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

How to build a successful e-commerce business

Is there a short cut to success? I’d love to give you a new and unique answer which would magically make all your problems disappear. But, unfortunately, there is none. So, I’m just going to go with the old fashioned epithets of ‘hard work ‘, perseverance, talent and a little bit of luck (although the law of attraction states luck itself is directly proportional to how hard you work!).

A lot of budding entrepreneurs think that they can get a website, open a shop and customers will beat a path to their store. The reality is far different. With a billion websites out there, getting discovered, building the trust that gets a sale take a lot of time. Most new e-commerce sites don’t net a single sale for the first 3 months.

You could do a simple google search to find hundreds of articles about hard work. I simply wish to give a more realistic perspective on the subject.

Case study 1:

In 1993, K. Anders Ericsson and colleagues asked musicians to estimate the amount of deliberate practice– full engagement in structured training activities designed to improve a particular aspect of performance– every week for each year of their careers. They found that on average, the most accomplished musicians estimated much higher amounts of deliberate practice than the less accomplished musicians. At age 20, the average estimated hours for the most accomplished violinists was more than 10,000 hours, whereas the average estimated hours for the least accomplished violinists was about 4,600 hours.

Case study 2:

Winston Churchill, one of the 20th century’s greatest orators, practiced his speeches compulsively. Vladimir Horowitz supposedly said, “If I don’t practice for a day, I know it. If I don’t practice for two days, my wife knows it. If I don’t practice for three days, the world knows it.”

 

The field of fashion is no different. Sure, talent is important, but consistency, hard work and dedication to the art are even more important. Opening an online store is easy, anyone can do it. But making it successful requires hardwork, perseverance and motivation. Maintaining its standards consistently with new, catchy designs, customer service, keeping up with trends, research etc are the tough parts. It’s even tougher doing all these knowing that you statistically won’t be getting even a single order for at least 3 months from starting your store. These are the parts which will determine if you will be a success story or a cautionary tale for others.

If you say, “I’ve tried all this, still no success”, here are few more case studies for you, Colonel Sander’s chicken recipe was rejected 1099 times before going mainstream, Henry ford failed in five businesses before starting ford motors, Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper early in his career because “he lacked imagination and creative ideas”.

So what is the secret sauce to building a new digital business?

1. Have something truly unique
2. Share your website with friends and family and ask them to share it with their friends
3. Provide excellent customer support. Give your customers a reason to buy from you
4. Be active on social media like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and share your work.

In the end it takes talent, nurturing, motivation, persistence and hardwork to build a success story. There are no shortcuts here!

Fashion Philosophy

Where’s all the art?

Though it might seem as if the artistic aspect of fashion is missing in the bustle of commercial marketing and constantly changing trends, it actually is not the case if you look at the work of some of the most accomplished designers today.

Just like painting, sculpture or dance, there is an inspiration, that compels the designer to create, thus giving them a reason to create, a purpose. This compulsion can be due to numerous factors which could be emotional or inspired by internal or external circumstances. Regardless, the compulsion to create can be boiled down as a need to express,

Fashion creates a gate way for the human mind to express an inner truth, a belief or an idea, about oneself or the external world though the canvas of clothing. An emotion one can wear, which reflects themselves or the world around them.

Every aspect of a garment can tell a story, from the colors, texture, cut, drape to even minute subliminal details such as buttons which can signify strong ideals such as aspiration or innocence.

Now, owing to the union of technology and fashion, expressing yourself has become easier than ever. Through the MyWear^® designer platform, you now have a blank canvas. Express your own emotional spectrum by launching your own clothing line under your own label.

So, whats your expression?

 

Launch your own clothing line at under $100,

Launch Your Own Clothing Line. Custom Made, On-demand!

MyWear^® is the only integrated platform to let you launch your own line of apparel or accessories, designed, produced and delivered to order, under your label, with no minimum order quantities. MyWear^® provides you with everything you need: design tools, e-commerce, social media integration, manufacturing & drop shipping!

If you are wondering, is talent alone enough?, you need to look at industry legends like Coco Chanel, who learnt the art of sewing while being raised in an orphanage or Georgio Armani, who started his career from a garments shop, where he assisted a photographer in arranging the window, or let’s take the example of Calvin Klein, who started his career as a complete loner, with no connections nor money, except for what he made helping his father at his grocery store.

The simple truth is, in addition to being exceptional fashion designers, these greats were also exceptional business men and women, scouting the market like a hawk, searching for opportunity, flaws, chinks in the armor where they could step in and offer their solutions.

For instance, Rene’ Lacoste designed a game changing shirt with a buttoned neckline and short sleeves in a time when tennis players were accustomed to rolling up their sleeves to get a little relief. Lacoste saw opportunity, stepped in and offered his solution. A simple formula.

These extraordinary people loved their art enough to learn and develop a new line of business. Now, we have made the barriers much lower for an enterprising designer to get started on their own.

Choose from our wide range of product silhouettes across customer segments – Tees, Tops, Dresses, Backpacks, Messenger bags and Raglans across Kids, Men, Women and Extended Sizes in Synthetic, Cotton, Polyester, Silk or Blends. Just design on our 3D tool and publish to your store and the product is ready for purchase! No inventory, no pre-orders, no minimums – we will custom make and drop ship every single order, under your label, within 2 weeks.

Need your own custom product or special fabric? We will design, pattern-make and set up manufacturing just for you, for a small fee.

Don’t be restricted to designing inside a box! MyWear® is the only platform that supports full-bleed prints with custom sizes and choice of fabric. Go ahead and unleash your creative skills without any technology limitation.

Promote your products on Facebook, sell on Facebook in-app store, promote on Twitter, Instagram & Pinterest with a single click from our social dashboard. When your customers order on any of your channels, we will manufacture and drop ship it!

Launch your line, under your own label.

We have simplified supply chains, built design tools and brought on-demand
manufacturing so any budding designer with talent and entrepreneurial skills can get started. We have made sure tools, technology or cost are no longer a barrier. You just need to add your talent and creativity to the mix!

Register now: https://www.launchmywear.com/design-make-sell.html

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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!

Stripes: The Perfect Companion for Your MyWear® Line this Summer

As we’ve reported a few times now, stripes have been quietly elevating their status from classic wardrobe staple to one of 2016’s biggest trends. We saw this budding as early as last year, gaining traction through early 2016, and now;  they’ve officially hit their trending tipping point:

Stripes are easy to create, compliment other prints (think polka dots or floral pattern mixing), and go well with multiple colors and styles. Simply put, they’re perfect for incorporating into your MyWear® designs this summer!

To design your own in Photoshop, use the rectangular marquee tool to select the size stripe you want. Then, use the paint bucket tool to fill in the selected area with a desired color. Repeat! Copy and paste your stripe design for an ongoing pattern.

Want to switch it up with a new color scheme, you chameleon, you? No problem! Use the Hue/Saturation dial located in adjustments to give a quick color change!

As mentioned above, pattern mixing is a cinch with stripes, just remember to use at least one matching or complimentary color!

Most importantly, have fun and infuse your own personality into this classic!

Until next time, happy designing!

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!

MyWear® Store Facebook App Lets You Sell Directly on Facebook for Free

Great news for those of you looking to increase your store’s exposure! MyWear has released its new Facebook app! Now, with our new app,  you can add a MyWearStore “Shop” tab to your Facebook page, where anyone visiting your page can see a catalog of your products, view the details, and shop from Facebook! We’ll receive, process, and ship the product and credit your dues, as always. 

To install, login to your account on LaunchMyWear.com and click on the Facebook cart (top right).

You’ll be taken to the MyWear® Store Facebook App page. Click on “Setup your Facebook store”

From here, select which page you’d like your store to appear on and click “Add Page Tab”.

That’s it! Go checkout your new MyWearStore, right on your Facebook page.

Color Psychology: What Colors Sell?

When designing for your customers on LaunchMyWear, it’s beneficial to keep their preferences in mind. The idea is to stay true to who you are, so that you attract consumers that match your aesthetic, while also remembering the upcoming trends they’ll most likely want and their overall predilections.

Pantone Colors 2016

One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is by offering colors that are trending, (see Pantone colors of the year) and making products available in some key colors or tones that are popular your your buyers’ demographic.

For example, based on this chart, you can see that one clear winner is the color blue:

Whereas orange did not fare so well …

It has also been shown that more unusual and unique color names can increase the intent to purchase. This may hold especially true with women, according to KISSmetrics. So, keep that it mind when naming and describing your products.

 

While we’re on the topic of color, it would be a disservice not to recommend looking at a color chart to determine complementary colors to use in your design.

Via ccisolutions

For more on color psychology, check out our post on logo deigns, too!

How to Design a Logo for Your e-store at LaunchMyWear.com

After you’ve registered at LaunchMyWear.com, it’s time to create a brand identity for your e-store. One good way to do so is by developing a logo. A logo is what visually represents your business and brand, after all, and can influence people’s attitudes towards your business, as well as your brand’s memorability. In this article, we’ll focus on points to consider while designing a logo for your business.

Keep it Simple: Keep your logo simple for easy recognition. Simplicity is easier to process, which, in turn, can be more memorable and help you stand out in your consumer’s mind. Often times, simpler logos are also more identifiable in smaller forms, such as on mobile devices and business cards, and they’re easier to recognize when printed with lower quality. As tempting as it is, logos don’t need to tell the entire story of your business, so try to focus on sticking to a two-color scheme and minimalist design, and not overthinking it.

Memorable: Another critical point to keep in mind while designing your logo is memorability. You want your logo to be unique, after all! Creating something that will stand out in people’s minds, while still remaining simple enough to process is the key here, as it ensures better ROI (Rate Of Return) from your marketing campaigns.  For example, Apple’s logo design is incredibly simple, but the bite on the apple makes it unique and memorable.

Timeless: Logos should be enduring for many years to come. It would be counter-productive to create something that you’d eventually have to change, after devoting so much time to creating awareness and recognition around your original logo.  However, trends change, customers’ preferences and mindsets do, too; So, your logo should be able to withstand evolving customers and an evolving product portfolio. Hence, a timeless logo is great to have.

Versatile: Your logo should be versatile enough that you can use it on various platforms. This includes web, mobile, and any marketing material; like your apparel and accessories on MyWear®. You want your logo to hold up on different sizes, a single color design, and on multiple products, so, it’s a good idea to make sure your logo isn’t too wide or tall.

Appropriate: As mentioned earlier, your logo doesn’t need to advertise what you sell exactly, or the entire story of your business, but, it should make sense in the eyes of your customer’s. A certain amount of relevance in accordance to your business will help your target customers gain a clear perception of who you are, with comparatively lesser marketing expenditure.

It should also trigger the proper emotional appeal. Colors can play a major role in this. To know which colors trigger which emotions, refer to the table below:

via ideopsychology.com

Some other points to be considered while designing your logo:

• Most top brands only use one or two colors in their logos
• Blue, red, and black are the most used colors in logo design
• Many top brand’s logos use only text, with no graphic design or symbol
• The most commonly used text is San serif
• Many logos have a rectangular shape or horizontal orientation
• Many include the registered trademark symbol in the logo
• Most top brand logos don’t mention the products they’re selling

Keep in mind: the above practices shouldn’t be taken as gospel. As an artist, you probably already know what logo’s right for your business. These are just handy tips to be considered during the logo designing process. Now, go ahead, and get to designing! You can upload your new logo in the setting section of LaunchMyWear.com.