monday morning we had pattern cutting with jody and picked our final design. the one me and jodie have chosen for my final piece is a combination of the jumpsuits and hoodies which i had designed from my research. 

i started the pattern for the jumpsuit by using the full length lycra catsuit block. because i plan to use a cotton jersey i have to allow for the fact that the original block is for lycra and lycra stretches alot more than cotton jersey. so i marked up the pattern by 2 cm all over. i also adapted the armholes creating a racer style back, i have shortened the leg lengths and changed the shape so the shorts section flares out away from the leg. i will add on the pockets later instead of cutting them into the pattern.

in buying and merchandising this week we looked at the product pyramind. we had to create a poster explaining the product range in stores. most high street stores start with there basic core lines. i work for new look in poole and have some understanding of this as in my gap year last year i was incharge of visual merchandising within our store. so at new look our core range consists of 4 different styles of basic jeans. vest tops, short and long sleeved plain t-shirts. black formal trousers and pencil skirts plus plain black suit jackets. basic 2 pack black and white bras and black socks, satchel bags in black, grey and tan, plain black headbands, hair clips and black hair elastics make up the basic core range for the accessories. all this core range is placed towards the back off the store against the outside walls. 

next comes the trend ranges which make up the majority of the shop floor. new look has a rough guide of a 2 week turnover - the window displays are replaced every 2 weeks and most promo's only last for the same length of time. at new look we usually work with 2 trends at once - usually one for each window and half of store. the two trends are loosely categorized as a formal/party trend range and then a more casual trend range.

next up the pyramid is the directional range. this is the garments that are abit more out there. abit crazy and with new look, are aimed at the younger "trendier" costumer. with new look this more directional range is usually only placed in certain stores - london, southampton, liverpool, brighton, bristol and manchester - usually the bigger city stores. this is because it sells to a specific audience - not usually found in places like poole! 

the final step on the pyramid is PR range. not every shop has a PR range the closest new look has ever had to one is the lily allen range - but it wasn't anything crazy it just received alot of publicity due to the lily allen tag. a PR range is more like the topshop unique collection. it only sells in the flagship topshop store and is used more to build an image and send out a message than to sell loads and make money.

♥jenelle♥