March 6, 2013
Latest Part of Series Published in kweejibo stories, December 2012
(Return to May 2012, for First part of the Series, published every month)
the story of Cho's kweejibo clothing co., a men's shirtmaker and shop, all locally manufactured, copyright March 2012
articles author art journal museum gallery exhibit Book Murakami south east Asia Bangkok crafts ceramics clothing designer film review movie director actress
"working monkey puzzle"
Actually, we do more than play music...
we work out many precise details.
men's clothing does not provide the diversity in different cuts of garments every season that the feminine counterpart provides.
this diversity in style and cut is a large part of what makes women's design so untenable for us. the production of a men's line is so eminently practical. Alice and Lucy, the two sewing contractors are eminently practical women. their words form a repetition that takes time for me to take in as advice : make only a few cuts or styles, and make them in many different fabrics. let the fabrics be the diversity. people do not notice that we are making the same style repeatedly in menswear. manufacturing men's shirts lend itself automatically to this new efficiency.
the practicality is involved in the cutting of garments. with each style, each shirt, the cutter lays down all the fabrics, one layer on top of the next. then he lays down the marker on the very top over all the layers of fabric. there is one marker for each garment or style. this marker is a template of each piece of the shirt: back, front pieces, sleeves, collar, cuffs, and so forth. the marker is a huge rectangular paper layout, with each pattern piece copied precisely, each piece fitting in together like a giant puzzle, in order to make the most of every usable inch of fabric. he cuts all the cuffs for a shirt, in all its fabric incarnations, all in one precise undertaking. and so follows, for each part of a shirt. we would have one shirt style in twenty fabrics, each fabric made into possibly six actual shirts each :
one small
two medium
two large
one x-large
= six items per fabric
one hundred twenty shirts in one cut, twenty fabrics, six items of each. Our orders range from one hundred to four hundred per week.
for women's clothing, you need variety. women are accustomed to more style choices in the presentation of a line. they are fickle. and to add to the difficulty, women are exquisitely particular about fabric. if I want to make a skirt, so many of the good fabric choices we find are already being done by some other company.
when I make a skirt order for my contractor to sew, i come up with only five good choices, as opposed to twenty, thirty choices for men, per style. each fabric, maybe only four items each for a skirt; why only four? once again, women have so many choices; it's better to make less of each thing.
one small
two medium
one large
=four items per fabric
all this equals to only twenty items in one cut: four items in each of five fabrics. twenty items as opposed to a minimum of one hundred twenty in a men's cut. math and money.
each cut takes the same amount of time, almost the same amount of time to cut twenty as it takes to cut one hundred twenty.
each cut is a big project, assembling the needed fabrics, laying them out carefully perfectly, without a bump, then laying the marker on top. finally, the cutter goes to work with a machine that cuts through fabric piled over a yard high. comparable to extreme precision hedge sculpture, with an added precision necessity to the nth degree.
and why at least twenty, sometimes thirty, forty fabrics for men, in one shirt? men are excited by our fabrics, they are not used to all the choices, especially in novelties, velours, silks, even upholstery fabrics. at this time, no one else is doing it.
women's bodies are more complicated. each size is more difficult to work out in the pattern-making process, due to all those curves women possess. i become acquainted with many small designers who specialize in one group of sizes, who have to chose what kind of body of woman they will sell to; each small and sometimes large company is specialized, they must chose their customer. at this time, one men's company could work for all men, all ages, twenty or sixty. we got it all covered.
women's styles are complicated and innumerable in variety and ever-changing from month to month. women have so many choices and have grown unconsciously to expect more. many women do not go to one or two places to shop. they choose one designer who is good at this, one designer who is good at that..and so on and so on. men can be happy to only go to one place.
i learn to take and execute good advice. i have to sort through so much input. when one has a small business, everybody wants to give it. but my friend Scott Marcus gives the best advice. he is funny and talks in a manner even snappier than his car, has an expense account for designing his office, for his travels, etc. he works at Twentieth Century Fox Studios which permits him to work with celebrities i have actually heard of, due to clever and witty presentation, as well as his amusing presence.
he is is the only person to say, "you should do clothing for men! contrary to popular opinion, guys love to shop! people just don't know it yet...if guys had a good place to go, they would be so loyal! they have nowhere to shop, women have everything! women are too fickle because they have all the choices!" and he gives excellent marketing encouragement, stating that selling in a semi-tough neighborhood, drug dealers, street people and all, is good sales. "makes men feel tough" he says.
everyone else i know either thinks i am crazy to do this men's thing or is indifferent to the idea. even the ever-practical Alice who should love cutting the simple fewer styles, is bemused by all these men's shirts in velvet, satin, lace.