Line Development:
Bella by Airess
Over the course of the semester for my Line Development class, my team and I were tasked to create a new brand, product line, and showcase our product development process in presentation format to a panel of judges. The presentation would take the audience through the entire project from original concepts, marketing plan, and final product. The project was sponsored by Cottonworks, and the final product line needed to be a denim collection compromised of 70% cotton fiber content.
This project was massive and every member of my team worked hard to create Airess, a size inclusive contemporary womenswear brand with a luxury feel who targets an American and European consumer base. Bella is the title of our first-ever spring/summer collection, and the Italian word for beautiful. While developing this collection, our inspiration came from the feeling of vacationing through the Italian coasts and countryside. The Bella Collection by Airess is designed for anyone wanting to feel comfortable and beautiful, without losing that sense of luxury.
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My team and I worked on this project over the entire semester taking on each section at a time. The first step of the project was to do industry research, define your brand, and design 30 looks for the collection. These 30 looks were then narrowed down to 8 and became the Bella Collection. Since I am a merchandising major, I don’t have as many opportunities to do creative design work like this and I really loved getting to produce something from a design perspective.
After the looks were selected, we created a line sheet, cost sheet, and technical package with detailed information about each garment. These are the kinds of forms a brand would send to a factory to provide instructions on how to make each aspect of the design. I’ve made line and cost sheets before but this project helped me learn how to put together a tech pack, and that is something that is essential to know when working in the fashion industry.
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I completely refreshed and developed my Adobe software skills for this project. I got to work with Illustrator and Photoshop to create multiple mood boards, and was able to really refine my skills. I’m proud of myself for how quickly I picked up on some of the techniques I hadn’t practiced in a long time like making garment flats. I designed and created the dress flat featured on this page, and I also created all of the packaging designs for Airess. I used Adobe Dimensions, which I had never used before but now feel really comfortable with.
This was a extremely detail oriented project and as one of the team leaders one of my main responsibilities was to help make sure everyone had a role and was staying on track. I ended up helping in small ways to most areas of the project, which was really fun because I got to hear all of my teammates ideas and contribute my own.
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I love the final Airess slide deck my team and I produced because it truly shows the hard work we all put into it. It completely communicates the essence of Airess, and the Bella Collection with beautiful mood boards, one of which I made and included in the slideshow below, detailed sketches, and a thoughtful marketing plan. Our final presentation to the panel went really great because of how well we all knew our brand, and what we were talking about. My team and I worked great together because we all had different strengths and were able to apply them throughout the semester.
Bella, by Airess, is one of the first ever clothing collections I helped design and produce, and I love to show it off to friends, and family. The final presentation is something I will show off for a long time because I know the hard-work and energy that went into producing it. I would even go to say that this is some of my best work I created throughout my time as a Fashion Merchandising major.