A Day at the Contractor

When I first started with Brynn, I had only worked with contractors within the company.  We work with an independent contractor; so working with them has been a whole new experience.  It has been very exciting setting up meetings with them, planning our production runs, making sure we have the materials inventory updated and ready for production, and then checking in on how the run is going.  When Brynn and I went to check up on the Fall 2012 line, they were in the process of working on sewing the Lauren Bags and cutting out the Sophie.  

To the left are the pre cut piles of Sophie bags ready to be sewn.  You can see some of the new fall colors, shown are Spill the Wine (oxblood), Imagine (blue/grey), Mary Jane (olive green), and Foxy Moma (burnt orange).  

We also went to make some changes to our overall order and some adjustments on a few bags. For example, we added a back pocket to the Sophie and changed the strap attachment on the Mini-Lauren.  Last minute changes are possible partly because we produce in Chicago!

To the right is the pile of half sewn Mini- Lauren’s waiting to be finished!  This photo shows the Spill the Wine, Mary Jane, Imagine, and To the Max (black).  There are also a few other leather and fabric colors not featured in these photos.  The contractor is hurrying to get everything done for our Liberation Collection debut next week!  Also, soon to come, sneak peek on Holiday 2012 colors!!

Love,

Your design intern Rebecca  :)

Joys of Production

Since working with Brynn I will never look at handbags the same........

Fabric Rolls

Bins of Hardware

Every trip to the contractors is an adventure. We must have reorganized the fabric in the backroom a dozen times. It has all been a great learning experience. Now that we are going into production I  realize how important it is to keep an organized environment, not only for us but for the contractors too, and sometimes it takes more than one trip.

Another  way that  we organize the back room is bins. Since we use so much hardware we separate by bag and size. There are so many different sizes and colors that we have to make it easy to keep track. Now when doing inventory for hardware be ready for what seams like endless counting.

Hides of Leather

 Of course the signature look is leather. When getting the leather together we make sure that it is quality. One thing I do not like is when we get all the leather in, it stinks! The smell of leather is not very pleasant when it is all in one designated area. The best part is knowing everything is ordered and ready for production.

Holiday 2011 beginnings

I'm Emily, the summer design intern. I'm excited to take you behind the scenes on design related projects all summer long...from picking out fabrics and leathers to deciding on styles and sizes!

Holiday is my first collection to assist with, from ordering leather swatches to deciding on final styles to researching handbag chains. For the collection, we've selected to use a kelly green, bronze, and antique blue leather. After spending a semester abroad learning about handbag design and making my very first one, I was REALLY excited to be a part of a new "style" addition to the collection, called the "Sophie" Crossbody. I assisted Brynn with the design of "Sophie," configuring sizing, appropriate fabrics and researching the perfect chain. Going through the design process for Holiday from the beginning to starting the sample process has been such a great learning experience for me. Seeing how everything comes together to form a lovely collection of harmonizing leathers and fabrics to styles is amazing.

I will keep you posted with more as the holiday collection comes to life!

Now onto Spring...OMG!