Tuesday 6 April 2010

French textile design


Zara clothing stores are owned by a company called Inditex, INdustrias de DIseƱo TEXtil (Textile Design Industries, Inc.) which is a corporation located in Spain. It is possibly the world’s largest fashion group consisting of more than 100 companies that design, produce and distribute clothing. The company was founded by Amancio Ortega Gaona and runs over 4,000 stores across worldwide. The group designs and manufactures almost everything by itself, and new designs are dispatched twice a week to Zara stores.

Amancio Ortega Gaono founded Zara and opened his first store in 1975 where he sold cheap clothing designed to look like those found in higher-end clothing stores. This concept took off and Mr. Ortega Gaono began opening zara clothing stores in Spain. After becoming established in Spain, he streamlined his clothing design, manufacture and distribution processes which greatly reduced costs. He deemed his new offerings "instant fashions." The vertical integration of the company is unlike other clothing stores. The company controls all steps by designing, manufacturing and distributing the goods.

This process gives Zara a competitive edge in the market because it can modify existing designs and deliver them to the store shelves in a little as two weeks. Other companies require at least twice as much time to modify and produce a product. The company frequently rotates stock in its stores which keeps consumer interest high as new products are continually arriving. No product stays on the shelf in any store longer than two weeks and new designs are delivered to stores twice each week. Other clothing manufacturers have not been able to compete with Zara’s rapid production.

At the end of 1988, Zara Clothing expanded further opening stores in Portugal and the United States of America. In 1990 Zara Clothing began opening stores in France. Mr. Ortega Gaono continued his global expansion by moving to Mexico, Greece, Belguim and then Sweden by the mid-1990s. Currently, the clothing chain is represented in more than 73 countries world wide.

In 2007 the company began offering men’s clothing in addition to its line of women’s fashions. Zara store also offer shoes, cosmetics, fashion accessories and has developed a line of children’s clothing. One half of the products are manufactured in Spain, and the balance divided between European and Asian factories. Low wage costs and control of the entire process allows the company to offer more products than other similar retailers. Zara factories produce more than 10,000 different items. Its competitors produce considerably less, at around 2,000 to 3,000 distinct products. The clothing store has online retail stores as well which has greatly increased name recognition and product availability. Internet sales plus thousands of stores worldwide has made Zara a truly global company.

Textile design studio


Don't we all love beautiful clothes? Having the most perfect wardrobe, is what every girl dreams of. All we women covet are clothes that enhance our subdued femininity and sensuality. Every time we go out shopping, we look out for clothes that compliment our skin color, body structure and the cosmetics in general. It's annoying when we can't find the right outfit for the party or for an important office meeting. Do you find yourself shopping for clothes, according to the designs in your head? How about if you could design the clothes you've dreamed about? Let's see how to design clothes, to get the right fit for every occasion.

Tips on How to Design Clothes

Conduct a Survey
You want to design clothes, not just for yourself, but for others too, then you need to conduct a market survey. Know the trends in the market well, before you begin trends. As Oscar Wilde once rightly said, 'fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months'. So, if you want to start your own boutique, which is a great small business idea, you need to know what can be sold in the market.

Carve Your Niche
Decide the type of garments or accessories that you want to design. It could be pants or trousers, dresses, Indian wear, khadi clothes, shirts, blouses, winter garments and the list can go on forever. Deciding your niche will help you to focus on your drawing and sketching. It will also help you conduct your survey. You know your area of interest, try out how to design clothes online. Read more on design your own clothes online.

Drawing and Sketching
Drawing and sketching play an important role in learning how to design clothes. Drawing will bring your designs into reality, giving your imaginations a practical vision. Work on your drawing skills, to get the human proportions right. The human body figures can pose in which ever way, but the proportions have to be right. Initially, you can draw with a pencil and slowly graduate to using colors and paints.

Sewing and Pattern Making
Every designer has to know how to sew. It is a compulsion. Bring a sewing kit and start with small projects of sewing. Sewing on a large flat surface, is the best way of doing it, since it provides stability. Once, you get this right, invest in a good sewing machine to complex stitching patterns. A pattern is a prototype made on a paper. You have to know how to design clothes on paper. For this you will need a pattern paper or a news paper. This way you can make a number of garments in the same size and same style. Trace the pattern on to the fabric, cut it along the edge and then begin sewing. Read more on fashion design.

Freelance textile design

Today, amongst urban clothing designers, there is a perceptive shift toward Generation X – the talent is more youthful and certainly more street savvy. Gen X designers are therefore getting more creative. That’s because they are aware that the urban fashion conscious consumer is equally savvy, taking the best creations of a designer and mixing-and-matching them to create a look all their own.

Hence, the same disaffected youth who used to consider bohemian chic and the grunge look the last word in using clothing as a weapon in the politics of rebellion is beginning to realize that the true sprit of fashion is not just about breaking rules just for the sake of it, but exploring how the rules can relate to the way they see themselves in the world they live in, and how they can be used to express their individuality.

In other words, today’s urban fashion consumers have developed a very sophisticated and mature understanding of how clothing ought to fit and how fashion works. Hence designers, responding to this new maturity in consumers, are designing men’s lines that are actually taking into account how trousers should hang from the waist and reach just above the shoe to create a clean cut. Many urban street fashion companies are including traditional dress shirts and tailored clothing in order to provide something for anybody looking to make a trendy statement.

These are individuals who still like the idea of urban fashion, but may not necessarily be into loud stuff (although the bright colors are also offered alongside). These are the people who are finding new ways to stand out from the crowd by finding new ways to assert themselves by taking the best in denim wear and mixing them with traditional sportswear and chic and cheap labels to create an individualized look.

Here are some suggestions for uber trendy urban fashion clothing:
  • Check out graphic t-shirts. Instead of wearing the cliched skulls on tees, t-shirts with complex graphics on them make quite a fashion statement.
  • You could try out jeans that have nothing on them – just comfortably fitting jeans which say ‘quality’, and can be worn just about anywhere. Check out monochromatic colors like gray, black or white.
  • How about wearing something other than khakis or jeans? Cotton pants can make a statement that is both unique and understated. Team it with an olive green military denim jacket and unostentatious T’s.
  • Contradiction is still cool in urban wear. So go ahead, buck the trend, destroy a t-shirt beyond recognition and team it with a nice pair of clean-cut jeans. Or vice versa.
The streets have always been where fashion trends have originated. It’s just a matter of picking up what’s hip. And whatever’s hot on the street will continue paving the way for the urban fashion clothing trends of the future.

Textile fabric design

If you know some basics of fabric painting then you can work on fabrics and create lovely pieces. Be it on your cool t-shirts or traditional wear, bedsheets or the table mats, let me tell you that painting can be best done on tight cotton, cotton blends, denims and velvet fabrics.



Before you start with the painting procedure, it is essential to wash the fabric to get rid of the fabric softeners. Remember to wash it in plain water. Next, iron on the tough wrinkles to have a plain surface to work on. Now that the fabric is ready to be painted, get the brushes, fabric colors and start working. Oh! You need some ideas on fabric painting designs and patterns? Don't get struck, here are some cool fabric paint designs to help you finish your artwork.

Ideas for Fabric Painting Designs

Feminine Prints
These are the most popular fabric paint designs used for painting women's wear. These include various types of floral prints that give a cute touch to the fabric. Butterflies are also commonly used feminine prints. Tweety and fairy prints are favorite of small girls. If you want something unique, go for curvy geometrical prints that look really beautiful and don't need much detailing and precision. Again the polka dots are something that girls would love to have on their fabrics. Be it their scarf, handkerchief or a skirt, polka dots look extremely beautiful and girlie. Well, the next point, will help you in the task of painting polka dots and other such repetitive prints. You can also read about the popular batic art designs.

Stencil Patterns
Use of stencils is done for accuracy or usually for creating motif style prints. Such prints are popular for bedding, curtains and dresses as well. Though you can have such motif prints on any fabric, these best suit the furnishings in your home. Of course the polka dots are an exception which work on any fabric, including the furnishings where you can have larger dots. Use a simple round stencil, and painting polka dots is not a difficult task. You can also make some table mats and napkins using the stencils or stamps. Stencils can be used on t-shirts as well to have two identical figures, forming a classic print. Stencils are not only for designs but can also be made for alphabets and numerics.

Alphabets and Numerics
The most popular fabric painting designs on t-shirts are quotes or wordings. Funny, emotional or weird quotes, all are perfect for those trendy t-shirts. These add up to the cool look of the t-shirts. Fabric paint designs on shirts can also include your favorite band names or teams names. These can usually cover the pocket area or a top corner of the backside. Sleeves are also the best place for such prints. Fabric paint designs that consists of letters are also commonly used for fabric bags and sacks. College bags can be spiced up with such quotes using your painting skills. Lettering is one of the popular fabric painting designs amongst the youngsters. Writing your favorite number, or just painting 0-9 numbers all over the t-shirt, randomly, can make an awesome and unique print. You can use the stencils here as well. Well, if you are confident of your painting skills, you don't need one!

Think Weird
Get your painting brush, dip it in a color suitable for the fabric and draw a web. Yes, a cobweb! Isn't it a great idea? Use it to paint your t-shirt, table mat or a bandanna. Believe me, it will look amazing. Think of such weird ideas and these definitely make the best fabric painting designs. You can also have an upside down face or a quote or word written the in opposite order of letters or its mirror image. This looks really interesting. Try out! Thinking out of the box will definitely help you have some of the best and unique fabric pieces ready. Check out some acrylic painting ideas.

Just think of the latest prints and designs. Check the fashion and lifestyle magazines and websites to know about what's hot this season. Which are the most running prints and which are passe, can be known with help of these. So, pick up those trendy prints and colors of this season and create beautiful fabric paint designs with your painting skills.

Textile fashion design

Textile designing earlier was simply concerned with some specific designs getting printed on few kinds of fabric. It never, used to include variations, though hundreds and thousands of manufacturing industries were still working to bring some innovation in them and enhance the quality still couldn’t do much to it. Education, otherwise too was not so much appreciated and in terms of designing, there were hardly any institutes and schools for them.

Especially in country like India, designing on professional terms was not ever chosen by people. But now the definition of textile designing has changed completely. It is much more concerned with learning and completely understanding about the various available fabrics and materials. Then, creating something unique but intimated with the materialistic world.

If we consider the technical side of it, textiles is the basis to whatever we are wearing today. It’s fundamental to clothing and real representation of our inner self. Textile brings us live in front of the others. It is closely associated with our social identity and individual feature which is somehow constructed by textile only. There are different other features too which attracts everyone towards it nowadays, riding off the traditional concepts. It’s time for diversification.

Due to this and various other reasons, textile designing has been introduced as a professional course by different design institutions. Here, professionals work as teachers giving students knowledge about the real textile world. And another best way of gaining textile design education is online textile designing.

Online textile designing is an innovation for this industry. Now, more and more artists are taking professional knowledge for gaining mastery in their existing skills. Different streams are there for deigning, fabrication and the process of decoration etc which is further sub-divided into cultural richness and individualistic expression modes. Practical and theoretical sessions are also there in the sub sections.

The basic purpose behind online textile designing is to spread awareness about the broader range of different processes in textile. It can also be learned with other designing areas like interiors and fashion. Communication in a creative way is the purpose of designing of all kinds. And it entirely depends on the designer, how they do it. If they are capable to understand the society, they would surely come up with something unique and appealing and would give the best to the people.

Online textile designing is being used as an important way of imparting knowledge about textile firms and countries dealing with them. This task is not only performed by the educational institutions only. Even the well established manufacturing companies are coming ahead to provide technical and practical knowledge through internet to students or people who are willing to learn about the industry in depth.

Internet provides different means to them in order to accomplish the task. As a result, we can see more and more people moving towards the industry and working side by side which increases their qualification and skills on an increased rate making them successful in their own streams.