Fashion

The Fashion Industry, Unspun by CU Alum

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 06:00:00 +0000

The Fashion Industry, Unspun by CU Alum Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/11/2022 - 00:00

Christie Sounart

Perfect-fitting jeans exist.

Unspun, a fashion and robotics company co-founded by Kevin Martin (MechEngr’16), makes personalized pants in custom colors, fabrics and styles — and uses 30,000 infrared data points from an iPhone body scan to create an individually tailored fit.

After a person chooses their pants, which cost around $200, and scans their lower body using an app, Unspun gets to work. And as soon as this year, the jeans will be spun in 10 minutes with a 3D-weaving machine, eliminating nearly every aspect of the traditional manufacturing process for a pair of pants.

The company earned recognition on Time magazine’s best inventions list twice — in 2019 for its body-scanning technology and in 2021 for its 3D process.

Martin and fellow co-founders Beth Esponnette and Waldon Lam — Stanford friends and fashion industry innovators — have an ambitious goal with Unspun: to reduce the world’s carbon emissions by 1%.

“It costs $150 billion a year to make stuff, move it across the world and then light it on fire,” said Martin, 27, who grew up in Colorado Springs and moved to San Francisco in 2017. “And that’s just wasted product.”

The EPA estimates that of the 13 million tons of clothing and footwear produced in 2018 (the latest year with data), only 1.7 million were recycled.

Unspun, based in San Francisco with a store in Hong Kong, hopes to eliminate the mass-production model for clothing and, instead, offer personalized products through its 3D-weaving technology and partnerships with major fashion labels.

“We were inspired by the Tesla model of doing things,” said Martin, who was hired by Esponnette and Lam in 2016 after he responded to a job ad seeking an engineer to help start their new company. “We said, ‘Let’s figure out how to automate apparel manufacturing.’”

Martin’s experience at ��ý�Ļ��Ʒ became the foundation for the company’s early production model, with roots in the university’s Idea Forge — a prototyping, design and innovation lab.

As a senior, Martin took a capstone course held in the Idea Forge. After joining Esponette and Lam in 2016, he sponsored the same class, engaging CU students — including Unspun’s first employee, Brian Gormley (MechEngr’17) — to build a 3D-weaving machine for the company. Gormley drove the machine in a U-Haul from Boulder to San Francisco in the summer of 2017.

Martin’s longtime friend Stephen Thoma (CompSci’16) joined Unspun as software director and created the scanning algorithm and software, first funded by a National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation and Research grant.

HAX, a venture capital firm in Shenzhen, China, was also an early Unspun supporter and trained Martin and Gormley for four months in China in the fall of 2017 to help build a more advanced 3D-weaving machine.

H&M became an early collaborator in 2018, offering a line of customizable jeans. By 2019, customers could purchase jeans directly from Unspun’s website, and the company gained traction.

This year, with more than $7.5 million in seed funding and 20 employees, Unspun aims to unveil its 3D-weaving technology in partnership with yet-to-be-announced major fashion labels.

The founders keep their 1% goal at the forefront of the business.

“To get to the impact and scale that we want, we need to become the new standard in apparel manufacturing,” said Martin.

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Photo by Patrick Campbell

Kevin Martin hopes to transform the waste-heavy manufacturing process of the fashion industry, starting with made-to-order pants.

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We're All Chameleons Now

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Sep 2018 19:15:00 +0000

We're All Chameleons Now Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 09/01/2018 - 13:15

Daniel Strain

Could Laura Devendorf’s high-tech fabrics change the way we express ourselves?

Laura Devendorf has a ready answer for how she spent the summer: The ��ý�Ļ��Ʒ information scientist taught herself how to weave, an experience equal parts relaxing and infuriating — “like brushing doll hair forever,” she said.

On any given day in Devendorf’s lab, part of the university’s ATLAS Institute, where students and faculty commonly mix art and science, you’ll find at least three wooden looms — the old-fashioned kind with a hand-operated shuttle. They sit next to circuit boards, wires and other high-tech toys.

That’s because Devendorf, an ATLAS fellow and CU assistant professor since 2017, is diving into the zeitgeisty field of smart textiles — fabrics that look and feel like wool and cotton but exhibit dynamic properties.

Last year, designer Julianna Bass made waves at New York Fashion Week when she introduced a line of garments that changed color as models sauntered down the catwalk. Google’s Project Jacquard recently teamed up with Levi’s to design a denim jacket that lets you answer your phone by simply tapping the sleeve.

But Devendorf has a distinct attitude toward wearable technology, inspired by her eclectic interests in art, sustainable design and feminist theory. She’s more interested in expressive potential than utilitarian value. In this vein, she’s exploring how clothing can connect our bodies to the environment, for example, or reveal and record influences on the body as an aid to memory and reflection.

Rather than developing technologies of convenience, she said, she’s interested in “whether or not it’s possible to build a different kind of relationship with technology that’s slower and more thoughtful.”

Old Meets New

Although Devendorf has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and enjoys writing code, she is in some ways an odd fit for the world of smart textiles. She’s skeptical about aspects of tech culture and is predisposed to physical craftsmanship. She once spent a summer drawing handmade cards for tourists in Santa Barbara, Calif., seemingly more in tune with another of her degrees, in art.

“My husband says I have an analog fetish,” she said. “I still collect vinyl. I like sending letters in the mail. I don’t really like technology, but it’s not going away. So my focus is how do we do something more interesting with it?”

Much of that old-meets-new tension is embodied in a special delivery Devendorf is expecting this fall: A custom-made TC2 Jacquard loom. The device looks more like a 3D printer than one of the doll-hair combers in her lab now, and can seamlessly weave more complex patterns of traditional textiles and high-tech threads, such as wires coated in thermochromic pigments that change color in response to an electric current.

Among the projects Devendorf can carry forward with this computer-meets-loom is Ebb, a fabric she helped invent as a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. It interlaces ordinary yarn with thermochromic threads, yielding a fabric with designs that can morph from purple to pink to white within seconds. Devendorf has experimented with designing Ebb shirts that change color as the skin undergoes tiny shifts in sweatiness — like a human blush in cloth.

Purple to pink to white in seconds.

These subtle changes can indicate various types and degrees of excitement — from physical exertion to mere anticipation, true anxiety, even sexual arousal. Ebb-based garments would manifest how the wearer is feeling, signaling a change for all to see.

“We have five senses,” she said. “Smart textiles can partner with those and give you this other sense.”

Because smart textiles make public what might otherwise be private, and because clothing is more intimate than a phone you can set down and ignore, Devendorf approaches these projects with caution. “It represents you to the world.”

Steven Frost, an instructor in ��ý�Ļ��Ʒ’s College of Media, Communication and Information who has collaborated with Devendorf, said she has a rare ability to blend technology and artistic creativity.

“What’s really exciting about working with Laura is that she really does speak both languages,” Frost said.

Devendorf helped invent a fabric that interlaces ordinary and thermochromic threads.

The Pressures On Us

Much of Devendorf’s recent work focuses on a topic she thinks about a lot: Parenthood. The mother of a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old, she describes it as a vulnerable experience.

And while many technologies aimed at parents seek to ease stress, Devendorf embraces the vulnerability.

At a May workshop at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, she asked participants to design what she called an exoskeleton for caregivers — think an Iron Man suit for people covered in baby vomit. The group’s ideas included small, autonomous robots that would crawl over your body to clean your clothes and a hoop skirt that could double as a playpen for toddlers.

Speaking two languages: Art and science.

Devendorf herself is interested in using technology to lay bare the tensions inherent in parenthood — including the fact that, as a mother, she often feels like her body isn’t her own. In her free time, she’s been crocheting a poncho made of pacifier nipples to make visible a common feeling among nursing mothers.

She’s also begun developing a drape with small pressure sensors to record how parents hold their newborns, allowing production of maps showing the evolving physical relationship between parent and child.

“I like the idea of how our memories might change if we remember the pressures on us,” she said.

Ultimately, Devendorf hopes more technology will move in this direction — enhancing how people experience reality and caretaking rather than alienating them from it.

“So much of technology is about self-realization and no longer having to struggle or care for anything because you have the technology to do that,” she said. “I like the idea of actually amplifying that struggle instead, because maybe that’s where the meaning comes from.”

Comment? Email editor@colorado.edu.

Photos by Glenn Asakawa

Could Laura Devendorf’s high-tech fabrics change the way we express ourselves?

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A Passion for Fashion

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 07:00:00 +0000

A Passion for Fashion Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/01/2012 - 00:00

Christie Sounart

From designing dresses for actresses Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer to outfitting Jenna and Barbara Bush, Lela Rose (Art’92) finds herself succeeding in a fashion industry that is often fickle and fiercely competitive.

The New York City fashion designer has spent 20 years creating dresses, jackets and separates under her main label, Lela Rose, as well as the Lela Rose Wedding collection. Her collection of Lela Rose shoes is sold at Payless Shoe Source.

“My philosophy of design is about creating beautiful hand-finished clothes that exude a casual luxury and refinement,” she says, noting she derives her inspiration from the architecture, people and colors she observes on the streets of New York City during her daily bike commute to work.

She launched her company in 1998, but the Texas native’s career was catapulted when longtime acquaintances Barbara and Jenna Bush wore her designs to the 2001 presidential inauguration. Barbara had been an intern with her company.

“That definitely helped us,” Rose says. “It made it a little easier to get people in to see the collection.”

Since then Rose has been a go-to designer for many celebrities. She designed the wedding dress of Eva Amurri, Susan Sarandon’s daughter, last fall, which garnered a large spread in People magazine in November. Rose also designed Sarandon’s dress for the occasion.

“Dressing Susan Sarandon was very fun,” Rose says. “She’s someone I’ve watched for years.”

Heading a New York staff of 17, Rose doesn’t sew her designs anymore, but she sketches new ones daily. She works with two design team members to fully sketch out a design before sending it to sample makers to sew together. She is involved with every minute detail, including fabric designs and preparing for her company’s fashion shows at Lincoln Center during New York Fashion Week.

“You have to be very hands-on about it,” Rose says. “This is your image . . . It’s the lights, the music, the hair, the makeup,” she says. “It’s all very fun.”

Last year, she opened a Lela Rose store in Dallas, which features Rose’s dresses, gowns, cocktail dresses, accessories and day wear. The store’s general manager, Laura Ginsburg, says women often come into the store with Rose’s original designs and are ecstatic to discover her entire collection. The dresses and gowns range from $895 to $3,995.

“Once you fall in love with a Lela Rose dress, there is no price tag,” Ginsburg says.

From designing dresses for actresses Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer to outfitting Jenna and Barbara Bush, Lela Rose finds herself succeeding in a fashion industry that is often fickle and fiercely competitive.

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Boulder Named 4th Worst-Dressed City by GQ

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Boulder Named 4th Worst-Dressed City by GQ Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/01/2011 - 00:00

Staff

Co-founded in 2002 by Lyndon “Duke” Hanson III (MBA’85), Crocs built its success on its distinctively-styled shoes mostly made of a patented resin. Shown above is the company’s Pearl Street store.

Here are the residents’ biggest fashion crimes:

1. Outdoor clothing made by Patagonia and North Face

2. Fanny packs (OK, strike one)

3. UGG boots in summer and Crocs in spring

4. Biking shorts (goes without saying, but does comfort count for anything?)

Notwithstanding these terrible sins, GQ notes Boulderites are extremely fit, forcing the conclusion that the citizens could win an award for looking the best naked.

“So Boulderites,” the style magazine concludes, “do your fellow citizens a favor. Next time you reach for the biking-shorts-and-sneakers as evening wear combo, just take it all off.”

Boulder's biggest fashion crimes.

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Designing a Fashionable Life

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Designing a Fashionable Life Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/01/2009 - 00:00

Erika Usui

Lela Rose (Art’92)

She’s a regular in Vogue, Glamour and Marie Claire. Her clientele includes celebrity fashionistas Jessica Simpson, Ashley Judd and Selma Blair. And with her collection of bridal wear, she’s the go-to designer to find the perfect dress.

New York City fashion designer Lela Rose (Art’92) says her designs are “classic silhouettes with a whimsical twist,” a far fetch from the outdoorsy, casual styles seen in Boulder featuring fleece jackets and hiking boots.

But the Texas native, who has established herself in the übercompetitive design capital with her embellished, innovative designs, says her fashion venture kicked off during her time at CU.

She started working with fabric in her CU art projects and decided she wanted to learn to sew. This led to her love of textiles and fashion, and she started a line of vests made out of vintage scarves.

Her passion for design took her out of Boulder and to New York’s Parsons School of Design, where she got her associate’s degree in 1993.

“Although CU doesn’t have a fashion design program, its art department was a wonderful training ground for creativity,” Lela says. “I was granted a fair amount of freedom to work in the medium I wished, therefore keeping an open mind to different materials to work with.”

After obtaining her design degree, she started her career under renowned designers Christian Francis Roth and Richard Tyler as design assistant and fabric buyer. In 1996, she started her own line, the self-titled “Lela Rose.”

At first, she worked out of her New York City apartment and catered to private clients. But the 2001 Bush inauguration served as a kickoff for her design career — Jenna and Barbara Bush wore her designs at the event, and Lela’s business expanded to big-name department store clients such as Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus.

“I believe that a well-rounded education is a great foundation for whatever you choose to do in life,” Lela says. “One of the most important traits when trying to break into any industry is persistence and hard work. Showing dedication and passion for something will stand out in the long run.”

<p>New York City fashion designer Lela Rose is<strong> </strong>a regular in Vogue, Glamour and Marie Claire.</p>

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