zoes r us

I absolutely adore Fashionista, a newsy, fun blog that covers all aspects of the fashion industry.  Their “quotes of the day” alone are worth a daily visit.  Yesterday, they posted about a new video game called “My Fashion Studio” and the goal is to cut, iron and sew your way from apprentice to owner of the house and in order to do so, you have to win the approval of this famous fashion designer named Zoe.  Insert joke at my expense here.  heeheehee…

i love danielle

I just got off the phone with Danielle, aka Final Fashion, and I just needed to yell from the rooftops that she’s amazing!  Long story short, I’ve been feeling incredibly beat down and low and generally filled with self-loathing lately and we had such an interesting, fun, funny roller coaster of a conversation on the phone and now I feel like I can conquer the world, including tackling the mess that is my house.  Woohoo!

website updated

Dear VC readers,

I really appreciate all the feedback you’ve given regarding my website.  First of all, Genius Code Guy moved the images to a different server so they should be loading faster now.  Secondly, many of you thought it would be a good idea to show some close-ups to see more detail, so I’ve added those as well, wherever appropriate.  A couple of y’all thought I should put up something better than “coming soon” under my “stockists” page so I changed that as well.

Thank you!

website done!

***UPDATE***  I forwarded Genius Code Guy the comments you fabulously helpful readers left and he fixed something and now the website should load faster.  Thanks for your comments and I will be posting a real reply soon!

Um, almost.  There’s a little bit of tweaking left, but…

TA DA! Click here to visit zoehong.com! (insert cowbells, wolfwhistles, catcalling, screaming, etc.)

Tell me what you think!  I’d love to get some feedback from you guys on:

1.  Techy stuff like, the text is too dark, or there are funky characters (sometimes my umlauts read funny), or the pages take too damn long to load, etc.  If you’re having problems, can you also tell me what browser you’re using? (Internet Explorer on a PC, Safari on a Mac, etc.)

*note to self: stop saying “etc”.  you’re starting to sound like the king in The King and I.

2.  More importantly, tell me what you think of the designs!

*note to readers: this low-grade stomachache I’ve been having for the past few days may or may not be tied to publishing the website, but just in case it is, please be kind.  I mean, don’t lie, be honest, but instead of telling me that my butt looks huge in these jeans, could you just tell me I’ve looked better in different pants?

So, yeah, take a look around and spread the news! And the love! And now I need to go get some sleep! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……

the cost of clothes

One of my least favorite industry-related things to do is run up cost sheets, but it’s not because I hate math.  I actually love math.  I took an extra math class in college for kicks.  I hate cost sheets because of the inaccuracy of the math.    It’s all “so if freight for 75 yards from New Jersey to Los Angeles is $X, and let’s project (! that word! ick!) that we’ll need 500 yards more, with the volume discount, and shipping ground instead of splitting 20 yards 2-day and the balance ground, then freight should be approximately… um… what?” and “if it’ll cost $X to grade this pattern, then how much should I charge per garment if I don’t know how many units I’m going to sell yet?”  Yeah. So. Much. Fun.

Calculus was hard enough with 2 variables, but basic algebra with 150 variables is just crazy-making.

In order for a dress to get from random idea to you as a finished garment you want, you have to pay a lot of people.  You pay:

• the guy who designs the dress
• the guy who helps the guy design the dress
• the guy who specs out the dress
• the guy who orders all the inputs for the dress, tracks all the vendors down, make sure things are delivered on time
• the guy who sells you the inputs
• the guy who inspects the inputs and makes sure they’re what you ordered
• the guy who drapes the dress and/or drafts the pattern
• the guy who cuts the sample
• the guy who sews the sample
• the fit model
• the guy who fixes the spec
• the guy who fixes the sample
• the guy who cuts a new sample
• the guy who sews the new sample
• the guy who makes the linesheet
• all the guys who make the lookbook
• all the guys who put together the runway show, tradeshow booth, sales pitch, etc.
• all the guys who follow up with stores to get the sale

Now if you’re lucky and get some sales, you have the privilege to pay:

• the guy who puts together the cut tickets
• the guy who alters the pattern to make it “production friendly”
• the guy who runs around to get the inputs for the production
• the guy who inspects your inputs
• the guy who grades your patterns to make all the sizes
• all the guys who make size run samples to make sure your size 14 works as well as the size 0
• the guy who makes the marker according to the cut tickets
• the guy who lays out your fabric
• the guy who cuts out the pattern pieces
• all the guys who sew the garments together
• all the guys who iron the dresses and package them
• the guy who packs up the shipments and sends them off
• the guy who follows up with stores
• the guy who has the happy, happy task of collecting money from the stores
• the guy who figures out what sold and what didn’t so they can use that information to design better things next time

Then, in order to take the garment and take it to the consumer, you pay:

• all the guys in PR
• all the guys in advertising
• all the guys in the store that unpack the boxes and hang them on the racks
• all the guys who hunt down a different size and bring it to the dressing room
• all the guys who work for the store, from the CEO to the janitor to the guy who designs the cute little bags people take their purchases home in

And then you pay:

• all the guys who pays all the other guys on these lists so they’ll want to do it for you again next season

Now think about all those guys the next time you pick up a price tag.  Or if you prefer, you can think about me in my office, beating my brains out, making a list of all these guys.