Brass Tacks Gold

December sales were not what I hoped they would be. I knew I was taking a risk with the focus on party wear, but I didn’t realize what a small segment of the market I was catering to with those styles - not because only a small segment is interested in party wear, but because those styles don’t necessarily appeal to everyone. I liked the collection though- and it was fun to design styles and put them out there because I wanted them to be a part of the collection, rather than editing them until they “fit in” with the styles that have done well in the past.

From customer feedback and sales, it seemed as if people either really liked the styles in the latest Winter Collection, or they really disliked them. There weren’t many in-betweens. In many ways this is a good thing because it means that the brand has a distinct point of view. However exploring the area of “fashion-forward, niche clothing” has meant catering to a narrower and slightly more high-end customer base – which, aside from the sales perspective, wasn’t really what I set out to do with Brass Tacks. What can I say- I got carried away with designing and forgot to think about commercial appeal!

I want to design creative clothes, but I also want to appeal to a wider, more mainstream customer. Enter new plan: Brass Tacks Gold. In every collection I will have 2 or 3 styles that are a little more adventurous and fashion-forward compared to the usual Brass Tacks collections. These styles can be quirky or glamorous, but they must be visually distinctive. From this past collection French Parfait (with more volume at the hip ruching) and Sculpted Dhoti fall into the Brass Tacks Gold aesthetic. For these styles I will have a small inventory, but these are the styles that will carry the brand image. The rest of the styles in the collection (around 10 styles) will stick to the core Brass Tacks aesthetic: simple, with small twists and tailoring details.

French Parfait (left) and Sculpted Dhoti (right)

2009 has been a difficult year with a lot of lessons learned. Now with the new pricing scheme, a “kurta” quota in every collection, and ‘Brass Tacks Gold’, I’m excited for this year.

Get this look: Sculpted Dhoti

I used to have a problem with the way media, and fashion magazines in particular, sell products. The cosmetics section in every magazine is cleverly called the “beauty” section (you’re not beautiful this month if you don’t wear xxx eyeshadow), and the writing on fashion and lifestyle almost makes you feel frumpy for not wearing the latest fashion trend (on their list of essentials this winter is a 42k wool cardigan) or not using words like staycation. Of course this could just be a case of sour grapes because every attempt I’ve made to get Brass Tacks featured in Vogue has been in vain. The closest I’ve come is Lavanya Nalli wearing one of my tops in her feature (thank you, Lavanya).

left: Lavanya Nalli in Vogue Magazine; right: "Swatches" from the Spring '09 collection.

But truth be told (and I like to tell the truth), I have a much better understanding for how the industry works now that I too have a product to sell. It’s not always about selling reality- it’s about creating a fantasy and giving people something cool or glamorous to aspire for. Owning the product is not the fantasy, but using/wearing it should make the owner feel a part of the fantasy.

Fashion shouldn’t be rigid in its instructions on what to wear and what not to wear. After all in an ideal world we should all wear something that is representative of our inner selves- and how homogeneous would the world be if we all shifted from one trend to another at the same time? Fashion can however open our minds to other forms of self-expression. Up until recently I never used to pay attention to fashion trends and I always focused on the overall look of a garment while designing. My new found insight has now taught me that it’s not only about the look, it’s about the feeling as well; I need to design clothes that make the wearer look and feel good.

"Sculpted Dhoti", in burnt orange and olive from the Winter '09 Collection.

Inspired by all the Harem and Turkish and Dhoti pants I’ve been seeing in magazines, I made my own pair of dhoti pants for this winter collection. I’ve always felt that this look is perfect for Indian women who are confident and proud enough to embrace their hips, and I really think it has a lot more attitude then a cocktail dress. So come over to my store and get this look- it can only help your stylish staycation get better. Oh and don’t forget to rock it with a pair of heels and a glass of single malt in hand. That’s right, Single malt is the new Mojito.

Okay, I’ll stop now.

Sophomore

For months I’ve been trying to work on a pair of cotton trousers that have a great fit around the hip and waist. I feel that most affordable brands (abroad as well as in India) make trousers that are more or less straight from the hip/butt up to the waist. So whatever fits me at the hip is loose at the waist, and if I try a size smaller then I can’t get into it because it’s too tight around my hips. I know I am not alone in this feeling, and I don’t even have a curvy figure to boast of, so what are all the other Indian women doing for trousers?

Out of necessity to add a pair of cotton trousers to my wardrobe and the desire to get to the bottom of this trouser-for-women-with-hips problem, I have been spending a lot of time and energy and even tears (yes, there was that one time when I just cried in frustration) trying to develop a pair of cotton trousers that fit well. You’re probably wondering why a simple pair of cotton trousers requires this much time, but it’s tough to get that perfect fit without lycra; plus I don't have any formal training in pattern making which would have definitely helped. Things reached a point where I tried to outsource the pattern making to other companies that provide this sort of service, but I wasn’t happy with their fits either. Then I went sleuthing around at other major boutiques, but either they didn’t have great fits in pure cotton, or they used blends of cotton, polyester and lycra to get a figure hugging fit.

It kind of pains me to know that the pattern we finally arrived at was under my nose the whole time. It just required a few tweaks from another pattern we had (raise the crotch level, tighten the thigh and contour the waist) which I discovered after spending 2 days staring at all the paper patterns and pants we had produced so far. Anyway, after months of making around 50 samples that didn’t work, I have introduced our first pair of cotton trousers, “Sophomore”, into the store. It’s fitted around the hip, it’s booty lifting, and it’s really comfortable. It comes in brown (the ones in the photos below), ivory and black. I’m so excited about these that I'm giving my regular customers a special price on these trousers just to share the joy.

Getting Back on Track

For once, hearing multiple opinions about my work has given me clarity and re-affirmed my faith in my original goals. A couple of weekends ago I went to Mumbai and met with fashion boutique owners to get feedback on my collections and design sensibilities. Most of the store owners said they liked my clothes but that it didn't fit in with the rest of the collections in their store. I understand where they are coming from- if someone walked into a high-end store willing to spend upwards of Rs 5000 on a garment, they wouldn’t want something simple looking (no matter how well cut or well tailored). One store owner added that women in Mumbai get put off by cotton!

At first I hid under the shelter of my brand positioning and stereotypes about Mumbai and Delhi (which is that they are into bling and my brand is far from that). Honestly however, there is a lot of creativity out there that has nothing to do with bling in the high-end fashion market. I came back from Mumbai wishing that my clothes were just as creative (rather than safe) and wondering if I should tap into the high-end market to make some money. But the truth of the matter is that Mumbai and Chennai are very different markets, and I am much more excited about designing affordable well-cut clothes made from high-quality handwoven textiles rather than a few high-end pieces. At the same time, I would be lying if I said that making money isn’t starting to become a pressure – hopefully that will change once I earn some!

My trouble and difficulty now lies with being in Chennai and figuring out my initial market here. I’ve talked about this before- how my fabrics appeal to older women who appreciate the textiles of traditional sarees but the cuts and silhouettes appeal to younger women. While I am trying hard to incorporate brighter colours and a good mix of traditional and modern textile designs in my collections, the toughest part is choosing which styles (cuts and silhouettes) to make. I get the feeling that women want something different, but not too different, and figuring out the fine line between Unique and "too different" is a lot tougher than it may seem. The halter dress (Black Orchid from the Monsoon collection) is young in style and many women liked bought it but many also said that it was too dressy and that they don’t have an occasion to wear it to. The sand washed cowl neck tops always do well, but cowl necks have now become a Brass Tacks staple and they are so safe! Snapdragon, one of my personal favourites, has a fitted torso and a wide sleeve and while customers love the fit, they prefer a regular cap sleeve rather than a wide one. What if I had made it with an ordinary cap sleeve though- wouldn’t that have made the top too ordinary?

I’m happy to hear suggestions on how to walk this tightrope, and in the meantime here is a photo of a blue ikat fabric in silk that I bought in Hyderabad to make Black Orchid (in blue).

Drying on my balcony (yes, I washed it myself).

At the store when I bought it.

Behind again

There was a time, not so long ago, when I had my collections planned out for the entire year ahead. Even if I hadn’t ordered the fabrics, at least knew what I was going to order; saving me hours of time deciding which colour, which design and which print to order. Now I’ve found myself running behind schedule for the winter collection (I’m still ordering my fabrics and will probably have to launch the collection a few weeks later than planned), and since I’ve been spending time focusing on the higher level stuff I’ve let go of a lot of small but important details.

The solution isn’t really to cut out on the higher level stuff- it’s important that I concentrate on the branding and marketing aspect of my business – but I guess I need to manage my time a lot better until I can afford an efficient assistant. I wouldn’t have put so much thought into coming out with a new pricing scheme for my collection (which is I think is paying off by the way) or listened harder to customer feedback about the lack of bright colours if I wasn’t spending the amount of time that I have analyzing past sales and talking to customers at the store. However all the new information that I have now has made me a slower decision maker (translation: indecisive). I think ten times before ordering fabrics now (“will this really be popular and still stand out as different?”) and I spend more time explaining design ideas to my suppliers.

This new process is a little more tedious, I have to admit. When I wasn’t thinking about customer appeal I selected fabrics that were more representative of my taste and my design aesthetic. Now I’m conscious of sales and catering to a wider variety of tastes that my customers have. So rather than nurturing that innate instinct that drew me to a particular fabric I am trying to hone my data analysis skills to choose fabrics that will increase my store popularity. Serves me right for majoring in economics.

All this high level work has resulted in the suffering of other small details (or low level management) that went a long way. I’ve stopped doing my random checks on garments at the production unit and I’m starting to find small errors with finished garments at the store. I’ve stopped my training sessions with my sales staff and I find they are settling into complacency. When do founders of businesses get to leave behind the small stuff to focus only on high level decision making?

Right now I’m ordering ikat fabrics for an ankle length cotton dress for the spring collection. I had originally wanted Uzbekistan ikat inspired designs, but those might be hard to design and replicate in Andhra. So here are some designs from my supplier in Andhra and I’m trying to figure out which ones would work better and what colours I should change. Think of these fabrics made into a thin cotton dress, fitted at the empire line and with a halter neck or a low neck with thin shoulder straps. Thoughts or suggestions?

I really like this one but might have to change a few colours to make it look brighter. Perhaps indigo instead of black or fill the white spaces with indigo.

This has promise but needs a complete colour makeover. I was thinking of going ultra modern with yellow, pink and peacock blue (it will look muted when mixed with the off-white weft yarn).

Conforming to Stand Out

In the last couple of months I’ve been going through a lot of self-doubt about my brand; wondering if what I want to do is a viable plan, and if there are enough people out there who share my taste. A lot of the feedback I’ve been hearing of late is that my clothes have cuts and styles that are "very young" but in fabrics that are meant for “old people”.

Ouch, right?

But let's set aside how crushed I feel when I see young women try on my clothes and say “it makes me look like I’m forty”. After all I suppose I can look on the bright side and take some strange comfort in the fact that they can see what I am trying to do at Brass Tacks. The whole point at Brass Tacks is to take handwoven fabrics and give them a makeover in the form of tailored, stylish clothing. However if my target customer still feels that the fabrics are making the overall garment look old, then I’ve not succeeded in my design goal.

One lady told me that the designs look “confused” because they are neither for older women (too tailored and fitted with adventurous cuts) nor are they for younger women (“old” colours and fabrics). Well if I have to be either “here” or “there” to make this for-profit model work, then here are my choices:

Plan A: Continue doing what I do with Brass Tacks designs, but also incorporate more mill made fabrics that are easier to care for, less expensive, and most importantly “young looking”. So for example if I am making an evening dresses in cotton khadi and it does relatively well, I might consider repeating it in mill made silk in a popular colour like magenta or turquoise (you know, colours that really pop). This way I will be able to cater to a wider range of tastes without losing the core ideals and fabrics that I love.

Plan B: Very similar to A, except to keep the brand image intact I need to have the less expensive and more mass appeal range of clothing under a different brand name. This will also allow me to monitor more closely which brand attracts more people or if there is an overlap, but in terms of logistics it’s a bit harder to do at the moment.

And while I figure out which plan to go with for my Winter collection, my team is scrambling to put the Monsoon collection together (sans two tailors who have swine flu). We finally managed to get the pattern right for this halter dress that I am making in a black silk with diamond shaped ikat designs. I tried it on today and breathed a sigh of relief, momentarily forgetting my deadlines, the amount of work I have ahead of me in the next 2 weeks, and all the bills I have to pay.

See I’m not confused. I’m just negotiating new territory on my own terms.

Flirting with Lycra

Geeky blog title I know, but I can explain. A couple of months ago I bought these fabulous cotton pants with a little lycra woven into the fabric. They fit me perfectly and they are so versatile- for hot and cool days, for almost every occasion, and for pretty much every top I own. I love these pants so much that I rarely wear my jeans or my own Brass Tacks linen pants anymore. One evening I washed my pants at night so that I could wear them again the next morning and that’s when I realized there was something strange going on here. As my own brand ambassador, it is hypocritical that I live in trousers that Brass Tacks doesn’t produce?

One of Brass Tacks’ selling points, using only natural fibres, evolved while explaining my brand’s specialty to entrepreneurs and marketing consultants. Many of them liked the idea of natural fabrics because selling yourself as an eco-friendly brand is really in vogue right now. For me using natural fabrics was a given (rather than a choice) because I never wear synthetic fibres, barring the occasional cotton garment with lycra mixed into the weave. The real selling point of my brand, to me, is the marriage of handwoven textiles with a cosmopolitan, tailored look.

I have always maintained that in order to complete an outfit, I may use mill-made fabric (like my linen trousers). So then is it so bad to use a bit of lycra in my trousers to create a more fitted look if it completes an outfit? Some of my kurtas (worn like tunics) and mini-dresses do look best with leggings or really fitted Capri pants- neither of which I make. Also, for my collection photo-shoots I’m forced to pair all my tops, kurtas, and mini-dresses with my linen trousers even though I know some of them would look much better with a fitted pair of pants (I don’t think it’s fair to show an outfit on the website unless it’s 100% Brass Tacks). But the real question here is why am I not making a complete outfit in my own company if I am constantly recommending a pair of leggings or fitted Capri pants to customers who buy my tunics? Would I be letting down my brand, or could using lycra enable me to sell more hand-loom garments? Studies (seconded by my experiences in retail) show that women are more likely to make a purchase if they can buy a complete outfit in the same store.

I used to think I was the only one with a strange waist-hip proportion that made it hard to shop for trousers in India. Talking to my friends and customers has made me realize that there are very few brands that exist in India that retail affordable, well-cut trousers (with or without lycra). This is just more incentive to provide more variety at my store, and add one well-cut pair of cotton trousers and another fitted pair with lycra.

But as you can see I’m a bit torn. I don’t want to get greedy and in the process dilute my brand image. So send in your thoughts and feedback; reassure me or dissuade me.

Above, an example of a tunic that would look better as a complete outfit with fitted pants rather than the looser linen ones shown here.

Waiting and Watching

Last week has been exhausting with my launch at Daaram and then a busy week here in Chennai without a break. But it has been worth it and I feel as if I’ve learned a thing or two about myself as well as about Brass Tacks.

Daaram pulls in an interesting crowd. The store is very particular that they retail only handloom products so rather than sharing a common socio-economic background, their customers share a common interest. Having said that, the look and a price of a product does determine your market, and Daaram’s clothes are very straightforward and their prices are low (tops start at Rs 250 and their most expensive kurta is Rs 1100).

The really great thing for me is that the store has a lot of people walking in everyday, and by sheer numbers even if a few of them are interested in Brass Tacks, that’s a good start for me. The feedback I got from many customers was indicative that Daaram and I are yet to reach out to the kind of person who will wear Brass Tacks. Many of the women felt the clothes were “too western” (the tops were too short- i.e. not covering the hip like a kurti), too many of them were sleeveless, or the prices were too high. Still, there were quite a few young women who came in, tried on many pieces and bought a few.

At first my expectations were really high (note to self: stop doing that!) but by the last day I had gone to the other extreme, feeling really skeptical about things sales picking up. I had to remind myself that things were not so different at my own store when I started out. The partners at Daaram seem very confident that Brass Tacks will do well and that there is a demand for that genre of clothing. It’s just a question of time and reaching out to the kind of people who are into tailored clothing with interesting (and sometimes quirky) details. And so much for creating such a strong distinction between a Daaram and a Brass Tacks customer- many women were happy to buy both, which means I am still figuring out who my customer is.

Another interesting thing I noticed is that being surrounded by so much handwoven fabric in subtle colours made me think about designs that are a bit…well, less tailored than the usual Brass Tacks look. I often get inspiration for designs from the fabric itself, and mill made fabrics or handwoven fabrics in mercerized cotton lend themselves very well to crisp, tailored, fitted clothing. But the soft, dull yarn in the fabrics at Daaram made me think of design ideas for shapely but still flowy styles. I’ve ordered some khadi yardage for those styles and hopefully those ideas in my head will evolve into something tangible for my Winter Collection.

Below, some pictures of the Brass Tacks corner at Daaram:

It's an Acquired Taste

I know that I cater to a very niche market through Brass Tacks, but sometimes I worry that within that niche my personal favourites probably cater to just a handful. This isn’t to say I don’t like everything I design; it just means that I’m aware of my taste and my tendency to choose fabrics that are not necessarily popular.

I’ve known this for a while, especially with my love for checks and stripes. I have used these fabrics before, but I’m always hesitant and I carefully pick the ones that I think will have universal appeal.

Recently I’ve been feeling a lot more strongly about my passion for traditional checks. Why should I choose only the checks that cater to a wide audience- isn’t part of creating a brand image having a distinct point of view and taking a few risks? A conversation I had with one of my customers the other day made me realize that if I spend too much energy focusing on what will sell really well, I might lose touch with my inspiration, thereby losing the point of view I set out to show. This customer (she’s a textile designer) was there to talk to the host of a show on NDTV-Hindu* about my store, and she told me that while she loves the fact that I use soft, thin cotton that crushes, she probably shouldn’t say that on TV because most people dislike that about cotton. Hearing her say that reminded me of a look that I too love. Sometimes I get so wrapped up trying to change the associations people have of traditional textiles in order to create something that is cosmopolitan, urban and marketable, that I forget (or push aside) what I love. Soft, thin cotton that crushes at your elbows and knees has a certain old world charm to it that I love. It’s natural in a very honest way unlike stiff, starched cotton or poly-cotton blends. Those may not crinkle, but they lack soul.

A huge focus at Brass Tacks is to take handloom fabric, and re-articulate them as modern silhouettes. It’s not enough to think about how a fabric may feel, or how a style may look. The final combination of fabric, silhouette, drape and tailoring forms a product that will trigger certain associations for customers. It’s my personal opinion that there are many women in India who feel that khadi, crushed cotton, and other traditional textiles are frumpy or old-school in a very unfashionable way. Especially when it comes to woven textiles, the traditional checks are not popular because ...well, I really don’t know why. Maybe not enough high-end designers make it look glamorous in the way that they make embroidery and sequins on chiffon silk look glamorous? A lot of textile magazines and books that I read lead me to believe that our traditional checks would be really popular in Europe and the pockets of the US and Japan, and maybe that’s because their associations of that fabric are different.

Recently I went through my mother’s collection of old Kanjeevaram sarees and I’m in love with them. The stripes and checks are amazing; with colour combinations I would never have imagined would look so stunning. I’m determined to use textiles inspired by these designs, but apparently no weaver in Kanjeevaram will weave cotton yardage anymore. That’s not my main problem though: the toughest challenge at hand is to design styles with these textiles, while staying true to the design aesthetic of these stripes and checks. Below are a few photos from my mother’s collection.






*The shoot at my store was for a show on NDTV-Hindu, and will air in about a month. I am so thankful to everyone who came over that day and spent so much time helping out. Really, I was touched to see how many people came and patiently waited for camera time.

Pushing Creative Boundaries

I recently wrote to a fashion critic asking for feedback and thoughts about my brand and my designs. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a reply within a couple of days, but it took a while for his feedback to sink in. He said that I needed to push myself and do something that is not just different, but completely revolutionary.

Not to get defensive, but when you make clothes that have semi mass-appeal, it's hard to be revolutionary. I came into this business for my love of textiles, so part of my goal is to work towards ordering larger volumes from weavers (so that they will be more receptive to working on quality and experimenting with different fabric constructions). To order larger volumes I have to make more garments, so even though my clothes are not as mass-market as a store in a mall, I do want the clothes to cater to a relatively large niche. My point is that when you try to make clothes that are not highly exclusive, it is difficult to be revolutionary. The fashion critic is trying to tell me, I think, that only if I do something revolutionary will I get noticed and create that buzz that gets many people talking about my store.

After my initial reaction ("Of course I am doing something revolutionary! Who else uses beautiful fabrics to make such well-cut clothes at affordable prices?") I realized that he did have a point. Unless someone were to really engage with the garments, feel the fabric, try them on to appreciate the fit and the feel of soft fabrics against skin, it is difficult to understand how special they are. It is true that many women walk into my store and ask me why the prices are so high for cotton clothing. Should I focus more on the visual aspect of my garments; make sure they are visually distinct in some way that is easily (and immediately) noticeable?

Still, I'm a bit confused. There have been styles that are less conventional like Kolam Kurta and Marsupium (pics below), but while Kolam Kurta flew off the shelves I noticed that Marsupium was bought mostly by women who live abroad. In my latest collection, Pastry Layers is my most unconventional style. It remains to be seen how much attention it attracts.

The challenge ahead of me is to be more unconventional (and perhaps revolutionary!) without forgetting my target customer. The first step in that direction is being creative at the fabric stage, so I need to choose my fabrics for future collections really carefully. Good timing, as I'm in the process of finalizing my Monsoon Collection fabrics this week.

Designing for Heat and Humidity

Summer is already here, and it’s hard to get work done in this heat. On most days I just want to sleep during the hottest hours, unless of course I’m sitting in an air conditioned room, mildly caffeinated, and listening to some good music (that’s Q-Tip’s Renaissance these days).

Unfortunately I can’t always have that. My summer collection is already a couple of weeks late and I have to spend time at the workshop everyday to make sure the styles get completed on time. Feeling energetic for the long drive to my production unit and looking presentable for work everyday has been a bit challenging in this heat, but it’s also made me think deeper into what kind of clothes I design for each collection.

For the first few collections, I consciously followed a particular colour story, and the fabric choice was obvious to me - summer would require cotton and thinner fabrics whereas winter would give me freedom to play with different silks. Sometime last year, I felt that my photo-shoots needed to be more effective in portraying the brand image, and that’s when the idea of having a theme for each collection evolved. At first the themes were more visual (for the creative shots) but then I started thinking about the themes in terms of how it would affect the total “look” of the collection, and how to connect each style to the theme in some way.

For this summer collection (that will hopefully be in the store by early May), I’ve explored the idea of “light” clothes. Not just literally light, in terms of weight, but also clothes that make you feel light – either because of the colour or certain design elements. Summer in Chennai is so hot, but what really gets to people is the heavy, humid air. The effect of a cool shower is lost within an hour if you go outside because the humidity and the pollution leave you feeling sticky and heavy very quickly. The upcoming collection has styles that will hopefully give the wearer a buoyancy of sorts to deal with the muggy days to come. Plus, a little bit of style helps put you in that positive (and light!) frame of mind you need to deal with the heat.

I do have to keep my brand and my target customer in mind, so I can’t go too crazy with the theme (or rather, I have to think of creative ways to interpret the theme but still retain the Brass Tacks look). It would be a different story if I had a runway collection that was inspired by the theme and then a ready-to-wear line that was….well, also inspired by the theme but more wearable. Still, I’ve tried to work on different sewing techniques, I’ve incorporated “light” trims, and some garments have an intentionally unfinished look (e.g. darts stitched on the outside or raw edges at the seams) because to me that is lighter than a completely tailored and fitted look.

The collection will be up on the site in a few weeks but for now here are some of the swatches I will use:

Kora Weaves Only Please

*Kora is an off-white colour, the natural colour of cotton.

One of my suppliers in Secunderabad has a talented design team that produces beautiful weaves in cotton. I’m really excited about my relationship with this supplier because a few months ago they approached me to work closely with them to develop fabrics that I can use for Brass Tacks. They are concerned that the competition with power-loom and mill made fabric is causing the market for handwoven fabric to shrink. When I spoke to them I mentioned that I often come across handwoven fabric that looks striking, but because of the fabric construction it does not work for tailored garments. My current work with this supplier is to find ways to make hand-woven fabrics “imitate” power-loom or mill-made fabrics in terms of strength and construction.

Traditionally, the need for tighter weaves with greater strength didn’t arise because both the dhoti and the sari are yards of woven fabric tied around the body without any tailoring. While it is true that for some thin fabrics the soul and beauty of the fabric is lost when the construction is altered, many other handwoven fabrics that are modified for tailoring still maintain their charm. For the last few months I’ve been really into undefined, irregular woven checks- the kind that are woven with random ikat lines of different colours in the warp and weft (see photo below). This supplier must have a design team that shares my taste because they have a fabulous collection of irregular checks. Particularly stunning were the swatches of kora checks woven on kora fabric.





I fell in love with this fabric right away. It’s amazing how design ideas just flood my brain when I see/feel/touch a fabric that I’m really excited about. I already have a great double layered dress cut on the bias planned with that fabric, as well as a light shirt with pleats. Thrilled to work with this fabric, I placed an order for 4 different checked patterns, except I wanted them in blue, lavender, brick red, and orange.

A couple of days ago I got a phone call from my supplier saying that the weaver society that makes that fabric is very reluctant to work with coloured yarn and that they will only weave that same pattern in kora (the natural colour of cotton: off-white). After talking on the phone for a few minutes I learned that even if my supplier had the yarn dyed in the colour I want and then sent it to the weavers, they would still not be willing to weave the fabric. I am asking for exactly the same construction, the same weave, the same pattern, same everything except for the colour. I was dumbstruck, to say the least, and issues like this one make me think of the huge task ahead of me as I expand my business and experiment more with handwoven fabrics. The lead designer offered a few explanations: that the weavers are too set in their ways and very resistant to change, and, a technical issue, that it is harder to spot weaving defects once the eye has got used to seeing plain kora. I hope that going forward weavers will come out of their box and be willing to experiment. Sure, right now they have a huge market for their kora fabric just the way it is, but believe me, that fabric can go places in colour. Until then, the immediate solution is to have the fabric woven in kora and then dye the entire fabric afterwards. It is a bit of a compromise (the fabric looks less patchy if it is yarn dyed), but what am I going to do?

Great Expectations

2009 is going to be a big year for Brass Tacks. Aside from a tie-up with a weaver’s cooperative in Andhra Pradesh, and hopefully retailing at a store in Hyderabad, this past December’s sales have been my highest ever and I choose to see it as a sign of things to come in 2009.

I announced my Winter Collection on December 12th, and ever since then the store has been really busy. I worked hard to make sure this collection would be a good mix of “safe” styles (which are basically classic styles like Bishop Shirt, Gupta’s Garden, and Marina Beach that I know most people will like) and a few experimental ones like Kolam Kurta, Knotted Neck and Marsupium. Kolam Kurta has a knot at the neck and making the pattern for that style was really difficult, although we did have a Japanese book (called Pattern Magic) that had detailed diagrams. My favourite this collection was Marsupium, a top with two layers of cowled fabric forming an open pouch in front. So far Kolam Kurta is flying off the shelves, but Marsupium has been purchased only by a few people who do not live in Chennai. Knotted Neck, a style with a high collar stitched down to a knot at one point, has also been received well.

When I first started designing for Brass Tacks, I found that my styles were very conservative: regular shirts with darts and plain A-line skirts. I guess a lot of that was a reflection of my design and pattern making skills, but I also thought that making regular well-cut clothing would be enough. Now I’ve realized with more exposure to fabric and fashion, my own taste has changed and I long not only for well-cut clothes but also more adventurous clothing that is reflective of myself as well as the Brass Tacks brand. I’m now working on some interesting styles for the Spring and Summer collection and I have some fun ideas for the photo-shoots for those collections as well.

Below are the creative shots for the Winter Collection (the one with the umbrella is my favourite).

Pournami (Eri and Tussar silk top)


Kolam Kurta (Cotton kurta with a knot at the neck)


Abies Alba (Silk ikat dress)

Structured Creative Thinking

Last year when I opened my store, many people felt the sizes in my collection ran too small, and that most of my clothes were sleeveless (not a great thing in a conservative city like Chennai). It may be true that while starting out many designers (including myself) are less willing to pay attention to environment as they are to their creative visions. However in my case I tend to tune out all notions of practicality while brainstorming. Going forward, I have to be conscious of my audience while putting together a collection.

During my design process, I tend to look at each style in isolation rather than the entire set as a collection. The brainstorming sessions are usually done with some good music playing in the room (Femi Kuti is my recent favourite) and it’s also important to have some snacks handy (anything salty and crunchy). Then, I begin to go through inspiring pictures that I collect throughout the year. As I go through these (pictures of clothes, furniture, architecture, colour combinations, plants) I usually think of a theme and then I begin sketching while keeping that theme in mind. I don’t like being tied down too strictly to a theme, so I never choose anything too literal; this past summer’s theme was fruit and flowers of summer, and this monsoon collection was inspired by ancient maritime trade. Since I like to work with a variety of fabrics in each collection, I do try to stick to a colour story that works for the mood of that collection. These may sound like clearly defined guidelines that I work with, but I find it easy to stick to a colour story without that hindering my creativity (my suppliers and their ability to match colour shades is another matter).

The design process is followed by editing (“would I really wear that?”, “that looks interesting, but it is classy?”) and then re-designing for the styles that were scratched out, followed by more editing until I have a collection. Subject to fabric availability, some styles have to be changed at the last minute, but that is an issue more related to my fabric supply and the textile industry at large rather than the editing of the collection. Now to this entire design process, I need to add another structured guideline. The business side of my brain has been urging me to adopt some structure to my process, and now my task is to ease my creative side into the process.

The structure: I would like to have certain criteria that I must fulfill with styles in every collection. The criteria relate to my customer base and their tastes; each collection must have at least one sleeved style for work and evening wear, at least one style that is flattering for larger sizes, and at least one sleeved tunic. That doesn’t sound too tough when you think of the criteria themselves, but when you are down to 2 fabrics you haven’t assigned to any style as yet, and your creative brain is told you can only design a tunic or a sleeved garment for a plus size with these fabrics, it can get hard.

The good side is that working with these criteria, aside from the good business sense, gets me started on the editing and the streamlining while I'm still in the sketching phase. This past Monsoon collection I have made an effort to design more sleeved garments and I think they appealed to more people as a result. I haven’t overcome the difficulty to design with guidelines though- I mean, if a sleeved tunic doesn’t sell then clearly it means that I didn’t succeed in designing a sleeved tunic that is a stylish piece as well. I’m trying though, and hopefully with time I’ll be able to fulfil my criteria without playing it too safe.

Until then, I have this very expensive and gorgeous Varanasi silk fabric with zari jamdani that I must make into a sleeved evening garment and time is ticking!

Natural Fabrics and Fit 101

One of the biggest reasons I chose to start Brass Tacks is because I care about how a garment should fit, and I felt there weren’t many brands in India that had both fit and interesting fabric in the same garment. I am fully aware that the fit may not work for every body type, but it does work for many and when it doesn’t, we do alterations or we make a fresh piece that works better for a different body type. Still, I find that some people are not happy with the fit in comparison to a tight t-shirt or anything with a bit of elastane (lycra) woven into the fabric. Some customers end up buying a size or two too small, and I fear that they are giving up comfort for what they think is a better fit. So I’m taking the advice of my pattern teacher (and mentor) and writing a short piece on why my clothes are not meant to be worn tight like second skin.

The difficult part about getting a “good fit” with natural fabrics is making a pattern that flatters the body without cutting out those few inches of ease that is necessary for basic movement. I’m not saying you can do yoga in Brass Tacks clothes, but you should be able to lift your arms to tie your hair, or at least give someone a hug without having the shoulder or back darts pull at the seams! A good test when trying on an upper body garment is to wrap your arms around your shoulder (like you are giving yourself a hug) and then gently throw your arms back in the opposite direction (like the flying scene in Titanic). If you can do these movements, the garment is not too tight.

Ready-made clothes can never be as perfect as a custom-made piece. I have to follow a size chart at Brass Tacks because we need to have some system for our grading of sizes, but it is unlikely that a woman’s measurements perfectly match up to the measurements of any one size on my chart. They could have a shoulder and bust measurement that matches size 8, but a waist and hip that matches size 6 for example. And then if you want to get into details, there are differences in how the body curves between the waist and hip, or between the hip and knee. Ready-made garments are convenient because they are available without the customer having to do any running around, but it is tough catering to a range of sizes and on top of that variations within each size. At the Brass Tacks store we offer alterations or other solutions to give customers the best of ready-made with some tweaking to work for the customer, but our fabrics are not meant to imitate knitwear. So rather than alter the garments to fit you like a glove, I say enjoy the freedom of movement and the breathing room that our clothes provide!

R&D in the Textile Industry

I realized today that my Monsoon Collection comes out in less than a month and I haven’t spent any time writing about the design process or the themes for this collection. I wanted to experiment more with colour, with ikat, and with prints, so this collection is going to be a lot more dramatic than the previous ones (in a subtle, Brass Tacks kind of way of course!) Unfortunately, as is often the case, many of the fabrics that I’ve used didn’t turn out quite like how I expected. Not that they turned out looking bad, but the difference is very visible and it makes a huge difference to the overall impact of the outfit.

I’ve often wondered how that misunderstanding between me and my suppliers happen, especially since all my letters are illustrated with detailed explanations. At first I used to think it was because of my poor Hindi that the suppliers would often misinterpret or overlook certain details in my order. Now I’m starting to think that the best way to get the job done is to have a textile designer working closely with them- a Brass Tacks employee who works on my design team to come up with designs for each collection and then coordinates with the suppliers to execute the designs. Seems like an expensive investment, but definitely something I need to look into in the long run. Next month I am making a trip to Jaipur and Ahmedabad, and hopefully I will be able to meet some faculty and students at NID who work with textile craftsmen and see what they think about this.

Ideally though, the craftsmen should have their own textile designer on their team. Things would be a lot easier for buyers if the designer can help the craftsmen come up with a set of swatches to send to suppliers, and a documentation system so that the swatches can be replicated relatively easily. The designer could also make life easier for the supplier by working on new designs and new techniques of dyeing or weaving to cater to a variety of tastes. The investment of a full time textile designer is too expensive for the craftsmen who work at a grass roots level however, and only larger organizations like Rehwa and Dastkar Andhra can afford to invest in research and development with textile designers on board. The tough part about a small company like mine hiring a full time textile designer is that he or she would have to be an expert on a variety of textile crafts in order to work with weavers, block printers, and tie-dyers. That kind of varied expertise is hard to find.

In other related news, I recently met a woman with an MBA who wants to start a business supplying designers and production houses with handloom fabrics that have an “international market”. This would involve organizing weaver’s cooperatives to use their craft skills for designs that are not necessarily traditional. For example, it could mean that a weaver in Gujarat who makes shawls with a large motif woven all over it might have to change his design to smaller motifs that are woven far apart because that minimal look with a hint of extra weft design is easier to sell to an international buyer. The issue of modifying traditional designs to suit a “cosmopolitan, urban, international” market is something that I’ll take up in some other post, but for the moment let’s see the practical and financial benefits. This is the innovation that’s needed to revive and organize the textile sector. Catering to an existing demand is a much better business model than trying to push a product that doesn’t have a huge demand at price points that are profitable for the business. Plus for designers like me, think how easy it would make our lives if we could just contact someone, explain the design to them and pay that extra fee to pass your headache of following up with suppliers and ensuring they get your design right onto the agent.

Below is a picture showing the sample I had sent the weaver on the left, and his woven product on the right. The size of the checks and the dull finish in the sample swatch make all the difference to the final look of the fabric.

And here is a block printed fabric from Rajasthan. The checked design is theirs, but I had asked for a darker blue with ochre and instead I got something that's closer to turquoise with ochre. Also, notice the quality of the checks and how some of them are not well defined.

This one however came closer to what I had asked for in terms of colour matching my pantone shades.

Nervous

This month has been really great so far in terms of sales. All that press in the past few weeks must have really helped. The strange thing is that all this attention and the increase in sales is starting to make me worry about my designs for the next collection. I suppose that’s good in a way. I mean, I should spend more time editing my collection and thinking about how I can make each piece really unique and special. But the downside is I’m worried about going overboard. And what is overboard? There have been styles that I was worried about for no reason, and others that I thought were pretty elegant but they ended up moving very slowly.

A few months ago I visited an Ikat supplier in Hyderabad where I spotted some beautiful, soft cotton fabric with random ikat lines going horizontally and vertically across the fabric. From a distance it has that “khadi look” that most fake and real khadi fabrics sold commercially today have, with the ikat lines. However this fabric is made from mercerized, super-smooth yarn and when I saw the fabric it just spoke to me and said “buy me now”. Before I knew what was happening, I had bought the stock fabric they had, and ordered more in another colour. This is what the fabric looks like:


Sure, you might think it’s boring, but I have great plans for this fabric. I have in my head an image of a fitted top with a corset-style tie up at the back. I can’t decide if the top looks better with or without sleeves, but if I choose the former they will be kimono-ish sleeves. The tie-up lacework at the back is just to tighten the top for shape, not to actually make it skin-tight like a corset. In front, to add colour, I will have either running stitches or pin tucks with a contrast coloured thread radiating away from the neck. A dull yellowish gold (but non metallic) for the black, and pink for the brown. There, I’ve given away a style idea before the collection is out, but who knows how much editing is going to take place between now and the end of April.

Design stage again

I feel as if I’m finally getting a chance to sit back and breathe after the frenzy of launching the Spring collection, and it’s already time to start planning the Monsoon collection. The Summer collection is in production right now, and the Monsoon collection should come out in September. I’m trying to work towards planning each collection a year in advance, but clearly I’m not there yet.

One of the toughest creative decisions I have to make every time I plan a collection is ordering a large quantity of fabric based on a small swatch or a photograph. With mill-made fabric I usually have the chance to see and test one metre of the fabric, but the colour options are usually tiny swatches of 1 inch by 1 inch. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what an entire garment in that colour will turn out based on a tiny swatch or a shade chart. With handwoven fabric I usually see a sample of the fabric weight (the thickness/transparency, and how closely the yarn is woven) but the colour combinations that I choose are risks I take. I never get to see what it is like until it is woven, and like it or not I have to buy the entire thing. Then there are crafts like block printing and tie-dying. These are usually safe bets unless I’m asking for a colour combination that is unusual. Hopefully someday I’ll be able to order larger quantities that allow for me to experiment first- like a sampling round that large export houses get to do before they begin their real production.

Anyway, I visited a shibori supplier in Santiniketan last year and took some photographs. She is probably my only supplier with whom I can communicate an entire order via email. I’m going to order some shibori fabric with this pattern below. You’ll have to wait for the collection to come out to see what it looks like on the garment.

Inspiration and empowerment

Two things that make me feel like I’m on top of the world are exercise and good music. I go for my kalari classes whenever I can make it and at the end of every class I feel high, happy and ready to take on any hurdle. I know it sounds corny, but kalari and good hip hop are all I need to get myself into that creative zone where I can sit down and come up with a few design ideas. And just because it is relevant to what this post is about, I’m not talking about most of the commercial hip hop you hear everywhere, but the artists who are really talking about something, and being intelligent, funny, sassy and really articulate and clever with words the whole time. How can you not feel pumped when you listen to something that good? That feeling is what I want to capture in my clothes (it’s still a goal, I don’t think I’m there yet).

Something I keep in mind while designing every piece is that the wearer should feel empowered and confident when wearing those clothes. I want the wearer to feel feminine because a lot of strength is derived from taking pride in who you are, but the main goal is to design garments that appeal to some quality or longing in everyone - be it adventurous, feminine, bold, sassy, or strong. I try to stay away from fabrics and sewing techniques that are seen as traditionally feminine such as chiffon, georgette, lace, pleats and ruffles and I stay away from heavy embellishments because I don’t want that to overpower the wearer’s own personality. However context is important, so for some evening styles I use pleats but I make it fun, adventurous and playful (like Float Bouson and Fort Greene). Aside from fabric and styles, a good fit is always important because a well-cut garment makes the wearer feel smart (a good fit does not always mean tight and definitely does not mean the clothes are only for thin people- it just means that a flat piece of fabric has been cut and tailored to fit a body with curves).

With the past few collections I’ve felt that I tend to get very carried away with many different ideas, so this collection I decided to stick to more solid colours, minimalism in sewing techniques, with an extra emphasis on simplicity and comfort. There are a few pieces however- like Nupe’s Craft, Float Blouson, Fort Greene and Friday- that have been tie-dyed or hand blockprinted. Nupe’s Craft and Fort Greene are products of ikat fabric (the yarn is tie-dyed before the weaving process), Float Blouson is tie-dyed by a Leheria craftsman (four fold dyed so that the waves come in a zig-zag pattern), and Friday has been blockprinted using a mud-resist technique. These crafts make these styles a little more dynamic, and hopefully give the wearer that much more energy and power.