by Purba | Sep 12, 2021 | Shout out |
As Bangladesh is emerging with a booming Textile Industry, Fashion Design turns out to be a sector for the future. A lot of Fashion Designers are emerging in our country from different Textile & Fashion institutions. As an organization of fashion & Innovation, Fashionnovation is working with the prospect of this sector. Our team talked with Fashion Designer Suravi Jahanara who is currently working as a Chief Designer in a German Company named Colombus textilvertrieb GmbH. In the interview, she talked about her journey, the current scenario of fashion designers and also their earning. (This interview is a part of our ‘Interview fashion designer’ project.)
Fashionnovation: Working as a Chief Designer in a German company, can you share your professional experience as a fashion designer from the beginning?
Suravi Jahanara:
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- After finishing my graduation (Hons.) Fashion Design & Technology, I joined in H&M as production intern. My internship was with the merchandising team. I was assigned in the denim team and my main job focus was order follow up and execution and other relative works.
- subsequently to my internship I joined in a factory called Concorde Garments Ltd as 3D technologist. This factory specialized in woven shirts worked with the buying house PVH and their iconic brands like arrow, Izod etc. I was responsible for developing 3D fit samples. Additionally, I was a support to their design team.
- In 2018 I joined again in H&M as Researcher & Developer in the ladies knit division both Jersey and Sweater. Main focus for this job was to develop material and develop the suppliers according to H&M buying preferences.
- Currently I am a chief designer in German Liaison buying house. Main job focus is to offer customers designs according to their brand images. From initial development to surface decoration and preparing Spec sheet for the final orders.
Fashionnovation: You’re currently working at Colombus Textilvertrieb GmbH, can you briefly describe the structure of ‘DPD- Design and Product Development’ of your company?
Suravi Jahanara:
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- This company’s values pretty simple and straight forward. They prefer quality over quantity. So, product quantity is not as much as other buying houses and they are also very limited people specializing for each brand or customers. The main office is located in Germany where they have another designer responsible for German region. And me; responsible for Bangladesh region. Each of us handles different product category solely.
Fashionnovation: What is the salary scale of Fashion designers in both the Textile Industry & multinational companies?
Suravi Jahanara:
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- Prior to the covid situation salary structure was different. In traditional sense, the structure really varies from company to company and it is also based on the experiences and negotiation.
- First of all; not a lot of companies in both textile industry and in multinational companies hires designers. The pool for designers is really limited. And compared to factory, multinational companies offer additional plans such as tax, medical insurance, provident fund, yearly increments etc. For factories it is the salary only.
so basically, there is no guarantee which is better, really depends on what sort deal you are settling for.
Fashionnovation: There is a conventional idea about Bangladeshi Industry that most of the design of our RMG comes from foreign countries. So, our question is that what is the current working process of DPD in Bangladesh?
Suravi Jahanara:
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- Yes, most the design comes from foreign countries. In BD, the DPD is more focused on production friendly options rather than experimenting. Even though the trend is same for all the fashion followers but for each brand they want to see different options according to brand profile. What that mean is to see different interpretation of the same concepts. But in BD it is a common notion that R&D is waste of resources. In my personal opinion this notion has stopped BD designers to think outside the box. So, they develop products based on whatever leftover of the material they have input/output creating authentic designs. Whereas other countries they do not compromises on their designs.
Fashionnovation: Currently, there is a lot of Fashion House (Such as Aarong, Yellow etc.) emerging in Bangladesh. What are the technical differences between the Industrial design department & designers of these Fashion houses?
Suravi Jahanara:
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- Since I have not personally worked in any of the local brands so my answers will not be very specific. But there is a huge difference. For the fashion houses, market researching is a blank space. As a consumer of these brands, we are not offered much different options specially in terms of materials. They are all very common fabric that we have been using for decades. It is just different cuts and prints. The working procedure is very basic. Buy the material locally available and affordable mostly from Islampur, then make something out of it. The only variation is on the surface decoration, patterns and color palettes.
You can also read Fashionnovation Your Mentor Talks’ First Episode with Ms. Ummey Hani Barsha
Fashionnovation: What is the salary scale of Designers working in the Fashion House?
Suravi Jahanara:
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- Depends on the organization policy and experiences. Brands like Aarong or Yellow offers good salary due to under big organization. But other local brands offer much less compared to textile industries and multinational companies.
Fashionnovation: There is a lot of Designers who work as Freelancer. Can you describe their work field and earnings?
Suravi Jahanara:
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- A freelancer could earn money in so many possible ways. The rate can be hourly or as a package depending on the volume of the work. If he/she only developing prints or AOP the rate would be different. If the designer is creating a seasonal collection the rate would be different. The designer could be asked to develop brand logo designs or label designs. It’s all in the negotiation. The drawback of freelancing is that the payment is never constant and sometimes the buyers are reluctant towards payment.
Interview Conducted By,
Shariful Islam Akash & Sabiha Moon Taha
Department of Textile Fashion & Design
Bangladesh University of Textiles
As you seem to be both tech savvy and fashionista, you will enjoy our premium article on Textile in space: Flying up to reach the stars! This is the second chapter of the article!
To know the biggest fashion trends of 21st century, you can visit here! Moreover, if you want to know the future of fashion industry after Covid-19, you can click here!
And if you want to read one of our premium case studies on Fast Fashion Vs Slow Fashion, you can go here!
Fast Fashion Vs Slow Fashion: A Case Study
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National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Hyderabad, A Heaven for The Fashion Learners
by Purba | Sep 29, 2020 | Academic |
A saying goes that, nature is not only all that is visible to the eye- inner pictures of the soul is also included where color psychology meaning is paramount. The proper definition of color from this may be found! Many people think that color is just a matter of how things look like. But scientifically, it is the first thing humans register when we are see anything and color psychology is a key to unlock the door to all the feelings that we assign for each color. For example: if a fly is black, we won’t get irritated that much but if it is with yellow stripes, our brain will register it as a threat. This psychological factors have led us to build color psychology meaning, chart and sometimes color psychology tests.
The way we perceive the whole world from our own perspective is the area of color psychology. Color affects a lot of things like: perception, moods, nature etc.
Some colors have different impacts based on different types of people, gender, geography, culture, etc. factors. The fondness of color is relative. A person may find Red as a great color while other can find it as the opposite. Some may see it as friendly, loving and stimulating, on the other hand, some may find it as aggressive.
Normally color psychology relies on six basic principles:
- Specific meaning.
- The meaning can be either based on learned meaning or intuitive meaning.
- Evaluation is caused automatically by the person perceiving.
- Color-motivated behaviors are forced by evolution.
- Color can influence humans automatically.
- Context is a very important aspect here.
Properties related to color psychology:
We ponder if we all see colors the same. The answer Is negative. In color psychology it doesn’t matter what we think we are looking at; actually the effect of colors on us is caused by their energy entering our bodies. Even color-blind people are also inclusive to color psychology!
Color affects our emotions and behavior. Our reactions to colors are led by a combination of many factors such as: biological, physiological, psychological, social and cultural factors.
An excellent example of executive for a paint company can be stated here. He received complaints from workers who work in an office which he painted in blue. The officers said that the office was too cold. After that incident when the offices were painted with a warm color, the complaints ended suddently even though the temperature was same! Isn’t it amazing? This phenomenon happened just because of color psychology.
Each and every color has potentially positive or negative psychological effects and the effects depend on the relationships within color combinations.
The psychological properties of the basic colors are given below:
1.RED
Positive aspects: Physical courage and strength, warmth, energy , ‘fight or flight’ signal, excitement.
Negative aspects: Aggression, visual impact and strain.
Being the longest wavelength, red is a very powerful color. It appears to be nearer
than it is. Hence its effectiveness in traffic lights has made it accepted by the whole world.
2.Blue or “Color psychology blue”
(because this is the keyword people search for most. Fashionnovation team knows that. Muhaha! Helping you to find it more easily! Another use of psychology for the benefit of human kind!)
Positive aspects: Intelligence, communication, trust, coolness, reflection, calm.
Negative aspects: Coldness, lack of emotion, unfriendliness.
Blue is perceived as a soothing color; it affects us mentally, rather than the physical reaction we have on red. According to research, blue is the world’s favorite color though it is sometimes perceived as cold, and unemotional.
3.Yellow
Positive aspects: Optimism, confidence, friendliness, creativity.
Negative aspects: Irrationality, fear, anxiety
Yellow is the color of confidence and optimism. But too much of its use or the wrong tone in relation to the other tones in a color scheme can result in self-esteem fluctuation and give rise to anxiety.
4. Green (Color psychology green)
Positive aspects: Nature, fertility, harmony, balance, refreshment, peace and equilibrium
Negative aspects: Boredom, stagnation
Being in the center of the color spectrum, it resonates balance. When the world around us contains plenty of green, this indicates safety of life. It also indicates presence of water and little danger of famine. If incorrectly used, it can be perceived as boring.
5. Violet
Positive: Containment, vision, luxury, quality.
Negative: Suppression, oppression and inferiority.
The shortest wavelength in the color spectrum is violet, also known as purple. This color encourages deep contemplation. This color expresses royalty. Again wrong tone of violet can indicate cheapness.
6. Orange
Positive: Physical comfort, warmth, sensuality, fun and passion.
Negative: Frustration, immaturity.
The color orange is stimulating and which combinines the physical and the emotional aspects. It focuses on issues like physical comfort. On the other hand, it can focus on the exact opposite – deprivation if negatively used.
7. Pink
Positive aspects: Peace, warmth, femininity and love
Negative aspects: Emotional claustrophobia, physical weakness.
Being a tint of red, pink affects us physically and its soothing, rather than stimulating. Too much pink can be somewhat emasculating. That’s why it’s not so common in men’s wear.
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Grey
Positive aspects: Neutrality.
Negative aspects: Lack of confidence, dampness and lack of energy.
Pure grey is the only color that has no direct psychological properties that’s why it is called neutral. However, it’s quite suppressive. Too much use of grey usually indicates a lack of confidence.
9. Black
Positive aspects: Security, emotional safety, efficiency, substance.
Negative aspects: Coldness, menace, heaviness.
Black is all colors totally absorbed. Black creates protective barriers, as it absorbs all the energy coming towards the black dress wearer. It creates a perception of weight and seriousness. It can be menacing to many people as black is the absence of light. That’s why many people are afraid of the dark.
10. White
Positive aspects: Hygiene, clarity, purity, simplicity.
Negative aspects: Sterility, coldness, barriers, unfriendliness
White is total reflection opposite to black. White is purity and uncompromising. it denotes hygiene and sterility.
11. Brown
Positive aspects: Warmth, nature, earthiness, reliability
Negative aspects: Lack of humor, heaviness
Brown usually consists of red and yellow, with a large percentage of black in it. It has associations with the earth and the natural world and so it reminds us about earth.
The significance of color psychology in fashion world:
Color is a major element of fashion design. In fashion, color is one of the most effective tools to attract the customers. Psychologists saythat color impression can be responsible for 60% of the acceptance or rejection of a product. Different cultures have different symbolic meanings of colors. For example, white is the color for weddings in western societies where white is worn by widows in the South East Asian countries. So fashion designers must consider the color, focus on consumers preference for color, shade, style, patterns and the psychological effect of those colors. Designers must apply color psychological effect in fashion planning and designing, developing their planned products and marketing them.
Nobody can deny that color is the first thing that people notice. The color of your dress defines your first impression. To be a good fashion designer, you should have all basic ideas about color psychology & its meaning. We can study color meanings to grow up our company strategy & connect to ideal customers. If we use our knowledge of color psychology well, we will enjoy massive success in our business, career & personal life. So not only as a fashion designer but also a human being, we should be aware of color psychology.
Related article:
Color forecasting in fashion
Tanvir Ahamed Fahad Department of Textile Fashion and Design, Bangladesh University of Textiles,
Batch-44
