Merchandising and design work punctuated a fun month for Eileen Fisher’s Social Innovators Teslin Doud, Carmen Gama and Lucy Jones.

Teslin Doud: “This month flew by as we swiftly moved through our development phase. After working with the Eileen Fisher sample makers to create prototypes of our chosen styles and fabrics, we held a focus group to help us edit down to the capsule collection we will be moving forward into production with. We invited Eileen Fisher employees in the Manhattan offices to come see what we’ve been working on and fill out feedback sheets so we could gather information about what styles were most popular and what people might be willing to pay for our upcycled garments. We asked people what their favorite style was, how much they would pay for it versus how much they thought it should cost (strikingly different numbers in some cases). We tallied up likes and dislikes to get a better understand of which techniques people were loving and which were a little too funky. Since we have been so close to the project for so long now, it was really important for us to get fresh eyes and hear new opinions. Some garments everyone loved and some were very controversial; some people loved the pieces that looked like main line Eileen Fisher and others thought that it was important to offer something new and fresh. We had a great turn out and overall everyone was very excited and inspired. It was yet another point in our work that reminded us how spoiled we are here at Eileen Fisher with so much support and encouragement.”

Lucy Jones: “Once we had selected our styles, we worked with Product Development to have our pattern pieces printed, so that we could design into them. We decided to work with the Eileen Fisher existing patterns from the mainline since the designs are iconic, simplistic and allow freedom to create new seaming, which is one of our solutions for repurposing used garments; creating new styles by utilizing the fabrics of used garments in order to give it a new life.  We sometimes worked individually but it was together that we decided on consistent seaming techniques and aesthetics per fiber and style in order to show the collection as a holistic capsule. I cannot emphasize enough the need for teamwork on a project such as this. We each bring our strengths and bounce ideas off of one another and every day I feel I come to work and learn from Carmen and Tess. At this point in our project, I feel I am starting to reflect on this ready for the hard working months that will follow.”

Camen Gama: “This month was very fun. We’ve got to do some merchandising and design work. We focused on refining our process, techniques and selecting the right Eileen Fisher styles that we will be using for our capsule collection. We want to have a capsule collection that celebrates the different life cycles of the garments by utilizing Eileen Fisher existing styles.  After going through the different line sheet’s we’ve decided to select styles that are part of Eileen Fisher’s Fall 16 main line, which will be on the floor by the time we will be presenting our project. We have also chosen some of her Icon pieces that have been produced since she started her company to celebrate her commitment to simplicity and quality.”