Arc'teryx Makes Its Mark

Last month I saw this Arc'teryx ad on a Seattle bus. If I'd seen it before I'd enrolled in UW's fashion certificate program, it wouldn't have been as interesting. But the program has stuffed my head so full of useful information, I thought, "Look! It's a marker!"

A marker is a layout of pattern pieces that the pattern maker creates to ready the garment for cutting and production. The layout is printed full-size on a plotter. Here's a good example of a marker on a pattern maker's Style Portfolios page:

A goal of a marker is to leave as little unused fabric as possible, as wasted material = more yardage, which increases the cost of the garment.

I've been sewing since I was a kid, and know how to lay pattern pieces on fabric, but until I started at UW last fall knew nothing about garment manufacturing. I enrolled in the program because I have some specific garment designs I want to work on, but I'm also really interested in the processes involved in taking a bit of fluff off of a plant and the tasks involved before it ends up in a garment on the store shelf. There are so many things that have to happen to accomplish this. It's all very cool.

When we buy apparel, we usually don't think about all the work that goes into designing, reworking, and manufacturing a garment. I like that Arc'teryx is giving the average consumer a glimpse of the process. The tagline "every piece with purpose" is good marketing: the Arc'teryx customer wants reliable, quality outdoor gear, and is function- rather than fashion-focused (although Arc'teryx has done a great job of combining the two attributes in their designs). Nice job, Arc'teryx!

Pink shoes and purses: Ann Marie

Stopped by the downtown Nordstrom today to see my cousin Ann Marie, who'll expertly guide you through the colorful labyrinth that is Nordstrom Designer Handbags.

Ann Marie has always had un senso elegante stile (I can say that because she's half Italian), and today she looked fantastic, as always. Don't the pink flats just make the outfit?

Because I tend to shop by feel (If I don't like the feel of a textile, why would I want it near my body?), I became aware that, while we chatted, I was being too fondley with the leather goods. I had to remind myself that, no, you are not in a tack shop in 1975 (which is a perfectly approprite time and place to put your hands all over bridles and saddles), and that you are in a very nice department store, so stop handling that red Proenza Schouler bag as if it were a blob of cinnamon roll dough.

By the way, Ann Marie gave me some interesting info on purse leather: when leather is tanned, it's fed through rollers to press it smooth. Then it's put through another treatment to add the grain back in. So the different finishes and textures on leather goods are actually created per the designer's specifications.

So next time you go feeling up handbags, thank your lucky stars for those dudes (or ladies) manning those big roller machines in the tannery. They're keeping you stylin'.