Customer Profile

Chloé Grayling

Material Trends in WGSN. I found these material swatches on WGSN that were very similar to Vivienne Westwoods style - these are autumn/winter 2011.

Chloé Grayling

trend board

I have been looking into material trends for the design of our luggage and have created a trend board relating to it, so you can all get an idea about it.

Rhian Corcoran.

customer profile board

Customer profile board
I have included; what books she reads, where she eats and shops, what accessories she owns (watches, handbags) the type of magazine she works for, the events she attends, how much she earns etc etc. I can add anything so if theres anything you feel iv missed off let me know.

Charlotte W

Packaging.

As our suitcase could be bought on the Vivienne Westwood website, there would need to be some sort of packaging for the suitcase to be able to be posted in if it was needed. Therefore, I have looked into how Vivienne Westwood packages her current products. The following text is just some information i found out about the way in which Vivienne really wants the bags to be recyclable and how colour is important.

"As might be expected, the client is decisive, bold and original in its requirements, equally open and progressive in its approach. At our suggestion, Vivienne Westwood was one of the first couture houses to opt for the removal of lamination from all packaging, to ensure recyclable products whilst maintaining the paramount importance of colour consistency across a range of brands and varying from carrier bags to garment covers, swing tickets to jewellery boxes, receipt envelopes to tissue paper and the new Anglomania line."

This is a range of bag sizes currently available for Vivienne Westwood products.

All of the bags have the Vivienne Westwood orb logo on. This is definitely something we need to include on everything we create.

The lettering is also always the same on each bag. Continuing her house style, no matter what the colour of the bag actually is. 

It would be good if we could maybe get some designs created for the packaging of the suitcase as i think this would be a really important factor to consider as it is such a high end brand, every little detail needs to be considered to ensure maximum customer satisfaction.

Rhian Corcoran.

"Suitcase stickers"

Obviously our suitcase will have changeable designs that are related to fashion, trends and patterns, but I thought these suitcase stickers that are already out there were quite humourous and relate to the sort of thing we want to do with our design.

Chloe Grayling

Vivienne Westwood Characteristics

I have taken some pictures of my Vivienne Westwood bag its really old but it shows some of the key characteristics which go into one of her designs.

The interior is something which we could include for the lining of our suitcase, to add an extra element to show we have looked into every aspect of the designs and what goes in to producing them.

Neo the key elements for the design is the Orb (the metal design on the front of the bag) and the flag shaped zips. If you could include these into your designs and sketches and also the shape of the bag and the extra patches of material on the corners of the bag add extra support for wear and tear.

Charlotte Woodend

Customer Profile

This is out customer profile for us to work with. The design should be allocated against the following requirements.

Female
Single
No children
'High flying'
Business Woman
Lives in London
Aged 35-50
Magazine Editor
Earns £30k+ a year
Takes part in long and short haul journeys
Shops on King Street Manchester (Diesel, Mulberry, Whistles) and Bond Street London
Out of work she attends events such as London Fashion Week, film premiers, Art exhibitions.

Charlotte Woodend

Stripes

A similar trend is the use of stripes

Tartan is a build up of stripes and converting it into plain stripes is a clean way of doing it and effortlessly modernises it.

Charlotte Woodend

Tartan, Checks and Plaid

Since we are focusing on Vivienne Westwood she is most famous for her use of tartan and check designs. I have there researched into some trends which include this.

Planet fashion has had the Highland treatment with checks and plaids spotted on the autumn/winter '08 catwalks at Dolce & Gabbana, Preen, Ralph Lauren and Balmain to name a few.  From voluminous coats and skinny trousers to ruffled blouses and rock chick dresses, tartan has gone from traditional and country to sexy and cool.  So here at Getlippy we thought it was only fair to share our fashion know-how with you and show you how to work the trend now.

If you don't fancy wearing a plaid-led outfit then a tartan bag is a great way to add just a touch of heritage to your look.  We love this punkish tote from French Connection.

This is a trend from 2008 so we need to find a way to bring it up-to-date!

Charlotte Woodend

neofytos aristeidou

are we gonne meet tomorrow?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LApWU34o0eY

Problems Associated with Current suitcases.....

-getting things muddled up inside the main compartment, Seperate compartments.
-Orientating the luggage without it tipping
-Comfort of the handle when dragging heavy luggage
-Weight of the suitcase with weight limits in airports etc
-Keeping up with Trends without overspending.
- How the pattern is kept attached - security.
- Cost?

- Changes in trend.

Post by everyone. 

Designer vs High street

I found this website insightful and relevant to our project, It is a direct comparison of Designer bags vs Highstreet bags, it includes box clutches, shoulder bags and holdalls.

http://www.thebaglady.tv/designer_vs_hig/

It would be useful helping us decide whether we want to go down a designer or highstreet route.

Chloe Grayling.

Market level

I have looked into the range of products by jimmy choo for H&M I have then compared them to their high end designs to see how they differ to meet the price range.

The bags designed for H&M are very plain and simple, most dont have an actual design but just have 'jimmy choo' engraved onto it. The small clutches begin at aound £60 then the larger the bag become the higher the price, such as the large grey one on the first picture is £150 yet it doesnt have jimmy choo engraved onto it which highlights the design they took to be able to de-value it.

The bags designed from the high end price many include a metal badge highlighting the brand or show alot of pattern such as the fully studded bag above.

Charlotte Woodend

Vivienne Westwood

Luggage previously designed by vivienne westwood is very similar to the style of Louis Vuitton where the structure is strong and like a breifcase. Westwood have also produced laptop cases and computer covers along with weekend bags for both male and female.

We need to look at the market level we want to aim for as this is a money saving scheme i would place it at a middle market as a high end customer would happily purchase a new set of luggage every season. I would therefore keep the structure simple and not add any of Westwood known oregami effects as this would de-level the brand and be in-keeping with the price and market level.

For example The Jimmy Choo range of H&M was kept very very simple and didnt have any of the quality and high design you would see from a range from their actual store, this was to keep it within the price range as if you spend hundreds on a jimmy choo handbag you dont want to see someone with a very similar design for £60 from H&M.

I dont know if your going to understand what i mean so let me know haha!

Charlotte Woodend

Gender

Are we wanting a unisex product or a gender specific?


From personal experience i like a bag which has two straps one so it can be held on the arm and another long strap to be used when your arms are otherwise full.


For example:

I found most designs now come with this or the option to add another strap i know Mulberry do this is most of their bags, so we could look into their designs and how they are fashionable yet cater for this.


The interior is also imporant, i like a bag to almost be an organiser in itself, with numerous compartments so i know exactly where everything is without having to route to the bottom.


I think especially for women security is essential! A popular locking system is the postmans lock:

Alternatively there are similar locking systems which provide the same security whilst adding style:

Here you lose the hassle of a zip, which regulary get jammed or become stiff over time. The idea of using a flap over the inner compartment emphasises the sense of security.


We could take the idea towards a working mum where a simple yet effective bag is essential, the school run, the food shop and the days out. Often a mothers mind is not always on the whereabouts of her bag but when she is distracted by her children this causes easy access for someone to steal from the bag, even when it is on the shoulder. Also a mother doesnt have time to be routing to the bottom of her bag to find her lipstick so the organisation within the bag would be essential!


Charlotte Woodend

Vivienne Westwood

Vivienne Westwood is an extremely popular high end brand, with a range of products and a range of prices making it obtainable to a lot of people.. 

I have looked into the accesories that Westwood produces and although there are a selection of handbags and purses, there is nothing relating to travel suitcases, or more hardwearing luggage.. This could be a gap in the market for us...

After looking into her Westwoods range of bags, it is clear that there is currently a distinct pattern that she uses, which makes her luggage recognisable to people interested in fashion and the brand etc..

However, as with most brands, going in and out of each season, a lot of the patterns that are used change colours, or change totally.. which can be seen on the following pictures..

These are bags taken from a couple of seasons ago.. so we can see how the pattern has been totally changed.. i think that we could possibly use this to our advantage as a major selling point of our product?

We could create a suitcase type of luggage piece, Possibly made out of something hardwearing, but that allows for interchangeable covers.. Maybe an outer layer of plastic, with the actual pattern underneath, that can be removed or changed.. And with each season, we could sell new patterns which go with the patterns being used on the current seasons clothing etc...Therefore, the luggage is timeless and its giving the customer a constant, current link to the brand, without costing them thousands of pounds..

How do people feel about this idea?

Rhian.

Product.

We need to decide whether we want to go down the route of everyday luggage, for getting to a to b and carrying the essentials.. or whether we want a piece of luggage thats meant for something specific like sport.. or even more of a suitcase type of product.
Maybe think about luggage that we already own and if there are any improvements we think they could do with, or anything we would want in a bag that we've never found...


Rhian.

SAMSONITE.

I thought it would be good to look into an existing luggage brand, just to get an idea about their product, the materials used etc... so http://www.samsonite.co.uk/shop-en.htm is the site i have looked at...
it has loads of different types of luggage and materials etc.. so take a look on their and see if we can get any ideas from this..


Rhian.

Initial Ideas

We began our research by looking into brands which DON'T already produce a range of luggage. We did this as we wanted to being something new and unique to a brand, such as Louis Vuitton are very well known for their range of luxury luggage so repeating this would not be exciting.


Coolhunter Show a range of cleaning products produced by Burberry as a one off experiment, along with the fast food packaging designed for Fashion Week.




Charlotte Woodend