Our Design Process: Q&A With Tom
We have held a Q&A session with managing director and head of design, Tom Glover about his design process. It is often a stage that the consumer doesn’t see but it is another step that makes Peregrine more traceable.
Where do you get inspiration from?
I get a lot of inspiration from travelling and people watching. Fashion trade shows are a great way of seeing different fashions and styles from around the world. When it comes to designing a collection I like to have a story in mind and work around a theme.
Do you get inspiration from current trends, new trends and customer feedback?
I am interested in all trends, old and new, a lot can be dictated by previous success and listening to what our customers want and like from existing ranges. We tweak the good designs, to improve and adapt to global trends.
Do the practicalities of a garment play a big role in design?
Practicality plays a huge factor in every garment I design. The Peregrine customer wants to be able to wear our garments in many different environments and situations, which makes design details and fabric selection very important.
Being a Made in England brand and retail price is also a huge factor. I want to offer the best price to customers, therefore I have a price point in mind when developing a garment. For example, if I want to sell a garment at a certain price, the manufacturing time is crucial.
How do you research the best fabrics for specific garments? Quality and sustainability?
I visit many different shows to see what new fabrics are coming through and want to stay competitive with prices. For us, the majority of our range is wool knitwear which we spin ourselves, therefore my main focus is the colour selection. We always consider sustainability and traceability for all our garments as we are a Made in England brand.
With our jackets, I work closely with the best mills in the UK and every season I work with them to develop new products and improve existing fabrics to suit our needs. It is important to work together and evolve an existing product to suit the current market.
Once a sample is produced how do you test it out?
It’s important to see how the garments fit, pockets, drape in the environment it will be worn. Testing samples is mainly down to fit as we have already tested the fabrics before we put them into a sample.
Once the sample is finalised, what is the next step?
Once a sample is as we want, we curate the collection, colours and fabric. From here we finalise the collection, before making salesman samples for our global customers. We will then take on feedback from our wholesale customers and retailers around the world who test the garments before they go into production.
