Shameless self promotion: T-shirt edition

Basics are basics, yes but a good t-shirt is seriously important to a complete wardrobe. Yes, it's true, sometimes we all copy each other in fashion, but as a very serious t-shirt snob, I pulled 3 different t-shirts and copied different aspects from each. There was the body of one, the neckline of another, and the sleeve of a 3rd, and then I modified it all over again once the first sample was complete. I sourced some really amazing lightweight supima cotton (basically the best of the best soft cozy cotton), ordered a ton of it (made in los angeles!), had it preshrunk (yes so that when you wash your t-shirt it will not shrink, but just go back to its original shape), and used it to create what I called the perfect t-shirt.

Here are the keys to the fit

1. Rounded out and yes, low cut, v-neck makes this a woman's v-neck t-shirt and not one for your average douchy hipster dude rockin some man cleavage (guys always tell me they love to wear women's t-shirts, they like the fit - until they try mine - these are really for us ladies only)

2. The length crosses the hips so you will never look obscene rocking this basic with some leggings (this was obviously intentional as I also specialize in some rock star leggings)

3. The fit in the body cuts in slightly at the waist so you still have a shape underneath this loose fitting comfy but still somehow sexy basic tshirt.

Want proof? Look who's wearing it

Swimsuit Model Joanna Krupa wears the
Linden Basic Tee in Black

A very pregnant Katie Aselton of
"The League" wears the
 Linden Basic Tee in Black

Katrina Law of "Sparticus" makes it look SO
easy with the Linden Basic Tee in White

Sometimes I really like to have fun with those basic t-shirts and completely destroy them. I hand carve block prints and then work with a soldering iron to burn and distress the t-shirts. If you buy one of these items from any stores, I hand distressed each of them with love and an evil grin while I burn each and every singed whole into these tshirts!

Alexandra Chando of "The Lying Game"
 wears the Distressed Linden Tee in Black

Stella Maeva of "The Runaways" wears the
Exposed Ribs T-shirt in Acid Yellow

And then of course there was the modification of the perfect t-shirt, to create the perfect muscle tee. The neckline is the same, but here is a sleeveless t-shirt that ends just past the waist making it perfect for tucking into high waisted skirts, or perfect for a jeans and a t-shirt look!

Cameron Richardson wears the Linden
Muscle Tee in Black

Eloise Mumford of "The River" wears the
Linden Muscle Tee in White 

Janina Gavankar of "True Blood" wears the
Linde Muscle Tee in White

Grunge Aesthetic

I have no real affinity for country music, nor do I care to rock any western styles, but my two inspirations for Fall 2012 led me to a grunge rock cowgirl.

Initially I had searched for images of 1920's lingerie and antique pistols. The pistols inspired a laser cut leather lace that trims much of the collection as well as some of the rough edges, and the lingerie is referenced in some kimono-esque shapes based on lightweight robes as well as placement of the leather lace. But the surprise addition was a floral print fabric I stumbled on before I started to produce my samples.

The fabric is a double face, which essentially means 2 different fabrics woven together. Each side of the fabric has its own pattern, and each a beautifully muddled floral. I pretty much geeked out when I saw this fabric. It is a little 70s in the color way, but also a little bit 90s in it grungy floral pattern. Perhaps I have mentioned before that my formative fashion years were during the grunge rock years. I've never outgrown an offensive floral print paired with combat boots, and I'm certain I never will. I could not resist it, I had to buy it and knew right away how it would fit into the collection. It wound up defining the look I had created for the season and thus the grunge rock cowgirl became my look for fall 2012

So if you are keeping track, my fashion obsessions are:

- muddy florals
- combat boots
- leather
- obnoxious colors

Decisions

I'm coming up on my 4th round of manufacturing, and I'd like to think i've learned a lot in the last 2.5 years. I've learned why some items sell slower than others. I've learned that buyers are often looking for a deal because their customers are looking for a deal. I've learned that I often have to undervalue some of my pieces in order to put them into stores, or perhaps what I have actually learned there is that things need to be pristinely manufactured in order to deserve their appropriate price tag. All of these lessons are coming into play right now as I decide what to manufacture.

I do not automatically manufacture everything I design for each season because some things just don't make sense. My production runs are small and I manufacture locally so my costs are not really that low. (That said, my prices are significantly lower than those "high end" manufacturers who make everything in china!) Often, I find that the cost to manufacture dictates a selling price way more than what most of my customers would be willing to spend! 

Here are a few examples of items that would never have sold at their appropriate selling price

This silk camisole would retail for something like $200 and it's really hard to wear a bra under it. Would any of you out there pay that much for a silk cami?

This skirt doesn't have such a bad retail price, still winding up under $300, but how many women would rock both the porthole wasteband AND the fluttering layers on their hips. I designed it and I think it is actually flattering, but after working in retail for many years I know far too many women are incredibly insecure about wearing anything that might make them look wider. Any takers on this one?  

This one I am still debating. These leggings are from my fall 2012 collection, due out in stores in just a couple months. The contrast panels on this new version of the leggings are custom designed (by me of course) laser cut leather lace. The laser cutting process is by no means inexpensive and that puts these signature Linden leggings at a retail value of $385. Limited edition or not (there might be a grand total of 50 of these out there should I decide to make them), unless you are a recognized brand name it is hard to get someone to spend almost $400 on a pair of leggings. 

The image above brings me to my point about making a decision. I mentioned once before that I found a machine washable fish leather. It is completely sustainable (except for the part where it has to be shipped from iceland) because it requires only hot water for the tanning process and the plant is situated on natural hot springs so there is no excess energy wasted in heating the water. And oh, did I mention, MACHINE WASHABLE LEATHER! It is scaled and has a beautiful exotic look and also comes in a variety of colors. Where's the catch? It is not cheap. I have had a number of people asking me to recut the original Linden moto leggings (right), but the people asking are referring to the original washed lambskin leggings at a price of $225, but these leggings cut with fish leather may retail much closer to $400 as well. (This also takes into account that i have switched to a way better manufacturer but at a slightly higher cost) But just imagine them in steely grey, or bright red and obviously, black. Would you wear them? Would you pay that price tag for them? I always try to keep in mind that brands like Helmut Lang manufacture leather leggings for about $1000 (yes i know they are all leather and not just partial like mine) and those are not made locally. 

it's time to decide - order the fish leather, or not?  

I'm back, or trying to be

It has been some time since i've written anything at all for this blog and I would almost feel guilty if I had some kind of regular readership, but alas I believe that is not the case as I never post so nobody is really going to stumble onto my blog. That is all going to change! I think, or hope.

Where have i been?
As many aspiring entrepreneurs must do, I have been working a day job in order to pay for the business i so dearly want to succeed. So I work in a store in Beverly Hills. I was only working part time up until december (and when was my last post?) until I got promoted. To be clear I was not interested in being promoted. I was quite happy being an incredibly overqualified keyholder training people to work above me, but my boss convinced me it was the right move and I guess my eyes were filled with dollar signs, because I agreed. So now I am in charge of other people, and in charge of my line, and somehow I am supposed to be social, and involved in family obligations (a sisters wedding quickly approaching and a grandmother moving closer to be near the family), maintain a healthy active lifestyle, eat well, clean my house, and still have time to sleep. So long story short, this will be my outlet for the time being (meaning i plan to whine here a lot) and a place to muse about my current creative shortcomings, bounce ideas off of people who will hopefully some day one day read my blog and COMMENT on it, and perhaps work out the details of opening a Linden store in the (hopefully very) near future.

but so its not all just whining, here's a photo of linden stuff

saving the world vs looking good

ok so saving the world might be a little extreme, but as you know i've been seeking out more sustainable fabrics.  Yesterday I visited 2 vendors that tout eco-friendly materials and it is quite sad how little effort seems to go into creating them.  They tend to be bland and unexciting- of course the world is going to continue using toxic materials if nobody out there is going to take the effort to make the sustainable ones chic!

The first place I went to uses organic cottons and hemp and bamboo (which is actually not eco friendly at all) but still makes those fabrics with some polyester to keep the prices down.  On top of it the fabric isn't actually all that wonderful.  TRAGIC!

The second I went to is the only leather tannery in the country, perhaps the world, who has perfected a vegetable tanning process for more than just saddle quality hides.  The leathers were actually gorgeous and I will use them in the future for jackets and purses, BUT they're much too heavy for the leggings and dresses I make - I will look into this a bit more to see if there is a way I can work with it, but sadly I am stuck with lambskin again this time around until I get the samples from the fish leather tannery in iceland (still waiting!) The other issue I had with the tanner was that in a huge warehouse full of hides, they had maybe 2 shelves dedicated to the eco-friendly ones.  Granted they do take custom orders and I could request any number of colors or finishes, but it still irked me, especially because the regular hides come in so many different weights where the eco hides are only the one heavy weight.

The other problem I'm running into is that because my business is run on such a small scale, I am often at the will of whatever small quantities I can find.  On the plus side, I wind up buying ends and deadstock of already made materials, not generating more energy to create something that is already there, but I still want to know that if something of mine winds up in a landfill it will not leach harmful chemicals into the earth.  Still researching, but in the meantime continuing with the same materials I've been using.

Just Ask

I've spent almost 2 years now contacting strangers out of the blue trying to get them to help me in some way.  I contact businesses for textiles, notions, and other situations where I am the customer, and I get responses.  But more often than trying to buy things, I'm trying to sell them.  It is not always so easy to get a response, but once in a while...

Linden has added 2 stores in the last 2 weeks.  In September I went to Montreal and Quebec City with my family.  I walked into Boutique Mademoizelle Sefra in Quebec City with my sister after a day of touring.  It's a super chic boutique that, at the time, had a small rack of clothing and several jewelry cases.  The clothing was their own line, and the jewelry was theirs and some other independent designers.  We struck up a conversation with the two people working there who happened to be the co-owners.  They told us they'd recently opened and in addition to their jewelry and clothing lines, they are running a styling business for customers in need of some head to toe fashion guidance.  I'd taken a business card with me when we left, and one night when I was going through a huge stack of cards on my desk, i stumbled across it.  That night I emailed them, and later that night, I got a response.  Jean-Felix was, again, friendly and welcoming.  After some back and forth, he and his partner Sefra, decided to pick up a few pieces to test out and, voila! New stockist!

The other store was a different kind of contact, one I've always had but never made the effort to cross the line from friend to business.  My friend Grace, one of the few people I stayed in touch with post art school, and the ONLY one from the fashion department, opened a boutique in her hometown of Glenview IL called Stella + Grace.  I visited a couple years ago and this boutique is ADORABLE.  She carries some more mainstream lines, and some small unknown designers, hand picking everything herself.  She knows her customer well.  The same night I got in touch with Mademoizelle Sefra, I emailed Grace.  I asked if we could test some of my stock with her customers on consignment (meaning she doesn't order from me, but I send her stock and she pays me as she sells).  She got the first box 5 days ago, and has already sold several pieces, requesting a replenishment already!

It was great to get some encouragement after so many attempts to contact boutiques with no response.  While there might be a lot of "NO", every "YES" seems that much greater and reminds me that even if most people say no, all I have to do is ask and sometimes I'll get a yes!

Research

pretty