Top fashion events in India

In ancient Indian fashion, India really did not have garments that were sewed together like dhoti, sarees, turbans, scarves. The recent developments in Indian fashion have changed the scenario. Now the fashion especially in urban India has changed.

People in India have got influenced and adapted the fashion which has become a vibrant scene and turned out a colorful and a glamorous world where everyday day a new trend is getting introduced. Until recently, people have focused on couture lines and wedding trousseau but now the Indian fashion has gone up to international market and got combined with the western culture.

 Fashion events like various fashion weeks are helping the designers to showcase their talent. These events are not only the launching several designers and models but also it is a platform for the business of fashion which has helped to interact between designers and buyers in Indian and international market. Indian fashion has got an international recognition all over the world.

The Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) has played the most important role to the fashion design talent and fashion business to move ahead. FDCI advises and assists fashion designers, retailers, models, make-up artists, hair stylists, choreographers and manufacturers in raising professional standards and improving business practices while creating domestic and international opportunities.

Media is also playing a major role educating people about the fashion weeks. January through April designers showcase their autumn and winter collections and September through November the spring/summer collections are shown.

India Fashion week (IFW) is an event promoted by fashion design council of India which is sponsored by Wills Lifestyle, held twice annually which is considered to be the biggest fashion event in India which is held in capital of India, Delhi. Another grand event Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) Lakme, the cosmetic brand which organizes fashion events twice a year in Mumbai. Recently, Delhi Fashion Week organized by Prodigy Fashion an event management agency where participation is ‘by invitation only’ where each designer is been picked on basis of their creative talent by design experts.

Another ‘by invitation only’ fashion week which is held in the IT capital of India,Bangalore, recently established, in the south sector which is Bangalore Fashion Week (BFW) which has given opportunity to the upcoming designers and talents.

Designers like expose their creative talents with different themes. Their collections broadcast on televisions, magazines, newspapers all over the world & people follow the trends set by these designers. These events are not only showcasing their talents  but also generating  better business opportunities and the best mixing between designers, buyers and fashion market within the country and outside the country.

Facts and general awareness about fashion and textile industry

The importance of ethical business is increasing and the consumers are becoming more aware regarding the same and if something doesn’t appear right, they will shout about it, media will dishonor the company in question and the brand image can be ruined.

Every exporter is taking care and addressing issues like sweat shops, child labour, poor wages, forced overtime, etc. the other important challenges are eco-friendliness, sustainability, traceability of hazardous substances and these should be implemented throughout the supply chain.

  From the issue of forced labour in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan, to the amount of water used in dyeing tee shirts, noxious chemicals used in finishing process, methane emitting sheep destroying the ozone layer, forced overtime in Chinese clothing factories, every aspect of supply chain should be monitored to avoid unethical business.

  Facts:

Textile waste occupies nearly 5% of all landfill space; one million tons of textiles will end up in a landfill every year. According to the World Bank, 20% of industrial fresh water pollution comes from textile treatment and dyeing. In 2009, the world used three trillion gallons of fresh water to produce 60 billion kilograms of fabric; it takes 700 gallons of fresh water to make one t-shirt. One trillion kilo watt hours are used every year by the global textile industry which equates to 10% of total global carbon impact.

  There is a request for more and more buyers around the world to their suppliers to take care of ethics part as well as to be more eco-friendly. There is a wealth of eco certification and legislation such as REACH. Systems and controls need to be in place to monitor. Machines and equipments are becoming more environmentally friendly with lower noise, emissions, lower energy consumption and using less oil lubricant,

  This concern is affecting all aspects of life, including the purchasing decisions of the end customers. They want to know that the garment they are buying and the way it has been produced is sustainable. That is, it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Branded Jewellery

A brand serves as a distinction of a product from others of its kind. Brand names create distinguishing images or identity for a consumer to recognize and desire. Brands exist in almost all industries and the Jewellery industry is no different.

In older times, jewellery was seen as the indulgence of the affluent society with court jewellers producing exquisite handmade one of a kind pieces. But with industrialization and better prosperity across the populace, jewellery is sought after by all classes. 

For better catering to this wide and divergent market, jewellery producers have started adopting a brand identity. Jewellery is typically worn for occasions or to commemorate certain events in one’s life. Identifying these segments, specific brands cater to specific requirements.

Wedding jewellery is a huge segment and several brands specialize in exclusive wedding bands, engagement rings, promise rings etc. The platinum industry and the diamond industry have also built brands for this specific segment. So you have platinum guild endorsing the platinum “love band” for celebrating your day of love. DeBeers also has engagement and wedding rings for this niche with the option of designing your own engagement ring.

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The working class is another large market. With women more independent and financially more secure, there is a requirement for work-wear jewellery. Special ranges are created to cater to this market with smaller but more elegant style jewellery like pendants, earrings and bracelets available. Also trends like the right hand ring are popular as women want to assert their identity.

Men’s jewellery and children’s jewellery are other growing markets. Several brands introduce specially designed ranges or lines to provide a variety of jewellery for these segments.

The greatest advantage of a brand is the assurance of quality. The purity of gold, the quality of the stones and the workmanship used in the jewellery are important. Brand names try to build up on these criteria so when a consumer buys a product from a specific brand, he is assured of the value of his purchase. Often certificates accompany the products as a mark of quality.

The process of building a brand is entirely based on trust. When a customer is satisfied with the product after investing a considerable sum of money, he will always prefer to return back to the same brand when he has a requirement the next time. This is known as brand loyalty.

With prominent jewellery houses and corporate names introducing jewellery brands, consumers now have a large variety of specially designed jewellery to fulfil their every wish and desire.

ENZYME FINISHING OF GARMENTS

       ENZYME FINISHING

In enzyme finishing Cellulose/ Amylase enzymes are used. The single component CELLULASE enzyme, alkaline-neutral cellulose, was introduced in 1992. This mono-component enzyme produced high – contrast abrasion & gave very good fabric strength retention. Hydrolysis of the cellulose, which is catalyzed by enzyme, causes the surface fibers to become weakening & later removed when subjected to fabric to fabric abrasion or fabric to pumice stone abrasion during the washing. The temperature & pH used are dependent upon enzyme used. Usually neutral cellulose (2 – 4 gpl) is applied at pH of 6-7

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      PEACH SKIN FINISHING USING ENZYMES:

Peach skin finishes are given to Chinoes suiting materials, Denim material and for Tencel fabrics. Tencel has high strength ( In dry & wet state) & dry tenacity is almost equal to that of Polyester. According to Mr. Rodgers production of the   Peach – skin effect requires that fibre be PREFIBRILLATED, DEFIBRILLATED & REFIBRILATED.

   Prefibrillation splits the surface hairs on the fabric similar to stripping back the bark on a twig. It requires mechanical action also such as tumbling in a wet processing stage. Prefibrillation creates tangled masses of fibres. Defibrillation of the pills of fibre (Entangled mass of fibres) with enzyme produce a very smooth fabric with almost no protruding fibres. Any of the acidic, mildly acidic or neutral cellulose enzymes are suitable for defibrillation. Refibrillation or secondary fibrillation produces SECONDARY HAIRS on the fabric surface, generating the peach skin hair. Prefibrillation is carried out in the desizing stage. Defibrillation takes place in washing stage & for Denim garments the same process is used for color washing also. Refibrillation is accomplished by agitation in the normal softener application stage of wet processing. 

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CAD systems in Designing and Apparel Production

Computer Aided Designing (CAD) is a mainstream tool; companies that hope to compete in the fashion market place, especially at the mass level, cannot prosper without some level of CAD technology. And for an aspiring designer it is an added advantage to have basic knowledge of Fashion CAD.  In textile designing CAD systems, a motif can be designed, resized, recolored, rotated, or multiplied depending on the design goal. Some garment designers are more comfortable drawing fashion illustrations using CAD rather than by hand drawing and coloring. Fashion Illustrators are often trained as graphic designers.

The CAD course at VogueInstitute of Fashion Technology provides a platform for students to get trained in CAD programs like Auto CAD and CorelDraw for drawing, paint program like Adobe Photoshop, and Lectra. Each program will have its own particular functions, but in most cases, for representational purposes, a student will be able to achieve the results with a combination of drawing and paint programs.

Some advantages of CAD-

Making a pattern for a style takes about an hour and the grading process assuming there are five sizes would take another hour. Using a CAD system will reduce the time spent on making the patterns. Patterns once created for a particular style can be stored for eternity in space saving hard disks or floppies instead of storing physical patterns. And just imagine storing physical patterns and retrieving them after a lot of searching only to find they are defaded or torn! One can imagine the waste of time, space and cost when a company is dealing with thousands of styles. There are variations of CAD systems available for apparel production. Lectra’s CAD solutions, for example, focus on the product development lifecycle, from creation of the product to fabric cutting.

Supposing a designer wants to redesign one of the core products, he need not have to start from scratch. He can start with the silhouette developed last season, retrieve it from his design database, redevelop it in minutes, automatically update the collection database and push it directly to the supplier with all the specification data.

Textile Designing

Textile designers are responsible for creating two dimensional patterns that appear on a variety of different fabrics. Textile designers, sometimes referred to as fabric designers are involved not only in clothing and carpet designs but upholstery, too. The field encompasses the actual pattern making as well as supervising part or all of the production process.

To become a textile designer, a person needs to have strong fashion sense, research skills, and design skills. An interested person will need to constantly research the market for trends and keep up-to-date on developments both in style and on manufacturing end. Textile designers work within and alongside industries such as  interior design. They may also move into designing paper goods, ceramics or other items that require patterns. Textile designing encompasses not only drawing skill but business savvy and customer relations as well.

A student interested in textile design should consider a degree in textile design from a university. Alternatively, she/he may consider an art degree or an associate degree in computer related field. Computer aided design skills (CAD) skills are important, since the student will need to both sketch her designs by hand and recreate them in computer. Understanding color theory and key design principles is also important for a textile designer.

So anyone who wants to become a textile designer should keep a portfolio of her work. This portfolio usually includes hand drawn sketches and patterns, and any  finished or sample products.

The degree course (Fashion and Apparel Design) and diploma course for fashion designing are available at Vogue Institute of Fashion Technology. The fashion design training institute prepares aspiring designers  for careers in the textile and garment design fields and general fashion design.

Fashion Illustration

The fashion industry is mostly hard work with a little bit of glamour thrown in for spice. The industry is 99% hard work and 1% glamour. It can be a really rewarding career option, and there will be glamorous moments, but you're going to have to work for them! Technical training and creative schooling in the fashion arts will provide an invaluable foundation for a future in the industry.

For an aspiring designer, fashion illustration forms the foundation for building his or her career. A training course in illustration will develop the skill needed for fashion drawings and students will learn to draw using a broad range or art media and techniques from hand sketching to sketching using graphics software.

Before manufacturing a costume or an accessory the first thing a fashion designer prefers is to see a visual picture of what is to be created. A fashion illustrator does this by means of his or her drawings. There are specialists who create eye catching fashion illustrations are called fashion illustrators. The fashion illustrator works in a specialized area of advertising and marketing, producing drawings for promotional magazines and newspapers as well as publicity material for catalogue and stores. Fashion drawings are also used for window displays and exhibition stands!

A beginner needs to study the anatomy of human body, the human figure proportions in 8-heads. For fashion drawing, the proportions are exaggerated for glamour purpose. In fashion sketches, it is also essential to know how to draw fabric and more importantly know how to draw the folds of clothing. The lighting effect, shading depth will enhance the quality of sketch and gives a three dimensional illustration.

When sketching a design on a croqui (drawn body form), the designer is not making a pretty work of art. Instead, this drawing will be the focal point of discussions between himself and his pattern and sample-making team. Because of this, the sketch must be precise. A wrongly-placed waistline or strangely-drawn crease can mean several different things in reference to fabric type, seams and draping.

Let us be completely frank: you don't need to be able to draw a pretty face; but you do need to be able to effectively communicate your designs visually, on paper, to the media, to your contractors or to a pattern-maker. Proper use of visual communication will allow you to transplant your design concepts into the minds of other people at your firm, or on your team. Again, this is a good example of why a formal fashion education is essential. Offered with a variety of other courses, fashion illustration will be one of the courses accessible to you at Vogue Institute of Fashion Technology.