Fashion Slow Lane!

HELLO!  Introducing Modalane Accessories LLC Design and Manufacturing!  I am now working with a fast fashion China factory group.  We currently have a design studio in San Diego and are soon to be opening up a showroom in downtown LA!  We offer design and manufacturing services all under one roof!   The China factory group has been in business over 30 years and produces Vegan leather, PU handbags and man made material handbags, belts and fashion accessories for brands worldwide.    As part of their design team in the USA we are here to serve our USA new and old customers.  It is much easier to go to a USA office for all your design needs then just email China back and forth.  Not only will you save time, but you will save money on shipping and nothing will get "lost in translation" We offer private label design services or you can choose from our in house collections for your brand.  For more information please check...

Pendolare   I designed and created a convertible bicycle bag line I have been working on for a while.  My day job designing fashion handbags for other brands and life has often gotten in the way, but I keep moving forward. We have four great new styles that were captured recently in an urban photo shoot in San Diego. The brand Pendolore , which translates to "Commuter" in Italian is made from leather and high quality nylon canvas.   The brand was designed with urban male commuters in mind.  The gear was meant to be worn from the bike to the board room or classroom.   We have added a few styles that appeal to females as well. The bicycle I bought from Sole' bicycle in Venice Beach, CA and the model hails from Del Mar, CA. Photos by the Justin Bartels of San Diego.   The photo shoot took about an hour and it was a really quick on the fly type shoot. Check out some of the images here and let me know what you think.  Email all comments to roccoda...

Real Beauty Never Dies.  Is that true?  Maybe.  #timeless #beauty #definition

As a freelance fashion designer and consultant I spent a lot of time educating my clients about the process.   There have been many times where after I design a handbag or accessories collection for a client the expect to have the samples in a few weeks.   I put this timeline together to educate people that are new to the fashion industry about the lead time. Designing and launching a fashion collection of handbags or other accessories is extremely time consuming and complicated.  There are many steps to the process and it takes months (not weeks) to launch a line. My goal as a fashion consultant is not only to make beautiful products that sell but also to manage the complicated process for my clients.  I enjoy the process and have been managing this product development and production process for 15 years.   It is amazing to see your sketch turn into a final wearable product! Check out my new info-graphic about the fashion timeline.  If you have any...

I recently interviewed David Larson, from www.negotiatingsalary.com .   Daivd is a professional negotiator who focuses on women in the workplace.   I reached out to him for an interview because women’s topics have always interested me.    When I first started negotiating with factories in China over 10 years ago I would change my name to Thomas Sauvage in order to get the respect and timely replies I required for the brands I represented. More recently my interest in women and discrimination in the workplace peaked due to recent interview in which my marital and family status was scrutinized and then I was offered a part time job for a few dollars above minimum wage!    Wait! That’s not all… to top it off…the hiring manager said the reason he wanted me to leave by 2 pm was so that I could get home in time to make dinner!   Really?   Yes, really.   (See my blog post here .) The part of my conversations with David  that w...

Have you thought about bringing your Contemporary brand to Asia?  I am working closely with a well connected successful Chinese-American entrepreneur who has successfully launched American brands in handbags, belts, accessories and apparel in high end Chinese department stores and high end Japanese stores.  I recently met up with her in Beijing and Tianjin to visit some of the stores has launched American brands in. (The smog in Beijing/Tianjin was horrific but that is another blog post)   The American brands are successfully selling more per square foot in China than in USA department stores. China is an incredible emerging luxury market.  If you follow any fashion news such as businessoffashion or WWD I am sure you have read about this trend in the past few years. “One of the most exciting findings is that by 2018, in the next five years, based on our predictions and based on how fast the region is growing, Asia Pacific will be the biggest region in the wor...

We love our new logo for Rocco Sauvage www.roccosauvage.com mens leather goods.  Check it out and let me know what you think.   We have also been working with a team and have put together our new online esty store.  Here is a link:   https://www.etsy.com/shop/RoccoSauvage   Etsy is great because we can go direct to our consumers and not have to worry about wholesale or dealing with a middle man.  Now one of the biggest trends in retail is direct to consumer.  Customers are getting smarter and they are looking for that transparency in the fashion industry.  Customers are getting tired of paying huge markup for quality products from their favorite brands.  More and more younger brands are leaping online and forgoing wholesale and middlemen all together.  At Rocco Sauvage we thought it would be great to go direct to our customers so we decided to go on Etsy.   Let us know what you think.  Follow us on twitter @roccosa...