Hi friend,
As you might know, we recently had a bit of a plot twist - a week after announcing that Maison Mikumo would be closing, we reversed our decision and decided to keep going for at least another year, thanks to a compelling proposal from our factory. If you missed the news, you can read more here!
Before this, the decision to close had been weighing on me for months. As I slowly came to accept moving on, I also lost motivation to continue developing new designs - one of which was the Caramell skirt, which I want to share a bit about with you here.
For me, development has always been the hardest part of running a brand. It’s a constant balancing act between ambition and reality. I spend hours crafting spec sheets, hand-drawing illustrations, and finding photo references, yet sometimes the samples still come back looking significantly different from what I imagined.
Although I can sometimes be a bit of a stickler, I like to think I’m flexible within reason. Some discrepancies are fine - for example, the lack of space between the rib-knit waistband and the start of the pleats feels like an acceptable deviation for a first sample. But when a defining feature like pleat width is way off, that’s harder for me to overlook. Mistakes happen, and I don’t mind them occasionally. But as an indie designer paying for revisions out of pocket, what matters most to me is the trust in knowing there was a genuine good-faith attempt to follow my design.
I came in with the understanding that 3D knit pleats would look different from traditional knife pleats that can only be achieved with cut & sew methods, but this doesn’t seem to be a technical issue - it’s more about the general consideration for likeness to the design, coupled with the lack of communication around it, since no concerns for limitations on the narrowness of the pleat width were ever communicated to me, even now (after I’ve already submitted and discussed the revision notes). If the width was ever a technical issue, shouldn’t that be communicated with me? And if there wasn’t a technical issue, why were the pleats so wide in the first place? To me, it all boils down to the gap in communication.
I’ve asked for more touchpoints for questions, clarification, and expectation-setting, and the ability to communicate directly with the programmer working on my design as needed (ie, if they have questions or concerns for me), rather than through a third party with limited technical knowledge. Initially, there was some resistance, but in the past few days, things have started to shift (more on that later).
Back to the Caramell - a 100% merino wool pleated mini skort with a casual tie waist, functional pockets, and practical undershorts. It’s like the comfy-casual cousin of our Classic pleated skirt, a design that I can see myself wearing on a near-daily basis. (And yes, she's named after the Caramelldansen, an icon of my childhood!)
Designing something like this is tricky for 3D knitting because the garment is made from a single continuous thread rather than being cut and sewn together. Styles with “layers,” like undershorts, require some creative thinking. When the Caramell is being made on the knitting bed, it will initially come out looking something like this before being hand-finished:
As an aside - you can’t assume anything is common sense in design. Take the pockets: I hadn’t left explicit notes, so that’s my B, and I don’t blame the factory. It seemed obvious to me that the pocket should sit in the recessed space between pleats, not the middle of one! Lesson learned: always be as detailed as possible, even when something seems obvious.
I worry about being a high-maintenance client at times, as the designs I want to create the most are the ones with less precedence in 3d knitting. I’m investigating the limits of what 3D knitting can handle and also steadily learning what the medium excels at. While this sometimes makes development more challenging, I’ve also been encouraged by some at the factory who support my efforts to push the limits and fully explore what 3D knitting can achieve.
Here’s a quick overview of revisions I’ve requested for the next sample with a little photoshopped version of what I’m hoping sample #2 will look more like!
- Narrower pleats
- Adjusted pockets (less protrusion)
- Leave space between waistband and start of pleats
- Reinforced waistband with anchor points
- Minor measurement tweaks
Interestingly, in the few days I’ve been writing this post, there was a shift at the factory. Without going into detail - something changed, and suddenly, I was able to communicate more with the development team the way I’ve always hoped - asking and answering questions, clarifying details, learning how to better use their application, and collaborating more closely with the people actually programming the design, rather than through a third person with limited technical knowledge. I’m cautiously optimistic this momentum continues and that the development process will keep improving.
All said, no shade to my factory - the challenges I’ve mentioned are extremely common in fashion and manufacturing as a whole, and honestly, this factory is better than most (and every individual within a factory is different, too). Venting just helps me process frustrations, and I hope it’s interesting to see some behind-the-scenes moments while I blow off steam!
Here’s to the second sample turning out well! It should arrive in about a week and a half (ETA around August 25th). The Caramell will launch in these initial colors, but we’ll also have “stretch goal” colors for our upcoming “Kickstarter” style presales. If you have ideas for additional colors, I’d love to hear them in our upcoming design survey~
I’m currently about halfway through preparing the survey, which should tentatively be going out around Monday the 18th. As always, mailing list peeps will be notified first (at least a day in advance of social media) when new blog posts and surveys go live, so make sure you’re signed up if you’re not already!
Talk soon!
Lots of love,
