Cielo Collective: Line Development
The Ask
For my senior capstone class, Line Development, my team and I were tasked with creating a full contemporary fashion line for Crescala Collective. Our requirements were to use the theme of circularity, incorporate 70% of cotton in our line while utilizing Cotton Works technology.
Meet the Team
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Ariana Mannino
MERCHANDISER
Ariana spear headed the concept of the brand and made sure sustainability was at the forefront. She created the word bank and chose our target market’s geographical location. Ariana’s passion for storytelling influenced many of the designs as well. Her outstanding marketing contributes include designing the website, choosing the influencers and made sure our ties to Turkey were included in the research/ presentation. She researched sustainability and how to influence that in our packaging.
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Benicio Gomez
DESIGNER
Benicio contributed to the concept of the brand, its name and logo. He also lead the designers in the color palette, fabrics and designed many looks. Benicio researched the fabric details, embroidery and details. He also recorded our podcast and partially served as our target market inspiration. His work in CLO-3D stands out as it took our project to the next level as well as his AI mockup of our store layout. Benicio’s excellent research skills helped the team make thoughtful decisions.
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Alysa Benson
MERCHANDISER
Alysa’s talent in graphic design lead her to designing our mood board which is the introductory to our brand. She took over the consumer profile which included a past and present version of our target market and contributed greatly to our marketing. With the help of her tech savvy and AI, she created mockups of our social media, physical advertisements and promotional items She contributed to our promotional ideas as well.
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Ines Brito
DESIGNER
Ines brought her Ecuadorian culture and design talent to this project. Her hispanic culture helped influence our concept and brand name. Ines designed many of our looks and helped name them. She worked thoroughly to research our fabrics and made sure Cotton Works technology was appropriately used and credited. She created our hangtags and labels as well as many of our designs in CLO-3D which was very time consuming.
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Kristina Wise
MERCHANDISER
Kristina was very inspired by our prompt of circularity and spear headed the idea of using the rain cycle as inspiration. She kept us on track to make sure circularity influenced our entire line and contributed to our designs and contributed to our work in CLO-3D. She put together our marketing video and conceptualized details about our trunk show. She designed our free t shirt as a promotional items.
We want to highlight the experimentive and eclectic nature of the brand. We describe Cielo Collective having a vintage soul with modern craft. It’s playful in color and style while maintaining fluidity of masculine and feminine qualities. The brand takes inspiration from traditional craft and culture and puts a modern spin on it. Adaptability is at the forefront of the brand’s mission with reversible pieces made to withstand moisture and last as long as possible to obtain circularity.
Welcome to Cielo Collective, where circular fashion meets cultural expression and sustainability becomes second nature.
Process
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We analyzed today’s consumer to identify current values and trends, and design the line with circularity in mind, incorporating 70% cotton throughout the collection. Additionally, considering how the line aligns with the mission and aesthetic of Crescala Collective.
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Next, we identified a target market after thorough research and created a profile based on their wants, needs and desires. The profile included our ideal customer’s income, hobbies and personal interests that all played into their fashion choices.
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Create a mood board that conceptualizes our brand using color, texture, words and visuals. The mood board captures the mood, tone and energy of our brand that evokes an emotional feeling.
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As a team, we collectively sketched 30 full looks to present to Jodi Sandman, the CEO of Crescala Collective, where we then narrowed it down to 8 final looks. We researched fabrics, taking into consideration our partnership with Cotton Works Technology and our color palette.
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After finalizing our 8 looks we presented our first design package to the class, professors and Jodi and were given the OK to create flats for manufacturers. These technical flats described every design detail and illustrated how the garments would be constructed.
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In order to be as detailed as possible, we made industry standard spec packs which detailed measurements, fabric choices, design notes, cost sheets and a tech pack for one garment.
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We then put together a line sheet which detailed color ways, wholesale/retail prices, sizes and prepackaged information for each garment. Using Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets, we made an assortment plan to make it clear for buyers to know which and how many pieces are going to different category stores. The assortment plan also included prices and markup percentages.
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I enjoyed creating the marketing plan which included influencer collaborations, Turkish natural dyeing facility and Sweetbee Coffee partnerships, physical advertisements, budgeting, social media and trunk show details.
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At the end of the semester we had a final opportunity to present our line to our class, professors and critics: Jodi Sandman from Crescala Collective, Meghan Peters from Cotton Incorporated and Kimberly Guthrie VCU Fashion Design Professor and sustainability activist. We had to clearly present our concept, brand strategy, 8 looks and marketing plan while keeping circularity and cotton consistent themes throughout.
Sneak Peak
Full Project
Every piece is crafted with purpose, designed to evolve, adapt and be worn in multiple ways- because style should be as dynamic as the people who wear it.