Fashion Business Inc. Holiday Open House Social

it was free, and it would be a great opportunity to meet and mingle with some industry people. so as soon as i received an email from FBI newsletter, i signed up for this event.

although the usual california sunshine wasn't out to cheer us on today, drizzling rain gave us a fresh start of the day.
we really didn't know what to expect when we walked in, so we went straight for the wine bar, started pouring ourselves some chardonnay. as we made our way around with a *small* buzz, we felt surprised how comfortable we felt among this group.

from freshly new designers to 30-years seasoned business consultants, industry experts, technical designers, sewing contractors, pattern makers, program developers, to full of enthusiasm entrepreneurs like ourselves, all types of industry people seemed to be there. everyone we spoke to had so much to share with us as we stayed tuned in "spunge" mode.

Richard Price a.k.a. "Mr. Fashion" who consults small businesses shared with us some insights on international production, giving us a few pointers on how to get started. sharing with us some of his experiences as industry expert witness, he promised to let us come by his office, to give us even more advice of this "horrible yet best" industry.

Susana Mercedes showed off her "restoration" collection next to the Open House Social, and i got a chance to look at every single one of her $500 - $1200/ garment collection, one - by - one. her "thing" is to travel and purchase vintage clothes from thrift stores all around and restore them. lining in most cases are of course replaced, and some gi-normous ribbons would be taken off. special buttons from paris may be added, garment is re-sewed according to the shape of "today's women." No matter what anyone says, i am not a vintage girl and i refuse to wear thrift store clothes that gives me the ickies, but when i saw susana's collection i had somewhat of change of a heart... 'as long as i don't have to touch anything old,' i thought to myself. ^^

Sun Kim who represented StyleCAD introduced "the best" patternmaking software. i was pleasantly surprised due to the fact that this program was Korean made and that it is #1 in europe. i have barely learned these type of programs in school i.e. Gerber, TukaTech, but Sun assured me that StyleCAD was the most user-friendly program out there for patterns.

Michele Y.De Lozier, a really sweet lady with this really cool 60's glasses frame (literally!) works in production, making tech packs for swimwear & activewear. she seemed so genuine and sweet, she even told us to email her with questions.

Marquette, a fellow entrepreneur newbee shared with us some steps she's taking, and her design concept for her company "meandmine." we wish the best for her launch in summer 08!

We were so thankful that FBI offered such event where we could connect with other people in the industry. there were many others we didn't get to meet, but we were buzzed out and needed to get home for a nap. haha. what an eventful day it was. b & i couldn't stop chattering all the way home, discussing all the things we just learned; excited and thrilled in both of our hearts.

a new beginning... in los angeles...

"Press Releases 101: Write your own Press Releases, E-Blasts and Blog"
so after attending this class that FBI (Fashion Business Inc.) offered for $40 to members, i felt inspired enough to finally start my own blog.

it's been a little over a week since b&i finally decided to just go ahead and put the 2-full day of driving to LA behind us. since then we stopped by my parents' new place in GA to help out with the setting up of their business. although we weren't given a permission to leave yet (who knows just how much more things there are in setting up a huge auto body shop!) we got our bags together and headed out west. b must have been really anxious to get to LA; he drove straight through the night, while i just drove couple hours here & there during the daylight. i realized a bag full of empty energy drink cans later...!!

we spent a couple of wee hours in the car, parked by santa monica beach. when the bright CA morning lights woke us up, we drove to the nearest free internet cafe. (thank God for panera bread!) got on craigslist looking for places to stay for a month or 2. with no better luck, we headed out to downtown LA, a place we used to call "home" for a year while studying at FIDM. checked into stillwell hotel at $65, finally got a looong overdue shower and a looong overdue nap. we got awaken by what we realized as our growling stomachs, and a got a quick bite to eat. (oh, how we missed the korean food court, haha!)

then~ here we are finally, at a cozy single family house with 5-other people living in the house, where we greet each other by "could you pull your car out? i need to get to my car?" haha... it's really not that bad. most people seem to be pretty neat and friendly, and we even found ourselves 2 ikea desks off of craigslist, 2 chairs, and oh yeah, a brand new toshiba from walmart! ^^* ...this was a must since b gave away his desktop on the way here... in GA. but it actually turned out to be a blessing, because my parents gave us way too much $$ for it in the end.

so what the heck are we doing here in LA!!
b signed back up at the gold's gym, which used to be one of his favorite things to do when we were here last year. he's trying to get back into shape... for moi, he says? ^^* we get up pretty early in the morning, which isn't much like us at all.. but really... with the 3-hour pacific time delay, getting up at 9am is like getting up at 12pm NOON back at east! no complaints here. b is driving out to the fashion district daily, looking in amazement at how readily "available" all these fabric and trim places are. b had a difficult time even discovering these places back in good old VA... over the tele-phone... haha. i am to finalize on the fall/winter designs (soon!!) so we can finally start shopping for materials and contractors. since the whole spring/ summer line went to a complete waste due to a few fall outs *ahem* with past sample makers.

we are blessed to be here, breathing the same air (not smog) as the famous LA garment industry. God willing, we'll soon be on our way of producing, marketing, & selling!!! i just need a bit more motivation to get me going on those new designs... ^^*

here we go, The7Angels!!!