Brian Patrick Apparel - where in the game am I? Well I have about one hundred and ten things I have to get done in such little time. Right now I have 14 designs complete, but that's not good enough. My good friend Mitch is in his last year finishing his masters in Fashion Merchandising, and he is the one I am turning to for help when needed. He's been helping me since day one - back in March of 08. Mitch wants me to get at least 30 designs together, but he said to aim for 50. Then we're going to narrow it down to 20 and go through with those for my first release. I just got my American Apparel wholesale account set up, which confirms that my t-shirts will be printed on American Apparel. Mitch and I worked together for a long time today and we got a lot done. I am questioning if I still want this to be my solo-project, or if I want to add a few more hands to the team to help around. It sure would make things move a lot faster - but at the same time I really do want to be able to turn around once I am done with this all and say I've done it all by myself...
The plan right now is to release May 16th with a Fashion Show, and the online store opening the following day, May 17th. Due to how much money things are adding up to, the little space I have, and time - I'm becoming a little nervous. Honestly, if things aren't perfect - then I will not under any circumstances release my clothing. I'd rather have things come out the right way and nicely, then rushed and sloppy. With all of this being said, if I do not make progress and start getting things together sooner - the release will be pushed back to early September 09. I've already told a few people about this and each and everyone of them asked me why... Well if I don't have things completed by late May - I probably would need about another month or so. Come June I will probably not be all over BPA (Brian Patrick Apparel to the new kids) due to Finals, but then July will roll around and I will be able to work on it some more, but then come August and I am going to London for two weeks. That will leave me with a few weeks left to finish finishing touches, and then September rolls around and I should be good. Again, this is only if I can't get my shit together in time for the original release
A few of you actually follow up on this whole thing, and often times will ask me about how the line is going which makes me really happy to know that people are actually interested! That's what makes me know this is all worth while. A lot of you also keep asking to see my designs, which I would love to do, but if I show some stuff to even a few people, others will want to see them as well, and before you know it - there will be no point in a release show. I hope to have previews up in early March! More information on that to come...
A lot of you also ask to visit my "studio". That actually can be arranged - but I'm only there about twice a month. My uncle was generous enough to allow me to have my own room in his apartment in the upper east side of Manhattan. I call it my studio because it's where I keep all of my supplies, mannequins, my two sewing machines, most of my drafts for my designs, etc. It's just hard to have people come visit for several reasons. For one, I only get down to the place twice a month, IF THAT, and when I am there I am usually working so hard to get in as much as possible because of how rare it is that I actually get to visit the place.
Mitch and I tried to track down the reasons this whole process is taking so long and honestly, one of the main reasons is because I am in my studio maybe twice a month, aka I get like no time to work on my stuff. I am currently looking for a place to rent that's closer. Right now I am looking at this small studio right in the town that I live in. It's right near Starbucks and this place I often go to for sushi so it would actually work out great... It's too complicated at the moment to buy - but it's been open for rent since August and no one has really looked at it, so hopefully if I hold off for now, it will still be available to rent down the road... say March. It wouldn't be like a store - it would just be a place for me to get my work done and completed. It would also take care of not having to deal with so many bloody packages coming to my front door and mum screaming for me to go get them...
Okay well, it's getting late and I have a lot of laundry to do and I want to get some reading done... I'm reading Choke - Chuck Palahniuk. It's really good - I'll post about it when I finish. Check back tomorrow or later in the week for more posts for updates - I'm going to probably post some different colours for t-shirts and I want you guys to give me your input for which colours you like/would wear.
OH yeah! And I'm sorry there are no pictures to go with this post (with the exception of the two from New Years), I have no excuse either! I got my Nikon D80 finally this past Christmas - but I promise for more pictures and not so much text for future posts!
Goodbye!
(where's the good in a goodbye?)
new years eve 2008
