tassels, studs, zippers and bandages, in Polyvore brainstorming.

Within a week, nearly 4,000 users submitted more than 6,000 designs of different styles, and the designers who won the final victory exhibited their designs at the opening show in New York Fashion Week in February, and began to put the design in the name of the Minkoff brand in February.

Minkoff that "the collaboration between consumers and designers is a great way for designers to really understand what their customers want from their brand, and my client involvement in this two-way partnership has really shown that they understand our brand's aesthetic concepts and design concepts." Minkoff also said she would consider launching similar activities in the near future.

"Designer" is obsolete?

Although the link between designers and consumers has become increasingly tight, one of the founders of Polyvore knows that some people believe that this kind of cooperation threatens the artistic integrity of the design process.

"Some people feel that the idea of interactive design is out of the special category of artistic creation," Jess Lee said. The most important thing, she adds, is to keep the design perspective of the designer and then radiate to all designs.

Lam agrees, noting that "My design philosophy has not received any threat during my partnership with ebay, which is why I think interactive design is a great concept." I can keep my creative ideas, execute the design process, and complete the whole design process as usual. ”

While Derek Lam,rebecca Minkoff and Burberry chief creative director Christopher Bailey make consumers part of the design process, they still retain control, but they can still ensure that the product expresses its own style and choice, It is also engaged in a new way of spending.

"Customer needs are part of the personal experience, and more and more websites will try to establish direct contact with customers to get them directly involved." "Vivian Weng said.