INNOVATION

Word #1: BRICK

When I think brick, I think construction, building. My grandpa actually built our house in Moscow himself out of brick. I also think fireplaces and brick used as decorative material. I think of a brick fence for protection. Also, I think of the brick design used for clothing, computer savers, posters, etc. I think of the visual appeal of a brick like layout. I think of beautiful architecture made out of brick and old brick ovens used to bake bread. Also in Russia it was common that the poor classes would have an oven right in the middle of their living room and it was a huge big brick thing and they would sleep on top of it for warmth. I think of brick used as decoration in the kitchen or any part of the house as a counter or part of a wall. It also makes me think of Legos and how we used to play with red legos as kids and build things out of them.
Uses for a brick: hit someone with, paper weight, as a unit of measure (mass, volume, length), put on head to practice good posture, put in backpack for training for a hike, use as a weight (lifting weights), build a house with it (or build anything really), use as a step to reach a high spot, anchor, sculpt out of it, smash things with it, use to pave a road.

Word #2: CUP

When I think cup, I think tea party. I think of drinking tea with my family in Russia and that hot cup of coffee I drink every morning. I think of the cup of sugar you borrow from your neighbor. I think plates and silverware and how it’s nice if everything matches. I think of those annoying sayings on cups like “World’s Greatest Dad!” and getting your picture splattered on a cup. It makes me think of the cheap plastic cups used for beer pong at parties. I also think about ceramics and making cups yourself out of clay. I also think of cup size, as in bra cup size. I also think of the World Cup and sippy cups.
Uses for cup: measuring device, jewelry (make jewelry out of parts of a cup), art (break the cup into pieces and make a mosaic out of it), to drink out of, to hold pens/pencils. Hold small items like buttons or jewelry.

Combined ideas:
1. Cup with brick design on it.
2. Cup made out of brick.
3. Brick wall with mosaic design on it made out of crushed cups.
4. Using a cup’s handle as a leverage to lift bricks.
5. Making a brick wall with a little cut out to store coffee cups.
6. Making a wall out of cups in a brick like formation.
7. Using both to make art. Using cup to mix paint in, then putting paint on a brick and stamping paper to make art.
8. Attach hooks to a brick and hang cups on it.
9. Make a coaster out of a small slice of brick. Or attach a cup to a small slice of brick so that its always steady when you set it down.
10. Put a couple of cups on a brick and work on your balance, as you carry it and walk.
11. Make a cup with the phrase “Brick House” on it.
12. Carve an image of a cup into a brick.
13. Make a brick layout on the ground (like a patio layed out in brick) in the shape of a cup.

14. Make a column out of brick, with a cup on top.

These ideas are kind of lame, but I had a really hard time coming up with combinations of these two objects. Some have been done before like the first one.

FASHION GOES SOCIAL

I am interested in studying the significance of customer insights in the fashion industry. The main topic of the paper will be the effect of social media on the fashion industry. I didn’t pull out my crop-tops until I saw an album on Facebook where my secret girl-crush Stacy was wearing a crop-top with shorts at Shakespeare’s Pub. The American Apparel ads which pop up on the side of my FB screen, actually intrigued me so much that I went into the store, even though before that I had walked past it on my way to class almost every day. And when I saw my friend’s blog post which featured the comeback of long socks, I went to Ross and bought them in almost every color. The paper will start off by demonstrating how significant social media has become in our apparel decisions. I would like to organize my paper in one of two ways. The first way would break up the report into different modes of social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and blogs and how each one of those has affected the industry. The other way of organization would be to break up the paper into groups of people such as the designers, the customers, magazine editors, and retailers and research how the social media giant has changed their outlook on the industry.

Some of the questions I’m hoping to explore are: 1) How do brands/stores retain customers in this oversaturated industry? 2) Do designers rely on customer insights to create their garments or does it come from an individual/personal inspiration? 3) How much to fashion buyers focus on trends on the street? 4) Are customers dictating what’s being sold in the stores or are stores dictating what customers are wearing? 5) As customers are becoming more picky, which stores are more successful, the ones that provide a wide array of products/styles for all different kinds of customers or the stores that provide a very specific, niche product? 6) How has the shift to environmentally friendly materials and animal-rights protesting affected the apparel industry?

This topic is extremely interesting to me because I am addicted to the fashion industry but I am also very different from most fans of the industry. I can look at fashion blogs all day and praise one designer or another for their contribution to the arts but I will never spend more than 20 bucks on a garment. I think this gives me an interesting perspective on the industry because not only am I a customer but I am also a critic. Also, I have many friends that are involved in the industry, designers, models, photographers and it would be interesting to study how social media has helped or affected them. Currently, I am the Art Director of UFG, University Fashion Group, a student organization at UT, and I rely on social media quite often in my position. I use Facebook to post flyers and attract new members, UFG relies on Twitter to post important updates and quick messages, and our website (universityfashiongroup.com) gives a description of our organization and our goals. It would be interesting to see how social media has impacted the industry and perhaps link it back to how it has affected UFG in terms of meeting turn out and ease of decision making and communication.

In terms of gathering and identifying customer insights, I believe that the fashion industry is one that relies heavily on the gathering of this kind of data. With other products such as equipment or cars, I feel like consumers often times go out on their own and do research to make decisions. With apparel, I believe that often times it is the job of those in the industry to influence the public and shape the trends for the next season and so forth. Simultaneously designers and stores are constantly getting inspiration and feedback from customers through this data to then alter their image, expand their lines or fix their marketing campaign. The relationship between customers and stores/designers is in the shape of a big circle. They influence each other and feed off the cumulative mix of ideas and perspectives. I am interested in studying how social media guides and stimulates this exchange.

The article “How the Fashion Industry is Embracing Social Media” found at the following link: http://mashable.com/2010/02/13/fashion-industry-social-media/ is written by Hitha Prabhakar, a retail industry expert. She focuses on the fact that recently fashion designers are embracing social media into their marketing plans by utilizing Twitter and Facebook to comment on their recent endeavors. For example, von Furstenberg is one of the most beloved and popular designers on Twitter, which has given her lots of authority in the fashion industry and has allowed her to shape the public’s opinions on several topics. The article states that some designers are apprehensive about turning to the web while others are embracing the communication with their fans through blogs and other sources of social media. The article also comments on the importance for magazines to upload material quickly, as it happens, on their blogs, websites, Twitter and Facebook pages.