sonder
coming off the heels of elements and [re]form, we wanted to continue to steadily expand our contemporary basics offering with new silhouettes, fabrics, designs, colors, etc. and with what we had previously done, we felt that it was a natural progression to add things like cardigans and shirt jackets, which would be the first time we would be introducing those silhouettes to our brand. with these ideas, we started development for the collection in q4, 2023 with a target release date of q1, 2024.
early development process went relatively well and we made good progress developing the cardigans, sweaters, and shirt jackets, followed by the cropped trousers. however, as we started fleshing out the collection, it felt like something was missing and that's when we started throwing around the idea of adding a jacket piece.
we weren't sure what type of jacket we wanted to create, so we started with exploring fabric options first, and when we decided on sherpa for its light weight and versatility, we went right into sampling. after a few rounds, the jacket turned out exactly how we wanted, but because it felt a bit bare, we looked at embellishment options that we could possibly add to the piece. we thought adding some sort of embroidery could work, but weren't sure on the concept, size, or placement. that's when we remembered that we always wanted to do a design inspired by traditional korean mother of pearl furnitures and the sherpa jacket presented itself as the perfect canvas to tackle that concept. it took a bit of trial and error to get it right, but in the end, the jacket came out absolutely beautiful and we couldn't have been happier with the results.
with all the pieces in place for the collection, we had to figure out a theme that tied the collection as a whole, since we still had no name for the collection. we started with a mood board with images and aesthetics that we felt captured the feeling of the collection and its pieces. that process led us down a path to nature and autumn tones with a feeling of somberness, and somehow, we landed on the word "sonder", which is the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own. we felt this was the perfect word to encapsulate the collection - these were pieces made for everyone, no matter what walk of life they came from, and within that, recognizing that we're all equal and connected with our experiences and stories.
by the time we were ready to enter the production cycle, development took a little longer than planned, but we were still within reason of hitting our target window. as long as things went smoothly with production, it seemed like things would fall into place. however, once we went into production and the weeks were passing by with steadily increasing delays, the realization slowly started to set in that our target window wasn't going to be possible anymore. now, it was a matter of trying to get things finished sooner than later, but the worst was yet to come.
after production on the collection was finally finished, we found out that there were some noticeable issues on a good amount of pieces. there was no way that we were going to even consider selling these problematic pieces, so we unfortunately had to re-make them, which not only meant a major loss in time and money, but even more time and money for added production cycles. as you can imagine, at this point, our target schedule was completely derailed and the only focus was on making sure that the production turned out on point without any issues.
in the end, everything eventually turned out well, but because of the way things played out, instead of a q1 release, sonder ended up becoming a q4 release. far from ideal and a terrible situation to be in, but this was also a "better late than never" scenario since we still accomplished our goals with the collection. it was a hell of a process to get this one done, but we think we succeeded in continuing to evolve our brand and we hope that you can appreciate what went into the making of sonder.
early development process went relatively well and we made good progress developing the cardigans, sweaters, and shirt jackets, followed by the cropped trousers. however, as we started fleshing out the collection, it felt like something was missing and that's when we started throwing around the idea of adding a jacket piece.
we weren't sure what type of jacket we wanted to create, so we started with exploring fabric options first, and when we decided on sherpa for its light weight and versatility, we went right into sampling. after a few rounds, the jacket turned out exactly how we wanted, but because it felt a bit bare, we looked at embellishment options that we could possibly add to the piece. we thought adding some sort of embroidery could work, but weren't sure on the concept, size, or placement. that's when we remembered that we always wanted to do a design inspired by traditional korean mother of pearl furnitures and the sherpa jacket presented itself as the perfect canvas to tackle that concept. it took a bit of trial and error to get it right, but in the end, the jacket came out absolutely beautiful and we couldn't have been happier with the results.
with all the pieces in place for the collection, we had to figure out a theme that tied the collection as a whole, since we still had no name for the collection. we started with a mood board with images and aesthetics that we felt captured the feeling of the collection and its pieces. that process led us down a path to nature and autumn tones with a feeling of somberness, and somehow, we landed on the word "sonder", which is the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own. we felt this was the perfect word to encapsulate the collection - these were pieces made for everyone, no matter what walk of life they came from, and within that, recognizing that we're all equal and connected with our experiences and stories.
by the time we were ready to enter the production cycle, development took a little longer than planned, but we were still within reason of hitting our target window. as long as things went smoothly with production, it seemed like things would fall into place. however, once we went into production and the weeks were passing by with steadily increasing delays, the realization slowly started to set in that our target window wasn't going to be possible anymore. now, it was a matter of trying to get things finished sooner than later, but the worst was yet to come.
after production on the collection was finally finished, we found out that there were some noticeable issues on a good amount of pieces. there was no way that we were going to even consider selling these problematic pieces, so we unfortunately had to re-make them, which not only meant a major loss in time and money, but even more time and money for added production cycles. as you can imagine, at this point, our target schedule was completely derailed and the only focus was on making sure that the production turned out on point without any issues.
in the end, everything eventually turned out well, but because of the way things played out, instead of a q1 release, sonder ended up becoming a q4 release. far from ideal and a terrible situation to be in, but this was also a "better late than never" scenario since we still accomplished our goals with the collection. it was a hell of a process to get this one done, but we think we succeeded in continuing to evolve our brand and we hope that you can appreciate what went into the making of sonder.
