Designer Case Study Design and Technology
James Lillis fashion designer of Black Milk online shop
“A lot of people want to know how Black Milk came to be. Well, it's a long story, full of twists and turns, action and adventures. There are even a few scary bits. But seeing as you asked... why don't you pull up a metaphoric chair around my metaphoric fire and I'll tell you the story of Black Milk... “
When James was young, there was a time that he was broke, and everyone around him seemed to have a great job that they enjoyed, “I was broke, bored and rather cold. At that point most people would have got a job and a beanie, but not I”. He woke up one morning with a desire to make himself a shirt, he went out and bought a second hand sewing machine, and with only $6 left in his wallet, he bought the cheapest nylon lining that he could find. He still does not know why he had such random impulse but he is very glad he did, “It was these fateful decisions that lead me down the path to Black Milk”.
Nylon lining is one of the least attractive fabrics in the market; he had to make a fitted shirt with no one to teach him how to sew this complicated fabric. “It was tragic. The stitching was wrong, the pieces were cut weird, and the neck was a nothing more than a hole. And I loved it”
From that moment, things changed. He began doing odd jobs, but “at the back of my mind I was plotting and planning. If I got ten bucks it wasn't just ten bucks ... it was half a meter of printed fabric. Three dollars was a new packet of needles. A hundred bucks meant I could get my machine fixed.” With all his enthusiasm he worked in trial and error testing different ways of sewing bits and pieces of fabric.
“You will immediately notice:
1. Both legs are too short
2. The pattern on the right leg is upside down
(Hey, I'm a slow starter, alright?!)
However, despite this every girl who tried them on wanted to buy them. Which was super encouraging for me. So I kept going.”
After one week of teaching himself how to sew
“A lot of people want to know how Black Milk came to be. Well, it's a long story, full of twists and turns, action and adventures. There are even a few scary bits. But seeing as you asked... why don't you pull up a metaphoric chair around my metaphoric fire and I'll tell you the story of Black Milk... “
When James was young, there was a time that he was broke, and everyone around him seemed to have a great job that they enjoyed, “I was broke, bored and rather cold. At that point most people would have got a job and a beanie, but not I”. He woke up one morning with a desire to make himself a shirt, he went out and bought a second hand sewing machine, and with only $6 left in his wallet, he bought the cheapest nylon lining that he could find. He still does not know why he had such random impulse but he is very glad he did, “It was these fateful decisions that lead me down the path to Black Milk”.
Nylon lining is one of the least attractive fabrics in the market; he had to make a fitted shirt with no one to teach him how to sew this complicated fabric. “It was tragic. The stitching was wrong, the pieces were cut weird, and the neck was a nothing more than a hole. And I loved it”
From that moment, things changed. He began doing odd jobs, but “at the back of my mind I was plotting and planning. If I got ten bucks it wasn't just ten bucks ... it was half a meter of printed fabric. Three dollars was a new packet of needles. A hundred bucks meant I could get my machine fixed.” With all his enthusiasm he worked in trial and error testing different ways of sewing bits and pieces of fabric.
“You will immediately notice:
1. Both legs are too short
2. The pattern on the right leg is upside down
(Hey, I'm a slow starter, alright?!)
However, despite this every girl who tried them on wanted to buy them. Which was super encouraging for me. So I kept going.”
After one week of teaching himself how to sew