Happenings in the studio
Sketches by Nalini Arora
It’s been a very long time since I’ve posted on the blog. Wow, the last 30 days have been insanely busy with work. I want to say that since February of this year, it’s been pretty intense with projects.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, and feel very grateful for the work. I’ve been working on some pretty amazing projects and am super excited of when these projects land in the marketplace.
I wanted to share what’s trending in the studio.
Request for Eco-leathers: It’s a must for every client to have the option of a chrome free leather or some type of green leather. I’ve been spending a lot of time sourcing eco leathers from Portugal, Brazil, Italy, and anywhere that a client is specifically looking to source for their product line. Most tanneries are offering eco options.
Luxury product offerings: More and more brands area leaning towards luxury. The concern is products that have a longer life span. Trend driven shoes and accessories are less of a request these days. Products at lower price points are slowing down.
Direct to consumer is a strong model. The desire to sell wholesale is secondary, and the focus is for brands to be in control of their product. Most importantly, to be in control of their brand story, marketing, and not having their product go on sale so quickly.
Vegan and plant-based materials has been on the decline. The request for plant based and vegan has decreased compared to earlier this year. Maybe it’s the clients I’m working with or it’s temporarily. Brands are definitely interested but when they hear about the price point or the minimums then there is a bit of a push back, and resort to leather UNLESS their story is vegan, or plant based.
Multi use packaging: Clients are pushing back on boxes as packaging. The need for packaging that has multi use has been key. It’s been exciting to design new packaging for shoes with brands, and with lots of recyclable and sustainable components.
I can go on and on, but I’ll stop here. I think this could be a great little series of sharing what’s been trending in the studio. What do you think? Would you like to hear what the design studio is working on?