Saturday, February 27, 2010
My Second/Third Week in NYC
Journal Week Three By: Britany Ruby
When I first walked into the office of Restore clothing office my first thought was this was where did the name come from? All I saw was moose heads and athletic wear, and I had no idea what was being restored. Once I met the owner Anthony it didn’t take me long to figure it out; RESTORE stands for Responsible, Earth Friendly, Sustainable, Technological, Organic, Recycled, and Ergonomic. This company is a strong representation of what being green is really like from the clothing to the way the office works. I thought it was very interesting to see that the owner cares about his environment in has daily life; he eats organic, reuses plastic cups, and uses all organic and recycled fabric in his clothes. Anthony showed us a $50 t-shirt that truly felt like the best shirt you’ll ever wear showed me what true organic cotton feels like. Yes, it was just a plain white shirt but it was made well from high quality fabrics, and from high quality organic fibers. Once I realized that this shirt was better than any other white t-shirt I’d ever own and would probably last much longer, I knew that I would have to make this my first investment purchase. For $50-$60 I can just buy one white t-shirt instead of the 5 or 6 I run through a year and that is definitely worth it.
After we left the Restore Clothing office where all the ideas are made, we went to see how the rest of the process is done. We went to a building down the street where the patterns are cut, we got to walk around the offices and see the patternmakers at work. Then we got to walk back down the street to another building where the garments are actually sewn together, it was really cool to see all of these women working on different parts of the garment like an assembly line. I also loved that all of the different buildings were on the same street about a five minute walk from each other. I appreciate that Restore is keeping business in New York and helping to build the economy. After my walk around the garment making process, I truly appreciated all the work that designers go through to manufacture clothing. I also can’t wait to buy my first item by Restore clothing.
...I also did some exploring outside of class....found a few restaurants I like, and of course great shopping!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Check Me Out!!
My first week in the big apple....
Week One-First week in the city
After moving in and trying to learn my way around the city, I started my week off with a short internship at the Texworld trade show. While it was interesting to see all the beautiful pieces of fabric the trade show had to offer, I actually found the entire experience pretty boring. I spent both days of my internship, standing around guarding a trend display, which is as easy as it sounds. The rest of the week I was looking for a challenge.
In my first day of the study tour class, we got a chance to see real high class shopping first hand by going to Madison Avenue, we started in Barney’s and went to all nine floors. I was really amazed by the variety of clothing Barney’s had, every time you stepped onto a new floor, it was like walking into a different store or showroom. I plan on going back to Barney’s to buy me at least one investment piece before I leave. After Barney’s went window shopping for accessories’; we stopped in Ivanna Trump’s jewelry store and tried on some beautiful diamond rings, while also doing a little networking with the sales associates. Then we went to Chanel, which was a learning experience in itself. We learned that only the Chanel costume jewelry has the double C’s on it, we also learned that Chanel has symbolic pieces like her Camelia flower. We also went to Donna Karen and Giuseppi Zanotti shoes, this day of shopping made me fall in love with fashion all over again!
To end my week, I started my internship at SELF magazine, found a really cool and pocket friendly diner in the NYU area, got lost on the subway, and had a beautiful dinner with my friends at the VIEW restaurant. I can’t wait for my adventures this week.