With all the attention the wildly popular Lirika Matoshi ~*~strawberry dress~*~ is getting on here lately, I have seen some REALLY REALLY bad takes regarding what is “reasonable” to charge for a piece of clothing.

In a single thread I have seen Many users echoing the idea that charging $500 dollars for a garment is “theft”... which is a very loaded statement. For a lot of reasons. Even worse is this sentiment coming from people who practice other forms of art and design!!!

I happen to have a BFA in fashion design, so with that said, a thread on what really goes into fashion, and why some things (rightfully) cost so much:

As with any other form of art, there are multiple steps that go into completing a garment. Your clothing does not appear fully-formed from the ether, regardless of whether it’s mass-produced or a luxury designer piece. With the rise of overseas manufacturing and mass production,

it is MUCH rarer to have people who still know how to “hand-make” their own clothing. Making your own clothes was incredibly commonplace just a few decades ago, and now we have generations of folks who can’t even reattach a damn button. So I’m not surprised there’s a lot of

misconceived notions about the nature of clothing production.

So let’s break down the steps from the very beginning...

1. Sketching. As with other forms of art, there’s a lot of brainstorming involved in the early stages of creating a piece. Like other forms of design, fashion designers start with a broad concept and produce numerous thumbnail sketches to refine the idea. While some may

occasionally have a solid vision of EXACTLY what they want the finished garment to look like from the get-go, it’s.... not common. Personally, I feel all my best designs have come after hours of ideating and refining! So there’s a decent amount of time spent in just

the conception stage alone.

Once the design is finalized, we move onto step 2.

2. Pattern drafting. This is where the final 2D sketch is broken down into 2D pieces that, when assembled, become your 3D garment. There are a couple of ways this is typically done:

-flat pattern drafting, where your “building block” patterns (called slopers) are traced off and manipulated in particular ways to create the final design. There are often multiple steps/trace-offs needed to manipulate the basic pattern into the final piece, particularly in

garments that have a lot of visual interest that comes from the construction techniques!

-or, depending on the type of garment, draping may be preferable. Draping involves taking fabric that mimics the final fashion fabric, pinning it to a dress form, and making marks and

manipulations by hand. In this case, pattern pieces made through draping will need to be transferred to paper by tracing off so that they can be refined for the next step.

Which brings us to part 3: creating a mock-up. Mockups are used to test both for final fit as well as

any issues that may come about in construction. Mock-ups differ from samples in that they are not made from the final fashion fabric, but rather a cheaper material that mimics the weight and behavior of the final textile.

Once the mock-up in finalized and any necessary

revisions have been made to the pattern, we continue onto the next step!

4: Pattern grading. Assuming the final piece being produced is not being offered in just a single size, patterns need to be graded to fit a range of sizes. EVERY PIECE gets sizing adjustments in order to

maintain the correct fit and proportions across a range of sizes. Assuming the base pattern was a size M, this means the pattern will likely need to be adjust FOUR TIMES!!! over to complete the size range from XS-XL.

While it is possible to digitize your base pattern and have

a drafting software grade the pieces automatically for you, this step still.... wait for it..... takes time.

With all the pattern pieces created, we can move onto sewing now right???

WRONG. If a garment is going to be manufactured, you need to create a file with all the specs

and instructions for completion. You cannot just drop fabric, notions, and pattern pieces into the hands of multiple workers and expect the end result to be consistent, which is why we have step 5: creating the tech pack. The tech pack has specifications for every aspect of

the garment construction, to designating the notions used, what spot they are used in, seam allowance, top stitching locations, stitch width, thread color... the whole shebang. If there are multiple colorways for a garment, you need to have a spec list for each one.

In most industry settings, the designer does not create the tech pack. It becomes assistant designer work. For a lot of famous designer brands, the designer is probably not doing any of the pattern work either! With additional hands come additional wages, which for

larger, globally renowned brands with tons of revenue from things that aren’t garments isn’t an issue. But for a small independent designer, paying yourself and your workers a livable wage will mean a higher price on the final product. Unless of course something shady is

happening to keep costs low, like actual theft in the form of reduced wages for highly skilled work.

Which brings me to step 6: actually making the garment! If you remember up thread, I put “hand-made” clothing in quotations. This is for a reason.

All clothing is hand made.

I will repeat, for emphasis. ALL CLOTHING IS HAND MADE.

In other art forms, “hand made” has become synonymous with “one of a kind.” When we think hand made, we think of something that has unique charm because no two produced will ever be alike. And while this is the case for

some garments (think upcycling, home screen printing) it is important to remember that there is no magic machine that cranks out a finished piece.

Every T-shirt, sneaker, and bag you own has to be assembled on a sewing machine by a team of real human beings. The reason that

factory-produced garments have that clean, uniform look is that the workers making them are highly skilled! Garment construction is not a creative talents, it is a learned technical skill. And because we don’t see it, we don’t value it.

The reason most mass-produced,

fast-fashion garments can be sold at such a low price to consumers is because the ACTUAL theft taking place here is in the factory workers wages. Depending on the country of production, some wages for these factory workers are as low as $26........ a month.

THAT is the theft that people need to be outraged about.

Back to the strawberry dress and Lirika Matoshi: her own website states that she and her sister created the factories that employs her garment construction workers. One is based in the US, which means our minimum wage

laws have to be adhered to. I HOPE that her employees are making more than that though, bc as we have already established, this stuff takes a lot of skill.

So let’s review what has gone into producing this dress that everyone wants:
-likely hours of designing
-hours of pattern drafting
-hours spent digitizing
-base material costs
-hours of outsourced labor

Assuming that everyone involved in the process makes at least minimum

wage, if not higher for a LIVABLE wage, the designer herself is very likely not turning a large profit margin on these to begin with.

Which brings me to the last point of this thread: DONT FUCKIN BUY REPLICAS BASED ON INDEPENDENT ARTISTS WORK!!!!!!

In the US, clothing designs ARE NOT PROTECTED under copyright law. Clothing is considered utilitarian. Yes, even the luxury stuff.

This means that Ms. Matoshi can’t do a damn thing about the knockoffs being made based on her work, especially since they are also likely being

produced overseas, where the waters are even murkier! The ethics of art theft (which people seem to hate for 2D works but permiss for clothing.... hmm) aside, remember those points about factory wages? Your $40 Wish knockoff (NOT dupe) is not lining anyone’s pockets.

With maybe the exception of one or two scumbags who brought the design to be knocked off.

One fun last little tidbit regarding clothing copyrights: designs and construction cannot be copyrighted. But logos and graphics can. So if you’ve ever wondered why big name designer brands have a big ass ugly logo on all their bags and shoes, there you have it

In closing, if you want this dress so badly.... pay the $500 it costs so that the profits go to the designer and she can pay her workers a better wage. $500 isn’t even THAT MUCH in the world of luxury clothing! That’s extremely affordable for a beautiful, special piece.

If you are really hesitant to spend that money, the only ethical alternative I can offer is to do what I did: spend thousands of dollars on four years of school, get a BFA, and figure it out yourself!

The fabric is about $9/yd online. good luck! https://www.etsy.com/listing/792668006/sweet-strawberry-lace-fabric-glitter?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_low-low_b-craft_supplies_and_tools-fabric_and_notions-fabric&utm_custom1=06bee24e-f036-40d0-82b9-a9dea1849a72&utm_content=go_6721326405_86204092784_388342220597_pla-295916403786_m__792668006&utm_custom2=6721326405&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2p-8mNuW6wIVzJ-zCh0lTQwEEAQYASABEgKlHPD_BwE