jen-lord

[jen-lord]

Bo Carter week 17, Sue Ryder week 11

Bo Carter

Bo came back from her marathon early because of personal issues with the event and how poorly is was organised, she was unwell for the next few weeks so I just continued with the work I had already been given. I was given the go ahead from her to draft up a poster to advertise the fashion show. As I was doing this she also gave me some feedback on the list of potential guest lists and designer lists, and used her feedback to improve my search.

As I was coming to an end with my work with Bo Carter, I wanted to reflect on what I have learned about working with her and what I will come away from this experience with. I have learnt that running a fashion design business is  very difficult and time consuming and in order to be consistent you must have to have a real passion for what you do as it is such a difficult and competitive industry to work in. I admire Bo as she does mostly everything herself, it is her life, but she loves it and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Designing all of her own designs and making each individual one by hand and handling packaging and orders as well. I can understand how it can be demoralising after working on collections you have put your heart and soul into as well as time and money and struggling to receive orders, but with Bo she remains determined through every stage. In addition to this I have learned that having an ethical ethos for your business is truly inspiring as it is so challenging. Organic fabrics are more expensive than regular wholesale fabrics and this can also slow down the production process as finding specific colours and weights is not as easy. Also making a profit can be challenging due to the expenses made to not only produce the garments but also to promote the collections and the cost of using your own machines and supplies, that may break and if so you have to cover the cost of repair yourself.

Sustainable fashion in my opinion is the only option for us for the future of our planet, however because of fast fashion brands dominating the market due to low production prices and low cost prices it seems impossible to change this. But hopefully in the years to come as climate change is now that biggest issue our planet faces more and more changes will be made to try and tackle this. Furthermore brands like Bo Carter are essential to inform us about these issues and they give us wonderful examples of how it can be done.

Sue Ryder

My last week at Sue Ryder was a few weeks before Christmas, therefore they were very glad of my help due to that increase in customers. The Christmas rush was well underway, so I was very busy keeping up with putting new stock out and keeping the displays up to a high standard and I have learned whilst working here that people don’t bother to put things back how they find it if they do not wish to buy it.

This week I also did the Christmas window, which was very exciting as it changed the whole appearance of the shop. Putting the tree up and all of the lights as well as an inflatable snowman made the shop feel more welcoming and warm. As for the mannequins I was asked just to keep it “simple and red” we didn’t have many Christmas jumpers donated so I just used items that had red in them and I think it worked well. In the shop when Christmas is approaching we pick out the donated items that are brand new (still have the tags on) and put them all on to a separate rail in the middle of the store for people to browse for their Christmas shopping. We also price these higher than the other garments for sale, this not only brings in more money for the charity but also the rail attracts a lot of attention because we also put the high end brand garments there too, which are also priced higher. As I am the youngest volunteer they have at the moment and I have more knowledge of higher-end brands I get asked to check all of the garments before they are put out onto the shop floor.

Even though I will be returning to Sue Ryder after my placement is over because I enjoy it so much, I have to reflect on what I have learned during my time here. Doing the window each week has taught me about styling for different demographics, young and old, male or female. Styling the mannequins in regards to the seasons so using different colours each week to keep people interested. And also thinking outside of the box when it comes to looking through the clothes and deciding what will work best due to the size limit of the mannequins.

Doing the displays in the shop has taught me that the whole atmosphere of the shop changes depending on the displays and having them well maintained makes the whole shop’s image look better. In addition to this I have learned that people don’t treat charity shops the same as they would a normal high-street shop because the items are second hand, for example I had to deal with multiple people on different occasions trying to negotiate prices of items, I believe people don’t keep in mind that their money isn’t going to us but going to a charity. I also have witnessed many thefts of items, which is just awful to think about because once again it’s for charity. I have improved my communication skills, talking to customers, giving them advice and answering questions, as well as using the till and serving hundreds of people. However I have also learned that people see charity shops as more of a convenience than somewhere dedicated to helping people in need. This is because I have witnessed many occasions where individuals have been rude to me and other volunteers when we have to say no to some items they want to donate, and just dumping them in the store anyway so they can just get rid of it. However one of the most obvious things I have learned is how without teamwork and without the volunteers, charities like Sue Ryder wouldn’t be able to survive.

[jen-lord]

Bo Carter week 16

This week as Bo was preparing for her next Marathon I continued with my work for the upcoming fashion show and also searching for some more potential stockists. For the fashion show work this week I also began looking for potential guests to invite. On this list Bo wanted well-known people but not mainstream influencers, so the sort of people I began looking for were fashion bloggers, specifically environmentally conscious bloggers, fashion newspaper reporters etc. Inviting these sorts of people will provide publicity for the event as well for Bo Carter as a brand and also the other designers and also for sustainable fashion.

This week I also had the idea that instead of just sending out these letters in just black and white words, I utilise some of the photos and imagery for the Heroic collection and turn the letter into a sort of poster. This way It is more likely to be seen and it is more interesting and captivating than just words on a page.

[jen-lord]

Bo Carter week 15

Bo Carter

This week for Bo was a very exciting week as she announced to me that had decided that in 2022 she was going to have another fashion show. Her last fashion show was a few years ago and sadly because of the pandemic she hasn’t been able to have one since, and for this upcoming one she would like me to be involved. My job this week was to draft up and then finalise a promotional letter to send out to potential designers that may want to participate. It was important that the letter was well worded, yet not too formal and included all the information that was needed. For example, the estimated time of year as the date and specific venue it still tbd. The city location, and the fact that all proceeds from the show will be sent to charity, which charity tbd.

Once I had drafted this up I sent it back to Bo for her to look over and I got on with searching for potential designers that we’d like to send it too. This too was important was for the show as Bo only wanted designers that shared similar views to her in regards to ethical materials and sustainable fashion. She also said she was open to having all types of designers participate, not just womenswear.

This process was going to take some time as I was searching for designers that were relatively at the same level as Bo Carter in regards to company size. I used websites such as Wolf & Badger and other stockist websites. I also used social media, going through many accounts to try and find potential designers.

[jen-lord]

Bo Carter week 14

Bo Carter

As Bo was back from her Iceland run now we started this week with a small catch-up to talk about how it went and how I’ve been getting on and what’s next to do. She will be off at the end of this month to compete in her biggest marathon yet, The Marathon de Sables in the Sahara desert.

This week Bo had the location shoot for the Heroic collection. Sadly I couldn’t be there in person as it was in Essex and it was too far for me to commute. However I was in contact with her during the day and she filled me in on everything that happened and how it all worked.

The shoot was at an animal sanctuary in Essex, this fitted the inspiration for her collection perfectly as all of the animals there are protected. She explained to me that location shoots are a brilliant experience when everything goes to plan, however there are many factors that are out of their control, such as the weather. Any rain will hold back the shoot and because they only had a one day slot to do it they were so lucky it was blue skies. Wind is another factor that will affect shoots like this as you have no control of the movement and placement of the garments. Everything went according to plan which was great, and she sent me some of the photos over to look at the next day.

This week I completed my last animal drawing, this week’s was of Lulu the pig. If there hadn’t been several witnesses to this story of animal heroism, we wouldn’t have believed it was true. In 1998, Jo Ann Alysam had a heart attack inside her Pennsylvania trailer where she was staying and was unable to call for help. That’s when her pet pig Lulu, a 150 lb Vietnamese potbellied pig, sprang into action. The pig bolted out of her doggy door (or pig door in this case), left the front yard and ran into the street where she laid down and pretended to be dead. A driver saw her, stopped and followed her to her house where he heard Altsman yelling and called 911.

[jen-lord]

Bo Carter week 13, Sue Ryder week 10

Bo Carter

Whilst Bo was still away for her marathon, I just continued with the work I was doing last week. I came home for a few days this week so I brought my drawing materials with me so I could complete another drawing.

This weeks drawing was of Laika the space dog. Laika was a soviet space dog that became the first animal in space, and the first animal to orbit the earth. Laika was a stray dog from the streets of Moscow, she was selected to be the first occupant of the soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 that was launched into space on the 3rd of November 1957.

Little was known about the impact of spaceflight on living creatures at the time of Laika’s mission, and the technology to de-orbit had not yet been developed, so Laika’s survival was never expected. Laika died within hours from overheating. The true cause of her death was not made public until 2002, instead it was widely reported that she died when her oxygen ran out day 6 or, as the soviet government initially claimed, she was euthanized prior to oxygen deprivation.

On April 2008, Russian officials unveiled a monument to Laika near the military research facility in Moscow. It portrays a small dog standing on top of a rocket.

Sue Ryder

As I had come home for a few days I went in to Sue Ryder to help out. As It had been a few weeks since I was last there, my first job was to go around the shop and re-do all of the displays, get rid of the old stock that wasn’t selling and bag it up to be sent to another shop and put out newly donated items. I enjoy doing this as it is so interesting to me to examine what sells and what doesn’t. For example the sandals are the first things to go this time of year and boots and heels are usually left. Beach bags, tote bags and small cross-body bags are very popular as well as they are easy items for summer and also very practical. When going through the rails I removed all of the larger winter coats and swapped them to a smaller rail towards the back of the shop floor, this is an example of seasonal store layout, summer items towards the front for easy access and winter items to the back.

This week I also re-did the window, my manager wanting me to incorporate a new wooden outdoor seating set this time so I kept this in mind when picking out the clothes. The wood was of a warmer tone so the clothing I picked out included tomes of yellow and orange. For the male mannequin I spotted a lovely pastel lemon yellow thin button up shirt, I paired this with just a pair of dark shorts. For the female mannequins I wanted to display two styles, on more causal than the other. I picked out a low-cut jumpsuit that had a stunning floral pattern on it which had both yellow and orange as well as some green for contrast. And for the more casual style I chose a basic light mustard colour bodysuit and paired it with a pair of regular fit white jeans.

[jen-lord]

Bo Carter week 12

Bo left for Iceland this week to participate in the marathon “The Great Norse Run” so I carried on with the work she had left for me to do, I emailed her the selection of potential stockists I had found so she could look at them when she got back. I also finished off some more descriptions and produced another drawing.

This weeks drawing was of Dolly the sheep. Dolly was cloned by Keith Cambell, Ian Wilmut and colleagues at the Roslin Institute, part of the University of Edinburgh. She was born on the 5th of July 1996 and died just before her 7th birthday from a progressive lung disease ( the disease was not related to her being a clone). She was called the world’s most famous sheep. The cell used as the donor for the cloning of Dolly was taken from a mammary gland, and the production of a healthy clone, therefore, proved that a cell taken from specific part of the body could recreate a whole individual. On Dolly’s name , Wilmut stated “Dolly is derived from a mammary gland cell and we couldn’t think of a more impressive pair of glands than Dolly Parton’s”.

[jen-lord]

Bo Carter week 11

As Bo was preparing for Iceland marathon this week, we had a quick catch up over zoom just to discuss what I shall be doing whilst she’s away. This week my first task was to continue with product descriptions for her new collection, as her partner Steve continues to edit photos from the shoot there will be more for me to describe. As I’ve said before I research the style of the item and look at previous descriptions on her website to gauge the type of format that she’d want.

After this, I continued going through Wolf & Badger and researching similar brands and finding their stockists to potentially use for Bo.

This weeks drawing was of Koko the gorilla. Born in San Francisco zoo and lived most of her life in California, Koko gained attention upon a report of her having adopted a kitten as a pet, calling him “All Ball’, revealing her ability to rhyme. Koko had an active vocabulary of more than 1000 signs of what her caregiver calls “gorilla sign language” (GSL). This puts Koko’s vocabulary at the same level as a three year old human. In addition to signs it was reported that Koko understood approximately 2000 words of spoken English.

[jen-lord]

Bo Carter week 10, Sue Ryder week 9

Bo Carter

Bo hadn’t given me any new tasks this week so I just carried on with the tasks I was already on going with. First of all I filled out for dates on Bo’s instagram calendar to help go keep on top of her posts, as I’ve said before doing this helps to keep people informed about current world problems whether it be to do with the environment or not, it also helps to celebrate annual dates to give things the recognition they deserve.

For my second task this week I completed more product descriptions for her new collection, these I find very time consuming as I’m a perfectionist and since these will be going on the website I like to take my time. I researched similar items and from those I create my descriptions.

I also produced another drawing this week. This week’s animal was Cher Ami the carrier pigeon. Cher Ami, French for “dear friend”, was a carrier pigeon who helped deliver important messages to the French troops in World War 1. She is most famous for according to the National Museum of American history, despite being critically injured, delivering a message from an encircled battalion that ultimately saved their lives.

Sue Ryder

This was my last week for a while at Sue Ryder before I move back up to Newcastle. For this week I wanted to redo the window with summer clothing but of a different style. I wanted to use neutral tones, and go for a more casual bohemian style. For example, for one of the female characters I used an off the shoulder white crop top with little flower detailing, and paired this with a pair of short khaki cargo shorts and brown cross body bag.

Whilst working in shops you have to always be nice to customers and comply with their needs and help them anyway you can, however as a young woman occasionally individuals may take advantage. Before I began working at Sue Ryder my manager briefed me that because of my age if any customer is inappropriate with me to report it immediately, as this is a charity shop there’s really no saying as to who will walk in the door as the items for sale are targeted at everyone. I encountered today a man in his 40s who persistently asked for my name and age and number and tried to flirt with me. I had to remain professional and do my job. I served him and he left, I then reported him however my manager did not get his name or see him so couldn’t do anything. He then came back the next day and purchased one item quickly as I was serving on the till and tried again, I signalled my manager and she asked him to leave. It is important that everyone at Sue Ryder feels safe, especially the volunteers as they sometimes can be as young as 16.

I carried on as usual and since this was my last day for a while I redid all of the accessory displays and went through all the clothes and took off the oldest items, then bagged them up and sent them off to another Sue Ryder store. In addition to this I also assisted two elderly ladies around the shop as they wanted advice on what to buy and what I thought would suit them best, I helped them for the best part of 30 minutes as they were very friendly and I loved there style. They were both in dark neutral tones and accessorised in lots of bangles and rings. Because of my help they donated an extra £5 to the charity which was much appreciated.

[jen-lord]

Bo Carter week 9, Sue Ryder week 8

Bo Carter

This week for Bo Carter my first task was to find more potential stockists for her. I started this task by looking at her biggest current stockist Wolf & Badger, from here I found similar brands to Bo Carter also on the website and researched them to find their other stockists. Some of the potentials I found were:

-       Rivafashion.com

-       Lyst.co.uk

-       Marieclaire.co.uk

-       Yoox.com

-       Fashionola.co.uk

-       Notjustalabel.com

In addition to this whilst she was ill Bo sent across more pieces for me to do product descriptions on. After this, this week I also filled in some more dates on the calendar for posts on Bo’s instagram.

The next drawing that I started this week was of Binti the gorilla. This is one of the most famous stories of a heroic animal ever recorded. In 1996, guests at Chicago’s Brookfield zoo were stunned when they saw a 3 year old boy fall into an enclosure that contained gorillas. Expecting the worst to happen, the crowd instead witnessed an incredible act of empathy on the part of one of the animals. Binta-jua, one of the gorillas, picked up the injured child up and carried him to a doorway, where she laid him down for paramedics to take care of him. The boy fully recovered, and Binta-jua or “Binti” became a national treasure.

Sue Ryder

I love creating themed windows, and this week was the no different. Everyone was getting in the spirit for supporting England in the Euros. For things like this my manager ordered in England themed decorations for the store and for the window. I started with the bunting and put it up around the window, then started placing the single England flags at the bottom of the window to frame the scene. I then had to search through all the donated clothes and look for England themed tops. I found a men’s top, however for the women’s top I had to make do with just a red and white striped t shirt and red shorts. For this window I also wanted to use a child’s mannequin. We didn’t have a full size child’s mannequin however we just had a top half mannequin. So I used the bistro set to make it look like it was sitting and used a Manchester united football set to dress it.

[jen-lord]

Bo Carter week 8, Sue Ryder week 7

Bo carter

Bo was ill this week so I just carried on with my drawings for her. This week I was drawing Gua the chimpanzee. Gua was born in November of 1930 in Cuba and was raised as though she was a human child by scientists Luella and Winthrop Kellogg alongside their infant son Donald. Gua was the first chimpanzee to be used in a cross-rearing study in the US.

Sue Ryder

When creating my window display again this week, I alternated the coloured bistro sets in the window once again. I did this so I could keep varying the colours I had to work with, so this week I chose a lime green set and a blue set. After using different home décor to decorate these sets I moved on to the mannequins. For the female mannequin I had set aside a dress the week before that had both blue and green tones in a beautiful tropical print on white fabric. I paired this with a simple gold chain and a muted green bag. For the male mannequin I wanted to keep it quite simple and classic as to not overcrowd the window with too much pattern. So I chose a white button-down shirt with chinos and a smart belt.

Whilst searching for a belt for my mannequin I realised how many belts we had in the back, there was none out on the shop floor and nowhere for them to go. So I found a small shoe rack that had been donated and got to work. I found a small space on the wall where the dressing room once was. There were two hooks already in the wall. I gathered a range of men’s and women’s belts and started to display them on the rack, once I hung it up it didn’t look like a shoe rack anymore. It was also the perfect height to stop children pulling them down.

After doing this my manager gave me the task of moving the shelves around and putting out more summer accessories. I grabbed some hooks from the back room and some scarf rings and put out more summer hats and light-weight scarves in summer colours.

[jen-lord]

Bo Carter week 7, Sue Ryder week 6

I had a very exciting week this week as I joined Bo for her first photoshoot for her new collection. It took place at a small studio in Cleckheaton in Bradford, which ironically is only 10 minutes from my home and I have visited Cleckheaton for many years as it is where my Mum grew up and it also has some great charity shops so I am very familiar with the area. When I got there everyone was so welcoming, Bo had brought lots of vegan snacks for us to eat throughout the day. The model she had hired for the shoot was a stunning woman named Jemima, she had a very unique look which I thought worked beautifully with the clothes.

As Bo Carter is only a small business the only people there were Bo who was overseeing the photos and ironing the pieces throughout the shoot, Steve her partner who is also a skilled photographer and he does all of her photos, Jemima and me.

Throughout the shoot I had many jobs, the first was to get the clothes ready for each look and to pair them with shoes that Bo had provided, I then helped Jemima get into them as in some of the items some fastenings weren’t completely finished and needed to be altered. Because of Jemima very slim build some of the clothes needed to be pinned back to fit around her body in the way Bo had envisioned.

I stood behind the screen, which the photos transferred to after each take. From here I pointed out imperfections such as creases and also could see if the pose in which Jemima was stood showed the pieces nicely. For example, moving her arms back whilst stood side on to show the sleeve styles, or to move her head in such a way it better shows the necklines.

As I said previously Bo Carter is a small brand and for her photo-shoots Bo and Steve like to do as much themselves as they can and not hire help to keep costs down. Bo is also a perfectionist in what she does which I admire as she takes great pride in her creations. Because of this a lot of time was taken throughout the day with each look to get the perfect shot.

During the shoot we had some casual discussions about life and Bo revealed to me that in September she will be participating in The Great Norse run, which is a marathon across Iceland from north to south. And then the month after also taking apart in Marathon des Sables (Mds) which is a 251km ultra marathon, which is approximately the distance of 6 regular marathons and is held in Morocco in the Sahara desert. I was in awe as she told me this, as it sounds unimaginable, but it also made me admire Bo even more as her passion for running is so strong and inspiring. However because of this she revealed to me that over the next few months as her collection is nearly finished and the photos are being edited and developed that she will be focusing on training.

Sue Ryder

Temperatures soared this week, so when re-doing the window display I wanted to keep this in mind. First of all I wanted to move one of the brightly coloured bistro sets from the window and replace it with another, I chose to replace it with a black tiled set which would also be a bit easier to pair with the outfits that I picked out. As I still had only two mannequins to work with I wanted to create some beach themed looks. For the female mannequin I wanted to incorporate some sort of swimwear but also keep the look relatively conservative, so I chose a lovely brown patterned bikini top and paired them with a pair of loose wide leg cream beach trousers. Whilst rearranging the jewellery I also found a cute shell necklace, which I though would work well with this look. For the male mannequin I found a casual vintage short sleeve button-down shirt and paired it with a pair of black swim trunks. As I’ve said before in a previous post the mannequins I have to work with are of a single size and because the clothes I have to work with are single items we don’t have different sizes of the same item, making them fit nicely on the mannequins can be tricky so I use clips to fit them better to them.

It was time again this week to go through the rails and take off all of the older clothes that haven’t sold and to bag them up and send them off to another Sue Ryder store. This is a very time consuming job but it also creates space on the rails for new stock. Recently the amount of donations has increased, a lot more people are bringing in bags and bags of old summer clothes as they probably want to get new ones, which is good for us as that is what will sell first this time of year.

Whilst working here, and having more of a knowledge of present and past trends than some of the other volunteers, whilst going through the clothes that come in I find it a bit sad how fast trends change and people throw away clothes they no longer see as trendy, for example I have been seeing a lot more Topshop products such as the classic Joni jeans which became popular around 2013. But in the past few years the skinny jean trend has died out as the new trend of baggy and wide legged jeans has taken over. Another dying trend that I see come in is tie-die which is a more recent trend from lockdown. Its fascinating how for such small space of time it was so popular as it gave people something to do but now life is back to normal its almost like people want to leave that behind and move on.

[jen-lord]

Bo Carter week 6, Sue Ryder week 5

This week for Bo Carter I was sent more product descriptions to complete so I did those then sent them back to Bo to look over. In addition to this I continued with my drawings, this week I finished my drawing of Moko the dolphin.

Moko the bottlenose dolphin was a celebrity among the people of Mahia beach in New Zealand before he saved two beached whales from certain death. Before Moko came to the rescue, a man discovered the two whales and figured that he would have put them down in order to save them from a very slow, painful death. Then, miraculously, Moko approached the pair of distressed whales and led them through a narrow channel to the safety of the sea.

The media I am using for my drawings is predominantly watercolour pencil, then from further details I used black and white pencil crayon and fine liner.

After talking further with Bo this week we discussed further about what else we could do with the drawings that I am producing, Bo told me about the T-shirts she is also making to advertise her new collection. We discussed that my drawings could also be made onto t-shirts.

Next week I will be joining Bo and her business partner Steve for the first photo-shoot for the new collection. I am very excited to learn a bit more about how this all happens and to meet Bo in person.

Sue Ryder

This week at Sue Ryder we began getting our summer furniture stock in. In the store as well as the second hand goods we also sell some new goods. This week I wanted to incorporate some of these into my window display to compliment the clothes. I chose to work with two brightly coloured outdoor bistro sets, I chose the clothing for the mannequins to match the sets. Because the sets were quite big I had to compromise and only use two mannequins so I used one male and one female.

Personally I wasn’t a fan of the bistro sets but the colours were eye catching which is what I wanted, they draw the eye. For the male mannequin I found a very similar colour long sleeved shirt which I paired nicely with some camel chinos. And for the female mannequin I found a loose summer dress with a cute flower print which had both the pink and green tones I was looking for, and to break the colours up I paired the dress with a casual muted green cardigan.

This week I learned that you have to take your time with some customers as we do get a lot of people in to the shop whose first language isn’t English. Sometimes people get confused about the prices and think the because all the clothing is £3.

[jen-lord]

Bo Carter week 5, Sue Ryder week 4

This week for Bo because I got the go ahead for the drawings I focused on this this week. My first drawing is of Felicite the cat. Felicite was the first and only cat to ever to be launched into space, on October 18th 1963 as part of the French space program. The cats involved in the program including Felicite had electrodes implanted into their heads so that their neurological activity could be monitored during the flight.  The capsule was recovered 13 minutes after the rocket was ignited; Felicite survived the flight however a second cat was killed in a launch mishap on the 24th of October that same year.

In the Heroic collection Felicite’s name will be paired with a gorgeous jumper made from 100% organic cotton.

Once I had finished this first drawing I started the next drawing of Moko the dolphin.

Sue Ryder

This week at Sue Ryder my first job was to re-do the window again, and as in my last post I explained how I was trying to focus on bold spring colours so this week I had my eye on a few blue pieces to work with. Again with this window I created two different couple looks, one more casual and one dressier.

This week I also learned that good people skills are very important. I am the youngest volunteer and because I work primarily with the clothes I get asked a lot by customers for advice and my opinion on whether or not someone should buy something. I think when people shop in a charity shop sometimes people get easily unsure whether or not to buy certain things as all the clothes are different styles. A man asked me for help to find a shirt for him that was a size small and I had to be very considerate to the fact he wasn’t a size small and that a better fit would be a medium to large. I approached this situation with delicacy and was I was very considerate and he did in fact buy the large and he loved it.

[jen-lord]

Bo Carter week 4, Sue Ryder week 3

After another catch up zoom call with Bo this week, we discussed that she wanted me to start looking and researching for specific organic fabrics and new ethical fabric wholesale suppliers for items in her new collection Heroic.

I began the long process of researching ethical wholesale suppliers in the UK but I soon discovered that the majority of wholesale suppliers are overseas.

I drafted up emails and began sending them out, hoping to get some more information from the suppliers such as what wholesale fabrics they provide as well as minimum order quantities and prices.

As well as this, this week I continued with product descriptions as Bo sent them to me so I could keep on top of them.

Sue Ryder

As it was springtime, I wanted to start reflecting this in my window displays. When thinking of spring I think of flowers and the colour of flowers. So for this week I wanted to focus on pink, and different tones of pink. As this is only a small charity shop I only have certain size mannequins to work with. In addition to this as all of the clothes are second hand, if you are searching for clothing of a specific colour you have to adapt.

When creating my window displays I like to keep in mind the different styles of the people that come in and more specifically their different ages. I used two male and two female mannequins and used them to create two separate couple looks, one dressier and one more casual whilst still sticking with tones of pink.

I initially (before I took the photos) used cropped straight leg beach trousers for the casual female mannequin, however within 5 minutes they had sold. This is what I like about creating window displays as soon as an item sells it changes the display therefore I have to be constantly thinking of what I could replace it with. In this case I used similar style cropped trousers as I now knew they were sought after, however these trousers not only have pink but also shades of blue which personally I like better.

[jen-lord]

Bo Carter week 3, Sue Ryder week 2

This week I continued noting down important dates in the fashion calendar to help Bo create social media posts. I learned from Bo this week that posting on instagram about Fashion Revolution is very important as it helps sustain brand loyalty as well as attracting new and intrigued customers that support similar causes.

I pitched my idea to Bo about producing drawings of the different animals for advertising her new Heroic collection and she thought it was a great idea, So over the next few weeks I shall be starting to produce those and send them back to her.

Sue Ryder

At Sue Ryder this week I learned that good people skills are very important. Due to the fact they sell second hand clothing ranging in all sizes and styles and other second hand items as well, I get to serve people of all ages. I also get to serve a lot of people who have disabilities, as they feel more comfortable shopping from us due to the warm welcoming atmosphere. Having knowledge of different styles of different ages is important too, so when dressing the window this week I had to keep that in mind.

As in many retail shops seasonal stock rotation is very important, as people require different clothing items throughout the changing seasons. So this week we began changing the way certain things are displayed and the store layout as it was starting to get warmer outside, I also moved all of the skirts and shorts to the front of the store, and moved the winter coats and jumpers more towards the back.  Doing this helps to maintain consumer interest.

At the start of every month we go through all the clothes on the shop floor, each ticket on the items is marked with a week number from when it was put out. We then take off each item that has been out more than a month and bag it up. These items then get sent to another Sue Ryder store to be put out again. I like this idea as it means the clothes aren’t just getting scrapped therefore making this a very sustainable process.

[jen-lord]

Bo Carter week 2

During my second week with Bo Carter, I was given the task to start to search for fabrics for her new Heroic collection.

Bo gave me specific criteria to look for whilst searching.

For example: *£15.95 per metre, 330gsm, 100% organic cotton.

From working on this task I can now see that it is very hard to make and run an ecologically sustainable business and make collections, as organic fabrics of specific weights and colours are much hard to source than if you were running a fast fashion business, as selection is limited and more expensive, as well as most of the fabric suppliers are based abroad.

In addition to this task I also started creating product descriptions for the Heroic collection on the Bo Carter website. This was very time consuming, as I needed to research the different styles of items and think of how best to describe and sell to the consumer. I will be chipping away at this task over the next few weeks as Bo sends me more finished products to describe.

[jen-lord]

Sue Ryder

The Charity Sue Ryder support people who are living with a terminal illness, a neurological condition or who have lost someone. I have been a loyal customer to them and their shop in Shipley for many years as I personally prefer to buy my clothes second hand where I can do to my bit in the fight for a more sustainable future in fashion.

The people who work and volunteer there are some of the best people you could meet as they do their work out of the goodness of their hearts. This specific shop that I volunteer in sells clothing and accessories, furniture, electrical appliances and toys.

During my 1st day at Sue Ryder I learned that it takes a lot of effort and people to keep the shop running efficiently. In my placement role, I don’t have any set tasks as I do a bit of everything. For example I could be rearranging and restocking the jewellery cabinet, seeing what bags and accessories have been sold and putting more out as soon as possible to keep up the image of the store. Tagging and putting clothes out and creating window displays.

I also learned that donations are looked through thoroughly as there are some things that the charity can’t sell, however items that we think look good or we think will sell the best are prioritised to go out on to the shop floor in attempt to attract more custom and keep customers loyal.