Nothing is Boring episode 3! [subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn or Google Play]
Today's guest is Szeki Chan, designer, and owner of 7115 by Szeki, a low-volume vertically-integrated clothing company.
7115 has a manufacturing facility in Guangzhou with a full-time staff of technicians and craftspeople producing their clothing and housewares year-round, as well as two retail locations here in NYC, and yet produces pieces in small runs at relatively low cost to the customer.
As owner and designer for the brand, Szeki is responsible for forecasting, designing, manufacturing supervision, retail merchandising, customer support, and everything in between.
This conversation ended up being a mix of technical details around materials and construction with quite a bit about the flow of information — up and down the chain, from retail customers to production and back, and how the company iterates on its design and manufacturing process to take that feedback into account.
“Every part of the detail we put into the clothes are part of the design - it’s not just about the look and feel of it but also how is it being constructed and how much is going to cost to construct and how much is the cost of fabric and how long is it going to last the person — and all of these - of course there’s no algorithm, you know - you plug it in — it just all comes from experience. The number one thing would be to me - the most valuable thing is to understand your customer … how do they usually justify a purchase? ”
All images courtesy of 7115 by Szeki.