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Coco Chanel wasn’t always an orphan. At age twelve her mother passed and left her father to care for six siblings. Soon after he left the children to fend for themselves and that is when Coco was in the Orphanage of The Catholic Monastery of Aubazine for the next seven years, where she learned how to sew and became a seamstress.

At the age of eighteen, she left the orphanage and began work for a local tailor. She adopted her name Coco while working at a cafe and as a concert singer. Later she began designing hats as a hobby. They began to catch on and gain the attention of female Parisian socialites.

In 1909, with the help of Balsan (An affair she was having at the time) and Arthur “Boy” Capel, another rich lover, Coco was able to open her own millinery, a hat shop called ”Chanel Modes.” It was located at 31 rue Cambon in Paris.

Popularity: 5% [?]

In the mist of the hustle of New York Fashion Week many other city Fashion Weeks seem to get overshadowed. Mainly being that New York is to me…the fashion capital of the United States. Nevertheless Los Angeles Fashion Week begins this Friday March 7 to next Friday March 14.

Below is a breakdown of the LA Fashion Week events: Friday March 7, 2008

1. GEN ART’s The New Garde: Park Plaza Hotel, 607 S Park View St, LA.
   Friday, March 7– 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm. Award-winning GEN ART showcases essential emerging talent. This season: JMARY, Jesse Kamm, and Le Sang des Betes by Trang Chau. Media contact Evolutionary Media Group 323.658.8700. Event Tickets $40-$90 available online* at www.genart.org
2. ERIN FEATHERSTON’S LA Fashion Week Kick-off Party. Villa, 8623 Melrose Ave, West Hollywood. Invitation only. Party and short film debut for her latest collection starring Kirsten Dunst and Zooey Dechanel. MEDIA inquiries: Kat Van Leer 212.226.1717 kat@syndicate-ny.com SALES inquiries: Meghan 212.391.0050 meghan@gregmillsltd.com www.erinfeatherston.com

Saturday March 8, 2007:

CP Cotton: Refers to Combed Peeler cotton that comes from California. CP cotton is not as strong as CS cotton (Is a much more superior grade of cotton) and is also less expensive. CP cotton has a lighter color as opposed to CS cotton. CP cotton threads are available either soft, mercerized or glaced.

Source: AMEFIRD

Popularity: 2% [?]

Zaldy for Everlast is a start up line from the former head designer of L.A.M.B clothing Zaldy Goco. Zaldy is currently looking for an intern to assist with the start up and design aspect of this new collection.

Requirements:

1. Current student of F.I.T, Parsons, or Pratt
2. Enthusiastic
3. Well organized
4.  Team player who is anxious to enter the apparel industry full speed ahead
5. 2 to 3 days a week full commitment
6. Unpaid internship

Daily duties:

• Design board editing
• studio organization
• sample gathering
• Help facilitate the design process

Interested and qualified applicants should email resumes and cover letters to shelbys@moret.com.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Any type of yarn that is irregular in diameter; the irregularity maybe the result of error or purposeful to enhance the material.

Source: Int

Popularity: 1% [?]

Luxury clothing company Haute Couture Group is now looking for applicants for Spring 2008 internships. We’re going to get right into it with the requirements:

• Polished, punctual and self-motivated
• Loves fashion and knows the history
• Some experience and/or education in sewing, pattern, draping, flat sketching
• Very available nights/weekends and lives close to the city (New York)

Part time and full time internships are avai
Emerging luxury company is now accepting applications for Spring internships. The best candidate is: polished, self-motivated, loves fashion/history, punctual, has some education or experience (in sewing, pattern, draping,flat drawing, sketch), lives in or has easy access to the city, available nights / weekends. Part-time and Full-time internships available. Please submit your coverletter, resume, and photo or anything else that distinguishes you from other applicants to: resume@hautecouture.com

Popularity: 3% [?]

I was going to compile a list of different promotional tactics I’ve seen used and I still might depending on the response I get from our loyal readers, but I thought this exercise would be more beneficial from many people perspectives instead of just one.

So with the trade show season kicking off with Magic this past week I know many of you promoted before, during, and after the show and I personally want to hear your experiences from the show and what you did while there, before and after to promote your clothing line or to better your position within the apparel industry.

Please go into detail as much as possible and don’t be afraid to list your mistakes and ideas that didn’t work out as good as you thought. This will kind of be reminiscent of the Top 100 Mistakes Clothing lines Make article, but a positive spin. No matter how simple you think your tactics were PLEASE list them here because what is basic/minuscule in results to you could benefit another clothing company on the come up. (I will list them in the main article with a link back to your site)

French fashion designer Christian Dior was born on January 21, 1905 in Granville Manche. Dior attended Ecole des Sciences Politiques from 1920-1925 at the submission of his parents hoping young Christian would follow in his family footsteps and become a diplomat, but he had other plans in mind.

He later served the obligatory two years in the French Army after graduating. In 1928 he opened a small art gallery selling the works of Picasso, and many other prominent artist of that time. He would later be forced to close the art gallery due to his own illness (contracted with tuberculosis) his mother dying of cancer and his father’s business going belly up and declaring bankruptcy. During this time in life is where Christian discovered his love for fashion designing and started working as a assistant designer and fashion illustrator.

Jill Stuart a high-end fashion line is seeking several motivated interns to work in their New York showroom with their sales team, which is located in the middle of the Garment District.

Requirements:

• Hours through the week consist of Monday-Friday 10:00am-7:00pm, but flexible
• You will need to be available as soon as possible
• Willing to learn
• Detail oriented
• Self motivated
• Able to finish multi-task throughout the internship
• Experience with Microsoft Office Suite (especially Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) and Photoshop. Flat-sketching, basic sewing and cutting skills are not requirements but a definite plus.

Interns will be provided with lunch daily and school credit if your an enrolled student.

Daily tasks:

• Working in sales & marketing
• Public relations
• Cutting fabrics
• Hands on experience and learning is a large part of this internship

This internship is for experience and academic credit only meaning you’re not compensated. If you’re interested in this internship please send your resume and a personal statement with why you should be the candidate for this internship in the body of the email (No attachments will be opened) to:

Sexy Skins has been one of our more productive members on the Dobizo Network writing blogs with insight into the industry, and sharing every facet of their clothing company with us.

Sexy Skins came about after the owner received their motorcycle license and realized their was a void in the garment industry for unique, creative leather garments suitable for bike riders not the usual boring black clothing that is available…I guess bikers want to be stylish too. Not far after Sexy Skins was born a unique collection of biker inspired wears with a presence that is growing everyday.

Besides their retail/wholesale operation Sexy Skins also offers custom services for their unique leather pieces.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Nothing new to many of us is the current value of the American Dollar versus the almighty Euro. Bad news for European fashion due to US retailers recent cutback on buying their clothing lines. With the current exchange rate being heavily in the Europeans favor US retailers are making the move to drop European lines in their entirety or cutting back on the amount they carry.

Small specialty stores are affected by the current exchange rate more than their larger department store counterparts who can gauge the impact of the weak dollar by way of currency hedging due to their financial positions in the market.

Fashion designers who source fabrics, trims and other supplies through Europe are seeing cost rise and therefore facing similar hardships.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Cover stitches are formed by two or more needles and one or two loopers. More commonly used for the seam of knit underwear, athletic wear, intimate apparel and attaching trims. Cover stitches provide excellent coverage of raw seam edges on the top and bottom sides. This allows very flat parallel seam constructions.

Below is an example of a cover stitch:

Popularity: 2% [?]

Over the past 15 years our firm has serviced dozens of apparel companies from start-ups to companies doing $2 million $8 million $20 million $40 million $100 million $200,000 and even more millions.

We have had clients in the retail business, the restaurant business, the distribution business, and a number of clients in various service businesses or professional practices.

In 90% of the clients we have had, we have recommended to reduce the size of the offering. In nearly every account we have helped we have said, “Offer less product.” “Offer fewer services.” We have done this because we learned LESS IS MORE.

For garment companies fewer styles means:

• Design costs go down
• Sample costs go down
• Fabric risks go down
• Cuts get bigger
• Logistics get easier
• Documentation is easier
• Salesman find it easier
• Customers find it easier
• Sales go up
• Profits go up

And here is why this is the case.