FABRIC BUYING TRIP 4
DAY 4:
I never thought Thursday could ever be better than today. Today I only need to buy zippers and buttons. We were ahead of the others that when we entered the YKK zipper store in Sam Shui Po, there were only 3 of us. I was quite at ease because I had made a list of how many invisible or normal zippers of each color that I needed. It was much easier to show the seller the list instead of telling them what I needed because they can’t speak English very well. The button store was another story though. The seller can speak English quite well so buying buttons was not a problem. Afterwards, we went looking for leather thread for 2 of my friends and I was grateful I tagged along because I got to visit a store which sells buckles and the biggest sewing tools supplier store around there. I bought a 60 cm ruler only for 16 HKD, which is around 3 SGD.
In the afternoon, we visited the YKK supplier store in Kwun Tong. We stayed there only for 30 minutes before going to the Wool Factory presentation. In my opinion, this store is meant for those who already have their own retail brands and would order zippers in bulk. The Woolmark Factory presentation was quite interesting though. It opened up a new perspective for us about wool. Wool can now be used as a sportswear; in fact, Adidas had worked together with Woolmark to make their sportswear. Wool is proven to be able to balance the temperature of the wearer’s body during sports. Woolmark has also been improving the texture of wool to be softer and softer until it almost feels like cotton. They had also made a waterproof jacket from wool. Their major wool farm for apparel is in Australia. Although New Zealand also produces a lot of wool, wools from New Zealand’s sheep are mostly used for furniture because they have rougher texture. We were given samples (allowed to touch) of the first stage of wool (exactly cut from sheep, before processing) until the final stage (clean processed wool). I did not stay long for the presentation however because my friend was very ill (food poisoned) and asked me to accompany her to go back to the hotel.
WHAT I LEARNED FROM FABRIC BUYING TRIP
I realized sourcing fabric is not as simple as I first thought. The silver fabric from Wa Fat that I bought last, was because I couldn’t find any other polyester fabric. I was looking for polyester fabric because I wanted to use print and laser cut as my collection details. When I found the exact weight of polyester fabric, the color is always off, when the color was right, it was not polyester. I was frustrated and even thought of ordering fabric. My only concern of ordering fabric is if they do not have the stock and I wouldn’t have enough time to replace the fabric. My fear was not without proof,. My friend ordered a fur and was promised of its arrival two days later, but found out two days later that there was no stock for that particular color; she went crazy looking for the replacement then. In the end I choose that silver lightweight fabric because it drapes really well and would look really good if I embroider or draw on it (yes, I quickly thought of changing the print and laser cut to either embroidery or hand drawn pattern). Another lesson I learn from this trip is to not trust whatever the seller said. I was almost tricked twice. Once when the seller said it was pure silk, but when I burn tested it, it was a polyester blend, and second when the seller said it was polyester but when I burn tested it, it was pure cotton. In the end, I realize when I have to make a collection, every little detail, until trimmings, buttons and threads have to be carefully picked, because when you have the final line up of every fabrics and trimmings and buttons on each design, only by then you can say, “that is it, that is my collection”.