Looking to create a signature as a fashion designer?

I used to work with a small New York Designer called Lafayette 148 in the 1999-2000 timeframe. It was (and still is) a beautiful designer that wanted to use the highest quality fabrics but make the clothes available at relatively lower prices. [In the fashion business, the terminology would be Designer merchandise at Bridge prices.]

One of the design concepts I saw during that time was a striking red pant-top ensemble in silk, with a flowing red embroidered scarf made out of an Indian sari fabric. That design had to be abandoned, even though it was spectacular and original. Lafayette 148 could not source enough of the sari fabric under consideration.

With a bit of work with a segment of our 4 Billion pool of resources, many designs such as this could be brought into fruition. There are extraordinarily talented artists and artisans all over India.

If you are a fashion designer looking for an original concept, fabric, texture, embroidery … go travel in the villages of South Asia and look for expertise in weaving exclusive saris. In the Dhakai muslin from Bangladesh, or the Chanderi from Bengal, you will find resources to position and shape your signature.

And if you do it right, you would come out with an efficient, high gross margin business model, that may even allow you to sell Designer quality merchandise to the mass markets, profitably, and abundantly.

Issac Mizrahi at Target, Nicole Miller at J.C. Penny and others are catching on to the trend of famous designers designing for mass market retailers. All through that supply chain, there exist opportunities for massive leverage from the bottom of the pyramid.

Target, J. C. Penny – go high-end in your imagination and design concepts, but go to the bottom of the pyramid looking for the supply chain.