Design
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5 min
The colder half of the year
Designing for six months of real weather rather than a twelve-week selling season.
A selling season is twelve weeks. A winter is six months. Designing for the first produces different clothes than designing for the second.
Twelve-week thinking asks what will look new on a rail in September. Six-month thinking asks what someone will still reach for in February, when it has been raining for a fortnight and they have worn everything they own twice.
In practice this changes small decisions. Sleeve length gets cut for a jumper underneath, not for a shirt. Pockets go deep enough for gloves rather than being sized to a photograph. Hems land where they will not soak in slush. Collars stand without being held.
It also changes what we leave out. There is no point in a cloth that looks remarkable and pills by December. There is no point in a pale sole on a winter boot.
The test we use is unglamorous: would we want to own only this, for six months, in bad weather. Most ideas do not survive it, and the run is smaller as a result.
