sweatshop horror

Fair trade is not just about where and who you buy your cotton from it is so much more that that its about fair pay and how people are treating there work force. fair trade plays a massive part in the fashion industry so its important that you meet the standards there has been many incidents with big brand name companies where people have boycott the stores due to low fair trade standards this has a massive decrease in there sales and profit for example when primark was in the new about unfair pay to there factory workers people started to boycott the shop and started to protest this gave primark a bad reputation and less people started shopping their.

"The budget retailer was the focus of an expose by the BBC’s Panorama in 2008, which found that children were working in Indian refugee camps to produce some of its cheapest clothes. Primark promptly cut its ties with the suppliers and apologised profusely, but it clearly wasn't great for the image. Doesn't seem to have put the majority of punters off"


unknown (2010). Primark shifting gear - and Fairtrade also picking up. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/news/985473/Primark-shifting-gear---Fairtrade-picking/. [Last Accessed 23/05/12].

Cheap labour in sweatshops.


Often the case of cheap clothes means cheap labour, what about fair trade standards their obviously not been met!


 High street shops such as Marks & Spencer, Mothercare and H&M, confirmed that the wages paid to there  garment workers were as low as £1.13 for a nine-hour days work. This fails to meet their basic needs, This falls below the minimum international labour standards promised by the Ethical Trading Initiative.


Karen McVeigh (2007). The sweatshop high street - more brands under fire. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/sep/03/retail.supermarkets. [Last Accessed 23/05/12].

Workers were often refused leave even when ill should't the workers health come first?
A worker that produced clothes for H&M said that "15 people would claps per day and had to be given medical help!". 


Karen McVeigh (2007). The sweatshop high street - more brands under fire. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/sep/03/retail.supermarkets. [Last Accessed 23/05/12].

This is disgusting but it get worse i'm sure in the last few month of a pregnancy you are able to go on paid maternity leave? well not in this case, a woman of 2 ages 25 worked full term and when she fell into labour had to fill in forms that took one and a half half hours to fill in this is absolutely horrendous.

A month later, a nine-month pregnant woman from Shalina Creations, a factory supplying Gap, went into labour at work and subsequently lost her baby. Rathnamma, 27, a mother of two, claimed that she was refused immediate leave on March 29 this year, after going into labour. When she asked to go home, the production manager made her fill in forms that took an hour and a half, she said. "I was in such pain, I could hardly stand up."

When she finally made it outside the factory gates, she collapsed, she said, and gave birth to the baby in the street. A passerby helped her into an auto ricksaw, but when she got home, she discovered the baby was dead.     

Karen McVeigh (2007). The sweatshop high street - more brands under fire. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/sep/03/retail.supermarkets. [Last Accessed 23/05/12].

This in not fair trade! when companies get their garments manufactured abroad they need to meet the  international labour standards promised by the Ethical Trading Initiative, they have to cater to the needs of the workers and keep in mind they have family's they need to support , in this case they have failed to meet this and also the health and safety of the workers.

change in fashion illustration

Rene Gruau 1940's

hilda glasgow 1960s

tobie giddio 1980

reiss 2010

over the past decades fashion illustrations have change due to new media and new technology, we have gone from traditional medial like graphite and ink to computer aided design like photoshop and illustrator this has helped people develop illustrations and explore new and fun ways to design. 

illustrations have also changed because new things come into fashion and garment silhouettes change illustrations started to show more and more flesh they become less modest. Drawing styles started to change people started to develop they way they draw and the marks they make, because a style of drawing might not suit a certain theme/project so things had to change.

   

Examining an ethical issue in fashion design

 Examining an ethical issue in fashion design

 Here i have selected an ethical issue in the fashion industry.

Fashion models have been created and “shown off” in a way that it seems like every young girl must look like them, be like them even if it means having a body mass index of 16 when the average BMI of a healthy female adult is 18.

“The average high fashion model is 5'9'' and weighs a shockingly light 110 lbs, which calculates into a BMI of only 16.2.

Keep in mind that a healthy body mass index is between 19 and 25, and that a female of above size would be 33 pounds underweight.  A plus size model of the same height would probably weigh about 175 and have a fairly healthy body mass index of 25.8.” 

Ms. Lovett♥ Member since: January 09, 2008 (22/3/11) (12:57)

The fashion industry have in a way hypnotised young girls to want to be size 6 jeans and they have this image of a beautiful, elegant size 6 model in their head and they would do anything to be them or just like them.

Models are plastered everywhere from T.V, magazines, billboards etc... So you can’t help but feel ugly when they are constantly in your face.

 Well you need to know the ugly side of beauty...

Most models have never had the perfect body some have had to train and exercise to be so perfect and even doing this is not enough some models make themselves sick and some starve themselves to lose weight that they don’t even need to lose because it has been drilled into their heads that they need to be as skinny as possible, unaware that young teenage girls follow in their footsteps creating diet obsessed girls, which are losing vital vitamins and iron leaving them anaemic.

"Having a perfect body is a must for models. It’s part of their work. Most models are always on a strict diet and spend at least two-three hours a day exercising. They often must skip meals and rest periods because they are too busy and they have to jump from one fashion show or photo session to another one without interruption. Clearly this is not a healthy lifestyle, but rather a stressful lifestyle. And it's well known that stress often leads to disruptions of physical and emotional well-being. So much so that some fashion models fall into depression, self-destructive behaviours or other mental disorders."

 (ritu Junior Member 02-10-2010, 12:13 AM) (http://www.weightism.org/thread-360.html) (11:41, 26/04/11)

Young girls need to know that they are not fat or ugly and that everyone is different and you should be happy in your own body. 

Young girls need to know that they are not fat or ugly and that everyone is different and you should be happy in your own body.

surface pattern

here i have selected a few surface patten designers that i think are relevant to my work. 

amanda dilworth, i like how this image looks part hand drawn and part computer aided, i love the use of bright colours used they are really eye catting and draw you to look at the image which then you realise she has used different inks and drawing techniques like negative space in the top right hand corner, line drawing in the bottom left, the way the patterns and shapes are formed on the mushroom tops look like batik wax which look really nice. this links with my work as one of my main focus points for my surface patter is mushrooms. 

anissa lee, this is based on Alice in wonderland, you can argue that its being done in negative space or just white on red. i love how they have overlapped lots of things to make a more complex 'crazy' pattern then added block shapes on top like the clock hands and teapots. 

eva joly, i like the idea of putting things into a repeat pattern i think it makes the image look more abstract, sometimes it can make the image more clinical and simple which can also be really nice especially as a base for a print. i love the use of colour the red and blue bounce off each other making it really eye-catching.   

hilary yafai, i picked this as i love the colours used and how simple the silhouette is and that they have put all the detail into the patterns.

jessica swift

Lucie Duclos Marching-Dots

nikki griffiths

rachel cave

sian elin

surrealism

Many people think Alice in Wonderland is very surreal so i decided to look into some surreal artists.

I have look at Salvador Dali's oil painting spellbound, witch was created for Alfred Hitchcock's 1945 Hollywood movie.

 This is the oil painting 

And this is a shot from the movie.

I like these two images as it look like your been watched, the eyes are over the people watching them like they have a secret and they think everyone is watching them but there just been paranoid. this image links with my project because there is always something watching Alice even the flowers and when she is in her reality world she is been watched by every one and she feels trapped and enclosed a bit like when you have a secret and you think everyone knows and you become paranoid, so in this movie maybe the eyes ain't really there and its just a figment of there imagination.

I have also been looking at the work of Rene Magritte 

I love this images as you can see there is supposed  to be a face of a women there but you can only see the eyes and lip witch are the two main things males tend to be notice first on a women's face. the rest of the face has been  replaced with pearls, pearls are expensive so this could mean that the women in the image valued her looks and liked to wear expensive things. in the background there is a broken tower with doves flying out of it this could resemble freedom and the glass of water at the side of the face could be the tiers that she has cried over the years and now she has broken free (the doves and the tower) she has realised that it was a waist. 

The images link with my project because the face is like the Cheshire cats as he always goes in visible and tends to just leave his eyes and mouth. 

   

copyright

Intellectual property is work that is original and unique to someone that has been developed to a stage that it can be legally protected it is an intangible and non-physical product for example a symbol, design or an idea. This makes it harder to protect the product, this is important to the fashion industry as you want all legal rights to your product so no one can take your idea for their own.

Copyright is important to designers in the fashion industry because a trademark/ logo in the fashion industry shows us who designed the product and who made it, this is important because you don’t want people making cheap products and selling with your logo at a high price, you would lose so much money.

Design and patents in the industry need new designs and collections for every seasons and trends, they register these to protect the new original and unique designs.

If a new style or fabric material or fastening is INVENTED it needs to be protected from other people, to do this the patent needs to be registered. Patented designs and ideas can be used by other people designers and manufactures if they agree to pay a fee.

It’s important not to infringe on other’s intellectual property because you could be taken to court however some will still go forward and do it anyway and this will act as publicity and raise their company profile reputation.     

Constraints

What are constraints? 

Constraints are things that restrict you from been able to do certain things like price; if you are a small business you need to be aware of the amount of money you are spending and the price you are selling your product for example I’m making a garment for lower class community and I over spend on fabric and sell my garment for a low price I will be losing out on profit in the long run this could run my business into the ground and i might not be able to afford to make any more orders. 

Constraints are not bad things they give you limitations and deadlines so you know how fast you have to work and it will push your creativity and will help you become a better designer. Having a constraint on price allows you to find and source other things that are just as better for cheaper it also allows you to push your imagination and opens your eyes to the fact you don’t have to use expensive things to create top quality products.

Constraints are things like;

•     Your customer

•     Space
•      Price

•    Health and Safety

•   Time

Miss Deee

Aptt 1185,

Chynoweth Hse,

TRURO,

TR4 8UN

 www.missdeee.com

Company Descript.

With an office in the United Kingdom, Miss Deee provides beautiful Unique and Exclusive Designer clothing. Miss Deee's designer cocktail dresses and evening gowns can be customised for your perfect fit, to clients throughout the World. Miss Deee distributes goods internationally. Set up in the year 2000 as part of Millionaire fashion Group the company has over 10 years of experience in the Designer Clothing and Accessories sector.

Consisting of sophisticated customised designer clothing, the ball gown, cocktail dresses and evening dresses supplied by the business are perfect for that special occasion. Available online, the products are tailored to individual needs. This ensures Miss Deee's customers look and feel unique and exclusive anywhere she goes, as clothes are available in limited numbers. Unlike "High Street" stores. The company is managed by a team of like-minded individuals who has been working in the Designer Clothes market for many years. Having previously worked for a well-known high street brand, Miss Deee is experienced enough to manage the company. http://www.freeindex.co.uk/profile%28miss-deee%29_414832.htm

                              

I am writing about an online store called Miss Deee and the constraints they may face been a small company and I will also say how they can overcome them.

Been a small online company has many constraints for example location, as the business is located online many people will not know about them this means they could be losing potential customers, they have to think of ways to advertise their company for example Twitter is an online site where you can tweet and talk to people all over the world it is a brilliant way to put yourself out there, also Facebook millions of people are on online sites and things get past about and talked about.

Been an online company selling things for a wide range of people have to keep in mind that you still have a customer this is one of your constraint you have to make sure your garment fits their needs and wants when designing you have to make sure you are using suitable fabrics for your target market to keep it in their price range. When designing for just one person you have to cater for their personal needs you would not design a cheap ‘night out’ dress for someone who personality requires more expensive and elegant style, when designing you have to get to know your customer so you know what they want and what fits their personality.

Space and fabric are also constraints you need to be able to produce the garments required by your customer and the fabrics you need to supply may become expensive you need to find ways to lower the cost by supplying fabric from cheap but quality places fabric for abroad tend to be cheap but you have to make time for them to be transported and shipped this is also a constraint as this can be very time consuming. Lack of space is a big problem as your work space can become overcrowded this could be a potential fire hazard, been an online business you need to make sure you have space to store your goods and make them.

Copyright is a massive constraint in the fashion industry been a small online business you need to make sure you are not a victim people often take other peoples designs and rip them off to stop this happening to you, you must copyright your designs.

Time is a massive constraint as you need to keep to dead line to keep you customer happy, within the process of making you need to allow time for shipping fabric if it is from abroad also printing, cutting and pattern making also design to design a top quality garment you need to allow time but before you can design you need to gather your research and inspiration. Time is also important when interviewing and recruiting staff you need to allow time to be able to recruit the best staff the hard workers and skilled, this is because you will always have staff that don’t know how to do certain things and if your staff are skilled in different thing they will be able to show the other staff while they work this saves time.    

  

Constraints I have faced during my FMP;

During my final major project I have face many constraints witch have made me deal with my work in a much different way I have had to stop and think about what it is stopping me from doing and how I am going to solve it by finding  another option.

The main constraint I have face during my FMP is time, I have had to arrange my time so I can fit all my work in like digital printing I have to make sure I had all my work done that I needed doing before I could go to digital print as there is certain times I could get booked in. also with screen printing as drop in is only on certain days, I gave myself mini deadlines for when I had to have my work done. It is very important that I organize my time right and don’t waist it on unnecessary things and it is also important that I give enough time to complete things.

Money is also a big constraint as I don’t want to over spend on my budget but there are things that I would like to do and experiment with but I can’t do that within my budget so I have had to find alternative ways that have come out better for example I wanted a table for my exhibition but the one I wanted was out of my price range luckily I found one similar in a friend of the family’s pub and she allowed me to have it for free saving money that I could spend on something more practical like my digital print. 

Health and safety is something that I have had to overcome due to constraints I wanted to do a latex workshop to do samples for my FMP but did not have appropriate footwear so I put welly boots on provided by the workroom staff for safety this allowed me to take part in the workshop.

My target customer is also one of my constraints as she has her own needs and want and I have to be able to provide what she needs to keep her happy. This is hard as I need to do research on my customer witch can be very time consuming also I need to be able to produce a garment that fits her personality and tailors to her needs.

Space is a massive constraint that I have also had to overcome due to having such small studio space making paper patterns is harder so I took work home where I have my personal space and I have been able to finish the work. Also lack of space in the computer rooms I have had to go elsewhere to be able to do work needed I have traveled to other college sites to finish work off and also gone to the library to use this that are provided there, this is very time consuming but time is something that I have had to sacrifice to be able to finish work.