Synopsis

SYNOPSIS

 “Life of Christchurch flows in and through this great building because it is where the city comes to celebrate and grieve. Here we flee the pressing issues of our day. For this is our place, with space for all to stand.” My collection looks to flee the sadness seen within our city now and focus on cherishing and remembering what stood in our city and is worth restoring and sustaining. The story is not sad it is uplifting spirits and memories of Christchurch and the Cathedral Square. The story looks exciting and colourful especially in the outerwear and on the directional pieces due to the bright patterns I have incorporated. Base and mid layer colours are fairly neutral with lots of black and gold being the main focus, these colours together remind me of the cathedral church as they are quite elegant and celebratory together. Textures are soft as I will be using many 100% wool and 100% fair trade organic cotton as I am focussing on sustainability for this 2013/14 Autumn/ Winter collection. I am focussing of sustainability in relation to sustaining Christchurch and supporting local businesses therefore I will source my wool fabrics from Untouched World, a sustainability and wool focused label / manufacturer. The fabrics are all very warm to appeal to the market this coming winter. My target market is a high range diffusion market with natural fabrics being used meaning the prices will be higher therefore the target shopper needs to be able to afford the items. The age range is 18- 35 therefore the items need to be at a reasonably affordable price et still taking into account the price of natural fabrics, the attention to detail and the high quality standards that the garments will be manufactured in. My goals in this collection are to appeal to a wide age range for everyday wear therefore practicality is essential for my sustainability collection. If I had the available resources such as 100% organic fair trade cotton and 100% wool fabrics my entire collection would be made out of these and I would not be using the slim amount of polyester, which I would have had to in this case. My market impacts my collection as I want to supply variety and range, therefore I have designed many directional pieces which are recognizable but I have also created many base and mid layer pieces which can easily be mixed and matched with all garments. My collection will appeal to my target market due to the designs and will also reach out to another target market of those whom are sustainability focused. It will appeal to them not only in terms of fabrics but also labour, the farmers who grow the cotton will be rewarded as is fair for doing so such as minimum pay at least which will also cover the cost of sustainable productions.  The manufacturing and labour process will all be under reasonable hours, pays, treatment, and will take place in acceptable environments. The collection will be complex, especially in the manufacturing stage as there will be nothing too technically challenging to produce in larger quantities at a faster rate. These methods and approaches are appropriate to use as they reflect my sustainability theme relating to Christchurch after the earthquake. Customers who buy sustainability are helping to reduce and fight poverty as well as helping towards sustainable development for marginalised farmers. This is important to maintain because if we do not act now, poverty will take further steps and the price of cotton will become lower and lower which means the farmers will in time not be able to afford to produce it and there will be no cotton for our world. Kowtow is an inspiration to my collection as is untouched world which is Christchurch based.

Date: 29/05/2013