Bikinis & atom bombs: Be inspired by everything.

When we think about inspiration, what influences us most are ordinary people who have done extraordinary things. We appreciate when someone has the ability and willingness to be selfless, creative, innovative, or just dares to be different. Being ordinary and creating extra ordinary stuff.

It’s one of fashion’s great mysteries. Where do designers find their inspiration? The birth of a trend has long been a source of debate. Inspiration can literally come from anywhere, be it family, music, streets, a crack in the sidewalk etc . There are no restraints as to what someone can draw from to turn a mere thought into a reality. In fact, fashion design is all about great inspirations. Today’s designs are everything from elaborate drawings in a sketchbook to creative photo shopping.

Unexpected inspirations:

Miniskirt: Did you know the origin of the miniskirts by Mary Quant’s was actually named after her favourite car – The Mini. According to her, miniskirts meant young, fresh, colourful and fun.

The bikini: Louis Reard named his two-piece swimming costume after the Bikini Atoll, where the US military was testing bombs. He believed his revealing swimwear would create a shock similar to that of the atomic bomb. He sure did!!!!!!

Versace logo: Gianni Versace’s major influence was Greek mythology – the logo for his company is the head of Medusa – thought to symbolize the empowerment of women. Through his clothing, Versace wanted to give women confidence and power, and this was shown through his choice of flamboyant textiles, bold colors and flattering cuts.

Red-soled Louboutins: Christian Louboutin’s red soles were inspired by Andy Warhol and nail varnish. When designing a pair of shoes influenced by Warhol’s Flowers, Louboutin was dissatisfied with the outcome. While looking at the shoes, which had black soles, to try to figure out why they didn’t work, his assistant was painting her nails red. Seeing the polish, Louboutin grabbed the pot and lacquered the shoe’s sole, and an icon was born.

We at MyWear® would like to be the bridge that leads artists to becoming entrepreneurs. We can provide you with all the tools you need to successfully launch your own clothing line. Your own website, Custom sizes, your own choice of fabric, Social media integration, advance designing tools, ecommerce, on demand manufacturing and shipment. You name it we got it.

We have made sure that tools, technology and cost are no longer barriers. Just bring in your creativity, talent, drive and let’s get started.

Show the world what you can do,

Register now: www.launchmywear.com

Move Beyond Shirt Design Software with MyWear’s 3D Product Designer & Manufacturing Platform

Some of you have been curious about this while logging in to design custom clothing and accessories on LaunchMyWear.com:

To the left, you’ll find your designer portal. To the right? Meet MyWear Decorators Network. In addition to the artist and designer platform you’re familiar with,  we’ve recently developed a new design and manufacturing software specifically for custom retailers and manufacturers.

This soon-to-be released software has industry-specific solutions that optimize user experience, bring innovative products to market, and drive new business models. MyWear Decorators’ Network provides a single technology platform across the entire manufacturing life cycle, at a very affordable price, so you can focus on running your business without worrying about the technology heavy lifting. Based on years of research, our patented real 3D designer helps customers easily visualize products in real 3D, as they will be manufactured and our manufacturing automation software delivers production ready patterns to create exactly what was visualized!

Create stock designs or publish blanks for your customers to design on. Use our patented design automation tools to design once for multiple sizes, products and styles – a huge saving in time and cost. Get manufacturing ready patterns, not spec sheets. Reduce pre-production costs by up to 90% with automated pattern generation, grading, cross product designer, design corrector and more! Let your customers design or personalize in real 3D on the web, take a photo and design on a mobile or personalize with a Facebook app. Fully managed e-commerce, social commerce, payment processing and production management.

With MyWear Decorators’ Network you have access to industry specific tools like:

3D Visual Designer

Collaborate closely with your customers. Design and communicate in real 3D. Download production-ready patterns.

Production Management

Get manufacturing-ready patterns, not spec sheets. Automated pattern generation, grading, cross product designer, design corrector and more!

Quick Product Setup. Simple design tools

Offer customers pre-made designs or a blank canvas. Easy to use, intuitive 3D design controls for your designers and customers. Design once for multiple sizes and products!

Mobile & Social Apps

Let customer’s design and order from their mobile, using the camera integrated 3D app! Sell on Facebook with an integrated marketplace app.

Complete Commerce

E-Commerce, Social Commerce, Payments & Order Management.

Broadest Product Coverage

Full bleed, cut & sew apparel, bags, accessories, hard goods, shoes, skateboards or car wraps – we got you covered!

Want to see more? Email Sales@LaunchMyWear.com for details or to schedule a demo!

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Are You Taking Advantage of These MyWear® Tools?

Now that you’ve familiarized yourself with the MyWear platform and designed your first item, you might be wondering if there’s any hacks or tools for even more control during the design process. Lucky for you, there is! Here we’ll walk you through some of the lesser known tools to utilize while designing with MyWear!

Apply Image To

If you only want to apply art to specific sections of your design, use the “Apply Image To” dropdown to add art to desired panels, or uncheck components where you don’t want your art to be applied.

 

Additional Artwork Tabs

If you’re planning on using more than one artwork on your piece, you can use the additional artwork tabs to do so. When combined with “apply image to” you can create pieces that feature multiple works of art on different sections, or it can be used as a tool for even more control over the placement of your art and how it will look on your garment.

 

Clone Tool

Use the clone tool to clone your art to a second (or third!) artwork tab.

 

Center Arrow Button

As you’ve probably figured out, the four arrows located in the artwork tab will align your art further to the left or right, or higher or lower. But, there’s also a small center button which will make your arrows move in smaller increments.

 

Display Order

Use the layer up/down buttons located to the left of your art thumbnail to change layer order.

To set a logo, use a .png file (without a background) and overlay it on top of the other layers.

 

Color Tab

To apply solid color, go to the color tab and uncheck “art” in the component you’d like to apply color to. Click the color box and use the dropper to choose a color or enter a color hex code.

Mirror & Copy Functions

You can also find the “mirror” and “copy” functions located in the color tab. Use these to copy or mirror the art from one side onto the other. For example, for symmetrical sleeves, use the color tab’s dropdown menu under “Mirror” and select “Mirror” to make the left component match with the right. Select “Copy” to apply an identical copy of the art onto the other sleeve.

Once you get the hang of these tools, you’ll find many inventive ways to use them to create truly unique items that your customers can’t find anywhere else. Want a quick visual refresher course? Look no further than our video tutorial!

This Just In: MyWearStore Spring Arrivals

MyWear®‘s team of independent artists is growing quickly, and with it so is our lineup of products. Here’s a look at what’s new in the MyWearStore!

Tanks

Spring forward with ultra-soft tanks in poppy colors and designs!

Artist-designed tank tops in Bright Playful, Block Party, Decalcomaniac , & Rio Copacabana

Dresses

Dress up for spring in an array of silhouettes and artist-designed prints.

Dresses in Neon Khaki, Unicorn Blues, Fun and Fuchsia, & Aquaplex

Men’s Tees

Far out prints in comfy cotton!

 

Men’s T-shirts in Bowie, Laser Lights, Bogomil Variation 7, & Clouds

Backpacks

Unique, bright backpacks that are stylish, comfortable to carry, and perfect for everyday use.

Backpacks in Abstract Mirror, Beautiful Abstract, A Splash of Color, & Rio de Janeiro Wave

Totes

Carry all your necessities in a one-of-a-kind, artist-designed tote.

Totes in Second To None, Coeur, The Heart Knows, & Traditional MotifFeeling extra creative? Design your own

This only skims the surface of MyWearStore’s vast product lineup, so head on over to see what’s new in travel bags, baseball tees, scarves, and much more! Feeling extra creative? Try designing your own clothing or accessories!

MyWear® 101: Create Clothing & Accessories On-Demand

For those of you not in the loop yet, MyWear® is a new on-demand eCommerce and manufacturing platform for artists and designers that gives you the ability to launch your own line of clothing and accessories for free.

The integrated platform provides you with everything you need to start selling your own merchandise: design tools, a branded e-store, pattern generation, supply chain, production, and free shipping & delivery to over 10 countries. We’re also the only platform to move beyond the heat-pressed T-shirt, offering apparel in a variety of knits and woven fabrics and advanced silhouettes, like custom dresses, jackets, and even chinos.

So, how do you get started?

1. Register for your free account at LaunchMyWear.com
2. Create and customize your own branded e-storefront: (your brand name).mywearstore.com
3. Upload your art and design products without restrictions on MyWear®’s 3D model.
4. Publish to make your design immediately available for purchase.
5. After your first sale, link your Stripe account.
6. You relax while we take care of manufacturing, shipping, and customer service!

Now, we’ll do a quick crash course on our 3D model:

1. To design on the 3D model, first, you’ll want to upload your artwork. Art can for this can be created in a number of ways including Photoshop, Microsoft Paint, Adobe Illustrator, a photograph, or a picture of something you’ve drawn/painted. We recommend uploading 300 pixel/inch resolution, so your artwork is large and high-res enough to cover your design in full.

2. Hover your mouse over the art you uploaded and select “Design your own”. This will take you to a menu of products to choose from.

3. Now, we get to the fun stuff! When your design first appears on your product, in some cases it will show as a rectangle, one that most likely doesn’t fit the entire piece. There’s an Auto Fit button which will automatically fill the entire product.

4. Or, in order to get your print to cover your product entirely, you’ll want to use the plus sign to scale the art to the whole piece. To make the print smaller, use the minus option. Use the arrows to align it further to the left or right, or higher or lower. The small center button will make your arrows move in smaller increments.  If you’re planning on using more than one artwork on your piece, you can use the additional artwork tabs to do so.

5. To apply color, select the area of your product you’d like to fill and turn artwork off in the color tab, if needed. Choose the color you’d like to apply to the selected section.

6. When finished, double check to make sure art is covering the entire piece and save design in bottom right corner.

Now your design is up and available for purchase on your MyWear® store! Share your newly designed piece with family, friends, and your social media audience! When an order is placed, we’ll manufacture and ship it, and credit your dues to your account.

Happy designing!

MyWearStore.com: Custom Fashion at Affordable Prices

Have you heard the news? We’re very proud to announce the launch of our new marketplace, MyWearStore.com!

MyWearStore is the world’s first and only collection of completely customizable apparel and accessories, designed by a talented community of independent LaunchMyWear artists and designers. Our marketplace allows customers to discover new, emerging artists, designers, and trends – all at affordable prices. Customers have the option of personalizing every aspect of their order, from size and fabric, all the way down to the actual design itself. In turn, independent artists and designers are able to sell their own lines of apparel and accessories, under their own labels and with no minimum order quantities. We believe this is the future of art and fashion: an ecosystem of innovation, on-demand production, and full customization.

Once upon a time, having an up and coming designer make you a one-of-a-kind piece in your measurements and choice of fabric meant you were insanely wealthy. Now, with MyWearStore, you can have exactly that, at less than department store prices. We live in the future, guys!

I thought we’d use this as an opportunity to showcase some of our artists’ work, so, without further ado, here are some collections brought to you by the incredibly creative people that make MyWear possible:

I’ll start with one of my personal favorites, the folky designs of Ms. Ranka Stevic. Ranka uses patterns and prints that I would normally associate with embroidery, but updates them with modern colors and sharp angles. This marriage of tradition and modern design feels both familiar and fresh.

One of our earliest supporters and favorite designers has been Inspired Fashion. Inspired offers a huge range of unique apparel, with a positive message to boot.

I’m also a huge fan of these trippy designs from Fashion4U:

YSO Serious fashion has some seriously unique graphic tees:

Last but not least, my favorite, Reality Inc., brings technicolor pop art to the table, combining satire, modern art, and a Warhol-esque approach in his designs.

We’re expanding our marketplace constantly with new designers and a huge range of products in the pipeline. Those of you interested in creating your own line can register on LaunchMyWear.com. Those looking to support the artist community and snag your own one-of-a-kind pieces can visit MyWearStore.com.

Happy shopping!

LaunchMyWear How-to: Create a Print from a Photograph

This is the first installment of a weekly-running tutorial on different ways you can create art for your LaunchMyWear collection. In this one, we’ll explore how to make a print from a photograph!

Today’s tutorial will require Photoshop. Adobe Illustrator is also used for an additional step, but not necessary. Some basic knowledge of Photoshop would come in handy, but fear not if you’re a beginner. There are lots of free resources out there.

Because life if absurd and I’m obsessed with my pets, Andre and Shanté, they will be the source of my pattern today!

Awww

1. Open desired photo in Photoshop. Click on the quick selection tool, located to the left in your toolbar, and select the area you want to feature in your print. You can use the magic wand or lasso to select the area, as well.

2. Create a second blank document in Photoshop.

3. Copy and paste the selected area (ctrl-c, ctrl-v) and use the cursor to drag the layer to its own new Photoshop document.

Double the Andre, double the fun!

4. Use the clone stamp tool or eraser to soften edges. To select the area you want to clone, hold down the alt key while clicking on desired area. Then, click again where you want to apply the cloned selection. If you’re new to this feature, take a few minutes to play around with it. It’s incredibly intuitive once you get the hang of it, but requires a little getting used to. In this case, I’m selecting the white background and applying it to the edges of Andre’s fur, to soften the appearance.

This is getting weird.

5. If you want a cartoon-y effect, I recommend turning up the saturation, which will help keep the photo from getting washed out during the process of making it look more illustrated later in AI. To add saturation, go to “Image” on your menu bar, then “Adjustments” in the dropdown. There, you’ll see an option for “Hue/Saturation”. Turn the saturation dial up and press ok. You can also turn up the exposure under “adjustments”, which I have done here.

6. To create the cartoon-y effect mentioned above, save your saturated document and open in Adobe Illustrator. Go to “Object” in the top menu bar and select “Artboards”, followed by “Fit to Artwork Bounds”, which will be necessary for saving/exporting the file later on. From here, you can click on your image and an “Image Trace” box should appear. Use this to change the preset to 16 colors.

You can also use the pen tool, located on your toolbar to the left, to trace your photo and create an outline.

7. Return to Photoshop after exporting your art from Adobe Illustrator (don’t forget to check the “Use Artboards” box when exporting!) . From here, create a background color with the paint bucket tool.

8. Enlarge your canvas size and copy and paste your photo repeatedly until you begin to create a print. Here, I added Shanté to the mix in the same way that I did with Andre earlier.

9. Keep going until you develop the desired size and look.

10. There you have it! After re-sizing to 20MB or less and saving, your artwork is ready to be uploaded to LaunchMyWear. You can also size it into a square and use the tile option when uploading to LaunchMyWear.com Your print is now on its way to being turned into an incredible one-of-a-kind item. You’re not going to find this scarf anywhere else, that’s for sure!

Have fun! And, as always, tweet you designs or questions @LaunchMyWear.

3D tool to design full bleed printed merchandise

At LaunchMyWear.com we offer you a 3D tool to design apparels and accessories with full bleed prints. For example, you can design a custom hoodie, with running designs or patterns that cross over from the body to the sleeve. The artworks designed on the hoodie are not restricted to just the front or back but the entire product. Our unique technology ensures that the finished product matches with the design on the 3D model almost exactly.

While designing, you can view your work in 360 degrees on the 3D model by rotating the model.

One design many SKUs including Custom sizes

On the consumer facing portal of yours, we let the consumer choose his/her custom size apart from the regular sizes. Adding to the ease, you need not design for different sizes. Our patent pending software generates the design done on the 3D tool and makes patterns automatically for different sizes. This saves up your time to focus on new designs.

One artwork many products:

Using only one artwork you can easily publish various products such as backpacks, T-shirts, hoodies and more. This would help you to create a lookbook for your consumers.

Complete flexibility to place artwork, text and color:

You will find various navigational buttons to place your artwork anywhere on the product. You may expand or contract the artwork using scale in and scale out buttons, rotate the artwork in both anti-clock wise and clock wise directions and select the autofit option which would intelligently autofit your artwork to the entire chosen product. You can choose the section where you want the image through “apply image to” button.

Other functionalities like clone and mirror image:

Using the clone functionality the artwork gets copied from one layer to another layer without requiring you to upload it again. For example, you may copy the artwork from front to back or from right to left side of the product and work on the cloned artwork in a different way compared to the original artwork. It just happens with the click of a button.

If you want to place a mirror image on the opposite section with perfect alignment, the mirror image option comes in handy. The mirror button creates a mirror image of the artwork and the artwork gets applied to the opposite section. This would be useful when you want to place the mirrored artwork from front to back or from right to left without re-doing it all over again.

There is no restriction to turn your creativity to merchandise. Imagination is the only limit. You may register at LaunchMyWear.com and bring your creativity to life.