F&F Manual

Julie Martin http://juliemartinfflivebrief.tumblr.com/

F&F LIVE BRIEF MANUAL DESIGN ENTERPRISE & INNOVATION 1

CONTENTS 4. ABOUT F&F 6. INITIAL MOOD BOARD 8. FURTHER RESEARCH 10. 1920’S MOOD BOARD INSPIRED BY F&F’S OWN 12. COLLAGES 14. CUSTOMER PROFILE 16. KEY SHAPES AND THE SIGNATURE RANGE 18. COMPETITORS 20. DESIGN SELECTION 22. CHOSEN DESIGN 24. INITIAL PRINTS 26. FLOWER INSPIRED PRINTS 28. NATURE INSPIRED PRINTS 30. DYE ROOM PRINTS 32. KALEDO COLOUR REDUCTION 34. KALEDO SCREENS 36. DRAPING 38. TOILING 50. MAKING THE CAPE 52. DRAPING 54. COLOUR WAYS OF TECHNICAL FLATS 56. DESIGNING USING 3D FIT 58. 3D FIT COLOURWAYS 60. CHOSEN 3D 62. OVERALL GARMENT 64. SPECIFICATION SHEET 66. EVALUATION

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ABOUT F&F The F&F brand is owned by Tesco.

It launched in the UK and ROI in 2001, F&F is now a truly global fashion brand with stores in 21 countries.

Tesco.com/clothing launched October 2009 Full list of countries with F&F stores: UK, Republic of Ireland, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Turkey, Slovakia, Malaysia, Thailand, China, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Switzerland, Gibraltar, UAE, Bahrain, Jordan, The Philippines and Armenia.

F&F currently has 43 franchise stores in 10 countries - Saudi Arabia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Switzerland, Gibraltar, UAE, Bahrain, Jordan, The Philippines and Armenia.

F&F also offers a delivery service to customers outside of the EU and delivers to over thirty countries worldwide including the US, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Canada.

In 2010 Tesco opened its first F&F stand-alone store in Prague, Czech Republic. The second opened in Brno, Czech Republic in 2011, and the third in Warsaw, Poland in 2012.

They sell clothes for women, mean and children and their labels include F&F Signature, F&F Active and F&F. Online they also sell other brands such as AX Paris.

20% of the cotton customers buy in Spring / Summer 2015 will be more sustainably sourced. They have joined the Better Cotton Fast Track Programme (http://bettercotton. org/) and are investing 100,000 Euros this year to help around 9,000 cotton farmers change the way they grow their cotton, so that their costs are lower but their yields are higher so that they can earn more for their families. This is to act towards ensuring that by 2020, 30% of the global cotton market is produced in a more sustainable way.

F&F never uses real animal fur and when fake fur is used, it will have been rigorously tested to make sure it is 100% fake. Where animal products such as feathers or cashmere have been used, F&F will know the farms where the feathers have come from.

F&F always want to know where their fabrics are produced and that their garments are legal and safe from harmful chemicals. They achieve this by working with known affordable and trusted fabric suppliers who are committed to achieving our standards. They also aim to do business with fewer suppliers, so that their customer will benefit from improved consistency and quality.

In 2010 they have banned sandblasting They also want to increase transparency of the origin of man-made cellulosic fibres, and collaborating with industry initiatives to ensure that wood pulp for textile manufacturing is not sourced from sensitive or endangered woodland.

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INITIAL MOODBOARD This is my initial mood board based on the task El set where we could only use the library for our research. Initially I was quite confused and I didn’t have a clear idea of what my theme could be inspired by, but I was quite keen on the idea of architecture and the shapes that are created by it. For example, when bars cross over it reminds me a bit of the connections in the fibres of lace, mesh and crochet.

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FURTHER RESEARCH This is my second mood board after I found that my first one was too bright and didn’t reflect the season well. This mood board is mainly inspired by what I found on WGSN. The trend is called .Botanical’. When we had a session with El I found that quite a few people had the botanical idea, so I then did more research and thought about abandoned buildings and the idea of decay, alongside being inspired 9 by the Baroque era as it was quite dark, yet glamorous.

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1920’S MOODBOARD INSPIRED BY F&F’S OWN

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Here are some collages inspired by my research of abandoned buildings and areas like Chernobyl. I actually collaged the images I found of these places and used shapes already in the pictures as shapes for my design work. I think that these collages reflect the research I have conducted myself, as well as what F&F would like to see.

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COLLAGES

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Before starting to design I wanted to make a customer profile so I had a clear idea of who F&F’s target market was.

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CONSUMER PROFILE

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KEY SHAPES I thought it was a good idea to research into key shapes that F&F use to help me with designing as I need to consider the shapes that sell well and why. They use a lot of empire lines in their dresses because it’s quite flattering and it can hide the wearers stomach if they have a problem with it. The dresses are also quite long and at a modest length. Because they have clothes for SS16 on their site it’s hard to get a vision of what they want and what works well for Autumn as I would have thought they’d have longer sleeves due to their target market. Their summer prints seem quite basic in terms of colour and are quite small so maybe I should consider this for Autumn/ Winter.

The Signature Range I looked into F&F’s signature range that we are designing a dress for. The website claims that the Premium range will give your wardrobe a ‘premium touch’. ‘Dresses are fitted and lightly embellished for occasion- ready looks, while jackets and tops are given a tailored touch.’ The suede jacket costs £75 and the long leather jacket costs £175, which is a lot more than their usual range. They use genuine leather for the leather jackets. This is something I’m surprised about as they said that they don’t use real fur for their garments for ethical reasons. This is something I may have to double check as it might be exclusive for this range.

The dresses sell at £45, which again is more than double in comparison to their usual range. Finally, their wedding dress costs only £80 which is incredibly cheap. Over all I see simple, yet flattering shapes that are fashionable.

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COMPETITORS I would say that F&F’s main competitors are Sainsbury’s TU range and George by ASDA as they are supermarket brands. While H&M and New Look would be their high street competitors. You could also argue that due to the price range of the Signature range that department stores like Debenhams could be another form of competitor. The range

by TU seems to be aimed at older women, but have similar shapes to the F&F range, for example empire lines in their dresses. They also use print and bold colours a lot (this could be because this is the SS16 range) like F&F, but their prints do seem dated. Their dresses range from £16£25 which is similar to F&F’s normal range but cheaper than their signature range. George seems to be aimed at a wider target market as their styles vary. Again they use a lot of print and have a similar price point to TU and F&F’s usual range. Florals seem to be popular for SS16.

H&M has a wide range of clothing options that can we worn by a wide age range, however I feel like 16-24 year old women shop there more because the styles seem ‘younger’ and more fashionable than the supermarket range, which would cause consumers to buy from H&M over brands like F&F, TU and George. Their shapes vary from loose shirt dresses, to long maxi dresses and lacy body-con dresses showing that they have outfits and dresses for every occasion at a reasonable price point. New Look again has a wide target market, with a specific teen range, which the other brands don’t have. They also sell a lot of unique labels exclusively in their stores - ‘label lab’. They have a lot of affordable day and occasion dresses from £20 which is cheaper than F&F’s signature range, so consumers may want to shop there over F&F. Their prints and styles are more muted than the other brands, but I also feel that they are aimed at women under 25 at least, whereas F&F goes beyond this and this is reflected in their styles.

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DESIGN SELECTION

These are my chosen designs. I focused mainly on the idea of panelling, drawing inspiration from art Deco architecture and my mood boards. I like the idea of a dress with a cape or a cover-up to add layers to the piece and options for the customer.

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CHOSEN DESIGN This is my chosen design as we felt that it was my strongest; it reflects my research in a creative way as it follows the panelling inspiration from Art Deco architecture and that of the abandoned buildings. It’s also a clear theme throughout my collages.

At this point in time I am unsure as to whether the cape should be separate or attached and how. I do feel that if it was separate completely it would lose some of it’s appeal. This is something I am going to have to think about when I make my technical flats and especially for my spec sheet. I think my favourite fabric so far is the aubergine trieste as it has a nice feel and shine to it and is only £8 a metre.

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INITIAL PRINTS

My initial idea for this came from a book in the library where an art student layered wire on top of each other to make a pattern. They would then change the positioning of the mesh to create another pattern. I really liked this ides and I felt that it connoted the image of wire outside an abandoned building, preventing people from coming in.

I decided to try this with some mesh, lace and crochet fabrics to see what the results would be.

After layering mesh and photocopying it I didn’t like the effect, so I took the image of a single layer of mesh into Photoshop and kept layering the edge of the fabric (which you can see in the right and left images) I really like this effect and the textured look it gives. I also put the white crochet top into negative and I like how it looks a bit like mould/ decaying flowers.

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Due to the nature of my design I put off designing patterns for a while as I felt that it would be very overwhelming, but I am still going to develop a print in order to see which would look better as the end result. I layered an image of a decaying rose over and over on Photoshop, but I felt that it was fairly basic and overwhelming, so I decided to play around with the transparency. I like the result this produced as for some of the prints you can’t tell that the original image was of a flower. Once I was happy with experimenting with the flowers I decided to add a layer of mesh to relate back to my theme of abandoned buildings where the mesh can represent an area being closed off to the public. I like the texture created from these images. I think I may want to try a placement print in the future as it may not be as over whelming as a repeat is. I thikn to move forward I should take these into Kaledo Print to see what I can do with them.

FLOWER INSPIRED PRINTS

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I was starting to feel uninspired by my previous prints, so I decided to go out and photograph to gain some motivation. Especially as I didn’t want to stick to florals due to others in the class having a similar idea. I like how graphic and energetic these prints are, however I can’t see them on the garment I’ve designed as I feel that they are in your face too much. I think I need to start playing around with my print and design to see what looks best.

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I also wanted to experiment further with the idea of layering the mesh photos I had over the nature images, as I think the mesh links back to my abandoned building idea, without actually having to go into an abandoned building, which could effect my safety and possibly laws. I think my particular favourites are the roses as it’s quite subtle and darkly romantic, which I feel follows the mood board that F&F gave us. I also think some of the close ups of the twigs work well as they’re not as busy as the full images.

My main issue with these prints is how they would look after being colour reduced and put into screens would they still be as graphic? Would they still be as complex? Would F&F want these prints if there were a lot of screens? How much would it cost?

NATURE INSPIRED PRINTS

Thinking like this made me think that I may have to simplify the print down due to these concerns as I wouldn’t want to lose the quality just so it could work on 5 screens.

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Still unhappy with my prints and wanting to make something more simplistic, yet effective, I decided to go into the dye room and try and recreate textures you’d expect to see in abandoned buildings, such as pealing paint, mould, damp etc. I recreated these textures by using paint and lollipop sticks, as well as flicking paint onto newspaper to build up the textures. I’m a lot happier with these as I feel that they represent my theme well while still looking good. I manipulated the prints further in Photoshop and my favourite ones are with the dark colour scheme as the objects are a lot more ambiguous. As well as the ones where you can clearly see the texture of the paint. As much as I like the ones with the white background I think that the colours are too bright for the season and the brief, so I’m now going to take these prints into Kaledo print and see what other dark colour ways I can make with them.

DYE ROOM PRINTS

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I took my chosen print into Kaledo Print and used the software to reduce the colours into 6 screens as companies like F&F use screen printing to print their fabrics to save money. I decided to keep the colours dark and mysterious to reflect my research. I am happy with how these have come out as I don’t think that I have lost the quality of the print through Kaledo Style and I think that it links back to my research well.

KALEDO COLOUR REDUCTION

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KALEDO SCREENS Here you can see the coloured screens that are used to make this print in the various colour ways. I found this very useful as the software was quick, easy and produced a lot of results, which gives the designer and the company more choice.

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To start my pattern I decided that I would need to drape the cape to see how it would hang etc, before I did the pattern for the dress on Modaris. I found it harder than I initially thought. I brought in my cape that I wear and it’s essentially a square, but I found that it didn’t cover the body the way it did in my design. I also realised that the neck can’t have a flat edge as it bunches around the neck and the shoulder, so this is something that I am going to have to problem solve. I found that the slip in my bought cape prevented this from happening, so I tried to apply this. Another aspect I had to consider was how it would hang at the back, when the cape wasn’t wrapped around the body. I couldn’t have it right on the shoulder, I had to have it coming forward a bit. This is something I’m going to have to apply to my pattern as well. I’ve also found that the drape is different to what I’ve displayed on my initial technical flat, so that was something that had to constantly change. Once I was happy with the shape I digitised the cape into the system.

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DRAPING

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TOILE 1 Here you can see me starting my pattern. I had to lengthen the dress to make it as long as the cape and similar to my pattern, but I found that the dress was too long when I took it into 3D FIT so I had to mark and cut how short I wanted it on the 3D software and then apply it to the pattern. I found this really useful and it sped up the overall process as before I would have guessed at how much shorter it had to be and then go through desk of stitches, then 3d fit, whereas now I can see there and then, which is similar to how it would be if I made an actual sample on the stand. Using 3D also saves money and wasting material, making it very cost effective.39

This is my second toile after I shortened it, which is very similar to the original pattern.

This is quite annoying as I didn’t actually have to lengthen it. However it is good that I used the software for this, rather than material as I would have wasted it. The fit is fine - it isn’t too tight anywhere. The avatar shows that it is loose around the waist, but as this is something that F&F customers want, I’m not too bothered by this. Now I need to work on making it more of a loose bodycon dress to reflect my design.

TOILE 2

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TOILE 3 For this toile I used the 3D avatar and drew lines where I needed to take the bottom of the dress in as it flared out a bit in the last toile which didn’t reflect my design. However I think I over did it as it bunched a lot at the thighs even when I used the fall/relax/ pull options, so I think I need to make the line less drastic. I also think I need to make sure the front and back pieces are the same length as the bottom of the back panels is floating.

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For this toile I have made a smoother curve for the front piece of the dress, which fits better and is more flattering. As before it was quite angular and loose.

However the back pieces seem very loose so I may have to take them in a bit as the shape isn’t as flattering.

Being able to change the transparency and see where the dress is loose/ tight is extremely useful as you can clearly see where and how it fits on the body - which puts the software at an advantage over an actual toile where you can’t easily change the fabric. I can constantly asses and make adjustments in minutes, rather than having to start the process again with a toile.

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TOILE 4

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TOILE 5 Here I made the curves of the front and back panels more similar so it didn’t bulk out too much and already this is a better shape. The fact that the dress still isn’t smooth bothers me slightly, but I think making this adjustment has improved everything.

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Here I lengthened the dress by 8.5cm, which I was able to figure out by using the measurement tool on 3D fit.

Already the shape is similar to my design, I just need to change the back neckline and add the cape pieces. I didn’t want the dress to be too short as F&F customers come in a wide age range and I wanted a length that would suit all shapes and sizes and something that would be comfortable to wear. The dress still seams really lose around the waist despite the fact that I haven’t added anything to it. I don’t want to change it because it is the block from F&F and therefore fits their customer. I think this will have to be something to think about if I get chosen and I make a material toile.

TOILE 6

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Doing the cape in 3D was extremely hard and unfortunately I wasn’t able to add the cape pieces. I tried using a normal seam initially, but that didn’t work. Then I tried using a rejoined seam and again it didn’t work. However I spoke to Carl and he said that I could try doing the cape on Drapers Studio from my drape, so then F&F could have an idea of the cape element.

I then had another try at doing the cape in 3D as Pat suggested to do a variant/3D of the cape and then to add my dress after. As you can see, so far I haven’t been successful. I think this is because the cape is attached to the back panel and there is no distinct ‘front’ as the cape wraps over, so I wasn’t able to use slip on points like neck, right arm, left leg etc. I tried different slip on points where I could, as well as sewing some of the cape together, thus producing various results, which you can see here. Unfortunately because of this I don’t think there is much else I can do and I think that using the Drapers studio would be a better option.

MAKING THE CAPE

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In order to do my cape in the Drapers Studio I had to retake images of my cape so I could experiment with design for the whole piece - such as would the print look better on the outside or on the inside? What colours would and wouldn’t work well? However when I went to take pictures of my drape I realised that it wasn’t working - it was like there was too much fabric, so I took off 30cm off of both pieces and this is the result. It isn’t as heavy and still looks graceful. The drape in the top left is how it originally looked from the original pieces when I draped it again and while I did like the shape it wasn’t anywhere near my design and the deadline is less than 2 weeks away so to change everything would be pointless. Changing the cape pieces means I’ll have to digitise it in again and change my technical flat pieces., But this looks better than the original drape.

DRAPING

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COLOURWAYS OF TECHNICAL FLATS Here are the various colour ways of my design so far. I tried to keep to autumnal colours as well as colours that would represent the glamour of the 1920s which is what inspired F&F’s mood board.

I really like the contrast between the block of colour and the pattern as I think it breaks it up nicely and isn’t over powering.

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DESIGNING USING 3D FIT I was able to use 3D fit to aid the design process by seeing where I should place my print and fabric on the panel. I was thinking about having a plain purple trieste for the dress as the dress already has the cape, but when I put it on on 3D it looked quite dull by itself, thus meaning that without the cape it is a boring dress, which I don’t want. Therefore I played around with the prints and the panels and even went back to my pattern and turned the front into three panels quickly to see how this would look.

I really like how the purple looks, but I think that I am going to try out other colour variations that I tried with my technical flats to see how it looks on. As much as I liked the all over print I felt that it might be a bit too much when wearing the cape and the dress could get lost in it. However it does look nice alone.

Overall I like the designs that incorporate the print and the fabric in the panel. I think what I will do is put a variety of options on my boards for F&F so they can see and decide amongst themselves.

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Here you can see the results of the adjusted back pieces, along with potential colour ways for the final dress. After seeing on 3D fit that the centre back panel with the low neck had a wide neck piece I felt that it could potentially fold over due to the soft nature of the fabric. Therefore I decided to make the ‘straps’ thinner and I am really happy with the result because I think that it looks a lot more elegant less likely to fold over, making the dress look unsightly.

Even though I had decided on using purple - purely because that was the colour of my sample, I thought that it would be a good idea to use 3D to inform my design decision to see if there were any better alternatives. The purple dress is still my favourite, but I think that it works really well in a red as well. I think I will include 3D on my boards just to show that it works well in a multiple of ways.

I am really glad that I decided to make the front of the dress into three panels as well as it makes the dress a lot more exciting and fits better into the £55 price set. I think that the yellow dress is too bright but I think it works well with the print and I think that the rusty orange suits the theme but doesn’t look like something you would wear to a Christmas party.

3D FIT COLOURWAYS

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CHOSEN 3D After trying out different colour ways I have decided to stick with the purple triese fabric, but I have changed my design due to 3D fit Being able to visualise the pattern and the colours has really helped the design process as I would only be able to do this through my designs or technical flats, which looked better the way I had originally done them. However, if I followed that through to production I could have been very disappointed with the result. 3D FIT has allowed me to speed up this process time, and in industry this would save a lot of money in the long run as well.

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Here is the result of putting the pattern into Drapers Studio. Using Drapers was fairly easy; I had to draw over the shapes in the picture, left clicking and using keys q and w if I wanted a curved line and then right clicking when I had finished with a section. I then had to draw in the grain lines so that the pattern and the material I scanned in would follow the drape of the fabric. I found the software incredibly useful as I was in control of how I would like the print: big or small and repeated. I think I like it enlarged as it’s not too chaotic and I think that would look better for an F&F customer. I definitely like the print being on the inside as it’s a lot more subtle than being outside. I did think of having one cape panel in the pattern, and the other plain so that when you wrap up you can see and appreciate the contrast, but I haven’t decided on how I would like the dress to look, so if there was too much pattern going on it might be too much.

Being able to use Drapers has helped the design process significantly as I can easily see how the pattern and the material looks and experiment with different styles. I did do some without the print but I felt that they were too plain.

OVERALL GARMENT

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SPECIFICATION SHEET This is my finished spec sheet.

Overall I am very happy with it considering it is my first ‘proper’ one with measurements etc. I know that there is a lot on the page but I felt that it would be quite hard to convey the cape dress without them and think that it gives the manufacturer enough information on how it should be made. As you can see the technical drawings do not look like my original ones, but this is because I now have a panelled front, as opposed to one whole piece and the cape has changed from my original draping. I found making the spec sheet one of the hardest aspects of the project because I have not done many the spec sheet in my last project as a lot more basic than this one.

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EVALUATION

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Overall I really enjoyed this project; it enabled me to really focus on the design due to the length of time we had so I could feel fully confident in my decision as I was able to use software like 3D FIT, Drapers Studio and Kaledo Style to predict how my dress would look even before I made a sample and thus aided the creative process.

I have developed my skills on Kaledo Print and Style, which I had barely knowledge of before. For example, now I know how to turn a print I made on Photoshop, into a print that can easily be replicated by companies like F&F how have to work to a certain budget, and thus can only use a certain amount of screens. I think this has given me vital skills that I could go out and use in industry, seeing as this is something that is used. My skills on Modaris have improved as well, as now I can easily check how my pattern fits and looks on the 3D fit software, through using modes such as transparency, that show how tight or loose a garment is. From this, if I’m not happy I can then draw and cut into the pattern to adjust it. Additionally I can place the print I made onto the garment, which in turn aided my design process as I could see what worked well and what did not, therefore allowing me to make adjustments from this. I also know how to make detailed spec sheets, which is needed in the industry – especially in companies like F&F who send their garments to be made abroad where the workers were not included in the design or pattern making process and therefore do not know how the garment is constructed.

This opportunity has enhanced my practise as it has encouraged me to think more in detail about the design practise as a whole. For example in terms of fabrics, and how this can affect the design in terms of drape, the seams that can be used, the trims etc. Using the 3D software aids the design process as I can test colour pallets and prints without having to waste any materials.

Due to the fact that the pattern had to be made on the software and a 3D fit toile had to be used, the live brief has enhanced my knowledge with the Modaris software. The fact that the brief was so restrictive meant that I couldn’t print certain pattern pieces of my design and make them to see how they would fit – instead it pushed my skills of the Modaris and 3D software. My skills in Kaledo Print and Style have been enhanced as I do not tend to use print, so I wasn’t as skilled in the software as I could have been, but as this brief stresses it I really had to focus on using prints.

I think from this live project I have gained an understanding as to how industry works – especially high-street brands, who have really tight briefs due to costings. Whereas before I designed without money or time ever being an issue; I have made some patterns and garments that have taken a while to produce, but this wouldn’t be wanted in this sort of industry as they have a tight time frame to work towards, as well as budget, and they can’t afford to lose time and money on a garment that will take too long to make. I also have a better understanding of what sort of fabrics and finishes that would be used and needed in high-street fashion. For example, brands like F&F wouldn’t necessarily want to buy fabric that is 100% silk due to the cost, or use seems like French seams, due to the amount of care and time that would be needed to go into this. Instead they would probably chose a cheaper alternative that they could buy in bulk and over-lock a lot of the garments seams.

What I’ve learnt from this live brief will positively target my work as I think that it has made my skills in print making better as Kaledo print allows me to make and design a wider variety of work. I think I can also target my future work cleverly so that it can still have some form of creativity while also having some constraints, which would allow it to be sold in high-street stores.

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