Geoffrey B. Small

[Geoffrey B. Small]

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The people at NOT JUST A LABEL have decided to republish an article I wrote for them in September 2008 on the environment for young fashion designers. After all the ups and downs we saw in 2013, the fundamental points I wrote about back then are still as valid today as ever. See the article here....

http://www.notjustalabel.com/





with best wishes to all for a very happy and successful 2014,
Geoffrey

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[old]

Hi Geoffrey, do you have the direct link to the article? I couldn't find it on their main page and neither on the editorial page. Thanks!

[Geoffrey B. Small]

Try here: http://www.notjustalabel.com/editori...oung_designers
Best wishes, Geoffrey

[old]

Just realized that I have read this one before, but still as inspiring as ever. The funny thing is that it has been like that, for thousands of years, making and selling.

[Geoffrey B. Small]

Thanks Old, now after all the show dust has settled, our turn is coming up. I think it will be number 79 for us in Paris. A big thank you to everyone who helped make it possible...

[Geoffrey B. Small]

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"L'Art de Vivre" and the Joy of Dressing:

My dear friend the architect Paul Bradley, sent me this,
in the end no matter what aesthetic school you prefer,
or design camp you are in, we can all learn a little something
from the Sapeurs....

cheers, Geoffrey









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[Geoffrey B. Small]

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Our Paris spring/summer 2014 collection presentation as covered
in the Paris/Milan Collections edition of Uomo Collezioni, the industry's
leading print publication for international runway show coverage.
Collezioni is published in Italy by Logos Srl.















































The extreme handmade collection is now arriving at only eleven exclusive GBS authorized dealers in Europe, Japan,
China and Singapore. More stories on the remarkable pieces, their amazing fabrics, and their totally unique creation
process coming up later.

Best wishes,

Geoffrey





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[applecrisp]

That natural/cream colored suit is incredible.

Very strong.

[unwashed]

This is very opposite from what I usually wear, but I really love this!

The double-breasted suit in the center of page 93 looks so good. As well as the collarless shirts. Many nice details.

Too bad I cannot incorporate this in my wardrobe, would look out of place and would collect too much dust which the clothes do not deserve.

[Geoffrey B. Small]

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Thanks Applecrisp and Unwashed for your kind comments. I wouldn't worry too much about our pieces collecting dust in the closet... most owners of our works wear the heck out them for many years. And believe me, they have a very wide range of style preferences and tastes. Now, let's get on to some new pieces from the SS2014 collection created for one of our stores....

NEW WORKS CREATED EXCLUSIVELY
FOR HOSTEM IN LONDON












FMJ26 special:

This special version of the super limited edition FMJ26 handmade waistcoat design here below is one of only 3 pieces of its kind made in the entire world this season exclusively for Hostem in London, from a 1920’s side-paneled slim-body fitting 4-pocket waistcoat pattern and cut in a remarkable world exclusive pure linen random dyed yarn organic tailor’s cloth fabric developed and woven exclusively for us in Sarcedo Vicenza by Luigi Parisotto and family, and special Como viscose antique striped and cotton jacquard linings, all individually hand dyed dark in our studios using a special process that requires at least 6 hours of work for each piece. The design also features remarkable double-backed real mother-of-pearl shell buttons made for us in Padova Italy, and our signature real hand-stitched buttonholes (each one requires 8-10 minutes to cut and sew) in luxurious pure silk Bozzolo Reale Milano Seta threads.

FMJ17 special:

This special hand dye dark version of the super limited edition FMJ17 handmade jacket design is one of only 4 pieces of its kind made in the entire world this season exclusively for Hostem in London from a 1920’s French 4-pocket work jacket pattern and cut in a remarkable patchwork design of world exclusive pure linen random dyed yarn organic tailor’s cloth fabrics developed and woven exclusively for us in Sarcedo Vicenza by Luigi Parisotto and family, all individually hand dyed dark in our studios using a special process that requires at least 6 hours of work for each piece. The design also features remarkable real olive wood buttons made for us in Padova Italy each double-backed, and 7 hand-stitched buttonholes (each one requires 8-10 minutes to cut and sew) in luxurious pure silk Bozzolo Reale Milano Seta threads.

FMJ16 special:


A remarkable new slim-fit jacket design in a spectacular ultrasoft hand dyed
Luigi Parisotto Cashmere, Silk and linen weave created only for us and Hostem...

This special hand dye dark version of the super limited edition FMJ16 jacket design is one of only 4 pieces of its kind made in the entire world this season exclusively for Hostem in London, and was made from a modified early 1930’s multiple patch pocket jacket pattern developed from our extensive research, and an ultra-soft superlux cashmere, silk and linen ‘taormina’ weave fabric woven exclusively for us by Luigi Parisotto and family in Sarcedo Vicenza, Italy, and combined with an elegant Como viscose pinstripe and real Bemberg cupro sleeve lining story. It was then specially double hand dyed in our studios with an ardous and time-consuming process which takes over 12 hours for each piece to achieve its special patina, color, and totally unique effects. The design features exclusive real horn buttons made for us in Parma Italy by Claudia and Cinzia Fontana, Italy's best living buttonmakers, and no less than 10 entirely hand-stitched buttonholes (which require at least 8-10 minutes to cut and sew each one- over 2 hours of work just on buttonholes and buttons alone on each piece) in luxurious pure silk Bozzolo Reale Milano Seta threads. The piece also features generous 2,5 centimeter seam allowances on major fitting seams that allow the piece to be altered and let out up to full two sizes larger than its original cut, to help provide maximum long-term wearability for its owner.

FMWJ07 special:


Created exclusively for the new women's department at Hostem, this hand dyed Piacenza Super 150's Emotions
16 micron superlight and superfine luxury wool with its very special lining story is also designed to be equally well-worn and lived-in by men as well - a fantastic living piece for couples and individuals of any gender

This special lining story version of the elegant super limited edition FMWJ07 special hand made long relaxed living jacket design is the only one of its kind made in the entire world. It was created exclusively for Hostem in London from our original pattern and cut in a very special super 150’s 16 micron virgin wool superfine fabric woven for us in Pollone, Biella exclusively by Fratelli Piacenza 1733. It was combined with a special Italian jacquard woven and print lining story by Ezio Ghiringhelli in Varese for us and authentic Bemberg cupro sleeve linings for super softness and comfort, and then individually hand dyed in our studios with a special process which took about 4 hours for each piece and is handsigned and numbered by the designer. The special double ties can be tied and worn in a variety of different ways giving its owner an unprecedented long-term comfort and value.

FMWJ06 special:


Just One in the World. Another Hostem London
Men's and Women's World Exclusive Piece

This special exclusive pure Como silk lining version of the elegant super limited edition FMWJ06 special hand made relaxed-living jacket design is the only one of its kind made in the entire world. It was created exclusively for Hostem in London from our original pattern and cut in a very special super 150’s micron virgin wool superfine fabric woven for us in Pollone, Biella exclusively by Fratelli Piacenza 1733, the oldest woolen mill in the world. It was combined with an exquisite had dyed floral print silk satin created exclusively for us in Como, Italy, and authentic Bemberg pure cupro sleeve linings, and then individually hand dyed in our studios with a special process which took about 4 hours for each piece to achieve its special patina and unique effects. The design can be worn by men and women and also features an elegant handsewn concealed fly-front along with real horn buttons made for us in Parma, Italy, special covered button and scallop-design cuffs created in our workrooms, and our signature hand-stitched buttonholes (each one requires 8-10 minutes to cut and sew) in luxurious pure silk Bozzolo Reale Milano Seta thread and hand stitch detailing and is handsigned and numbered by the designer.



N.B. We do not allow any of our works to be sold online by any e-commerce sites for a long list of reasons.
If you are in London or planning a visit, we cordially invite you to view, touch, and experience the pieces in person
at Hostem in Shoreditch or contact them via email, post or phone.


Thanks for reading.
Best wishes,


Geoffrey
for everyone involved who helped to make
these beautiful pieces possible



c.copyright MMXIV Geoffrey B. Small, Cavarzere Venezia, all rights reserved.
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[Faust]

These are really gorgeous, Geoffrey! Very impressive.

[old]

Wow, the fabric selection of the new Hostem collection is simply amazing! Especially love those very tactile linen fabric.

[Geoffrey B. Small]

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Thank you Faust and Old for your very kind words, as always much appreciated, especially on behalf of all the people who work so hard together to make our pieces what they are and to Hostem for all the care and work they put into handling our work in London... Now, a link to some images of our Spring Summer 2014 shoes and collars we just found on ViewFashionBook.com. It's sort of a funny page as a concept to us, but we'll put it up for SZ viewing anyway…

http://viewfashionbook.com/spring-su...offrey-b-small

Best wishes, Geoffrey

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[TriggerDiscipline]

Hello!

I had the privilege of trying on some of your work at John Bull here in Tokyo, and I must say I became a fan.The handwriting is a really nice personal touch, and then it was even more interesting that you have an account on here.

hope to see some Fall Winter delivery @ John Bull later this year.

[Geoffrey B. Small]

Dear TriggerDiscipline,

Hello to you as well! Thank you for your kind comment and visit to johnbull. Sorry for the long delay in answering… pretty bombed right now after finishing an amazing new delivery for our customers at Eth0s in Shanghai (so much so that apparently 2 of the most incredible and valuable pieces were stolen right out of the boxes either in customs or in transit from Cavarzere to Shanghai, wow how crazy is that?) and also preparing for Paris and what will be perhaps our biggest and certainly most ambitious collection to date. But that is another story...

Yes, we have been working with Johnbull for many years now because they have some great people buying for, and working in, their stores, and we have a special affinity for them because they too are great makers of clothes and not just retailers. For instance, every sales staff person in their stores up and down Japan spends 4-6 weeks in their Okayama/Kojima factory learning how to make a pair of their firm's legendary jeans all by themselves before they are allowed to ever work in a johnbull store and start trying to sell johnbull jeans to customers. Every store has a sewing machine in it somewhere near, or on, the sales floor. This is not for show, like the windows of some faker firms that fill up their shop windows with old sewing machines (for example, there is some cheesy English firm that does this, that I cannot remember the name of, which sells cheap and pretty ugly looking "interpretations" of what we and others do near the Place des Victoires in Paris, apparently trying to position themselves as being "artisanal" or something).

No, the sewing machine you see in a Johnbull private labo shop in Japan is there so that the salesperson who is taking care of you can hem your jeans to whatever length you need (at factory quality work level) right there on the spot. No charge. No wait. That's a maker's company. And as the world's most serious makers of hand made designer clothing... that's my kind of retail partner. People who know the real value of what we can put into our works, and how truly different it really is from anything else out there…and then, be able to communicate that with people walking in the door to the point where one person at a time… they too become fans of a dream that we have committed over 35 years to build, day and night, season after season, year after year. And while you are in Tokyo, that includes our other great retailer partners like Arts&Science in Aoyama and Al Select in Kichijoji, they too also share a deep appreciation and commitment to our way of thinking and doing things.


Worlds Apart

Contrast that with the myriads of unbelievably phony and fake retailers out there today who are suddenly trying to jump on, or off the bandwagon, and it is truly a tale of two worlds entirely apart from each other… For example, one former American legend on the West Coast is now saying that there are too many "artisan brands" in the market so they are not selling them so well anymore (maybe because most of them are not artisans in the first place). So as a result the "legend" has shifted their entire focus on becoming little more than local sales lackeys for the 2 Octopussies, the global multinational conglomerates: LVMH and Kering. Practically every collection they claim to carry now is owned by one of the 2 companies. But that is not suprising. The Octopussy twins, now being run by the offspring of the original financier wheeler-dealers who started each of these M&A (merger & acquisition) conglomerates from scratch with their own" two hands" (ha ha ha) - are now out to own everyone. One of them already owns sixty, I repeat, 60 collection brands outright. Yet the flagship brands of their lines have both now been so oversold and overexposed that sales are dropping like a leadweight and with one of them they have so devalued the name as a result, that they are now too ashamed to put the logo on the product anymore. Another fine example is a former retail legend on the East Coast that is doing virtually the same lackey buying job as the legend on the West Coast, and is now claiming their carefully 'curated' collections represent something like the 'pinnacle of luxury' and-that at the same time, as if by magic, they are also the last independent stand alone retailer in their market for what they do- notwithstanding the fact that they were bought-out years ago by a much larger retail corporation, which is now owned by an even larger financial corporate group. Independent? F you. How dare you make that claim? You are about as independent as the state of Iraq these days. And how dare you state that you are selling the 'pinnacle of luxury' when your brand list is a who's who of industrial corporate volume-produced plastic. Pinnacle of marketing and hype is more like it. And as for the luxury thing, you are missing the boat, big time, and feeding your customers a full-blown and overly priced lie.

But lies are common these days in a world of fashion now being run by MBA's, VC's, dot.commers, phony merchants and faker brands.

You cannot play musical chairs when it comes to quality and real long term value for the customer. In fact, if I hear another phony retailer use the word "curated collection" for another fake artisan offering, I think I am going to throw up. I am really tired of hearing all of the claims to craftsmanship, artisan-this and artisan-that, and handmade-this and handmade-that by those who have nothing to do with such things at all. And worse, have done their fare share of driving many of the really good things and people out of this game.


The Bullsh_t of Fashion

And dissappointingly, you can now include the LVMH-consortium-backed Business of Fashion or BoF as they call themselves, right in along with that lot. Rather than its claim to be reporting about the "Business of Fashion"…more and more we are getting the impression that BoF is really now just a pump for the "Bullsh-t of Fashion." A veritable mouthpiece for the Corporation promo machine, disguised as a youthful new startup version of WWD in digital form, who keep ignoring (just like the big phony retailers) the real people in this game who are doing the real things. These people who seemed to have started out with good intentions, have changed dramatically in the past year and now like to focus on things such as the "problem" with once great product makers like certain English Bespoke clothing houses and shoemakers (I will leave the names to you)-- as being their inability to "scale-up" their operations in order to make themselves viable for that juicy fat big-time IPO or buyout possibilities that so many other "heritage" brands (another term that makes me gag) have succumbed to.

The very idea of scaling up a H. Huntsman or a Henry Poole is an oxymoron. If you scale it up, it ain't the same. You have ruined it. Like the piece of you-know-what that they have turned Cristobal Balenciaga's name into by using his name on a product that is a total antithesis to what he dedicated his entire life to create and defend. The soul is gone. And that great legendary product that made the name in the first place, must be, and is, changed. And not for the better. If you scale up a Huntsman, it is not a Huntsman anymore. And few examples bear greater witness to this fact than what has gone down with Balenciaga. What those merchants in the temple call Balenciaga today, is a criminal act of defamation and identify theft, committed against the man himself and every single one of the great master craftspersons and artists that worked with him during his life on this earth. Scale up? F off.

I remind all of us here on SZ that there is a choice between wanting to become billionaires on the stock market, and wanting and being committed to being able to build the best product in the world. The two simply do not go together.

Oil. And Water.

And I for one, think it is time the Corporation gets the F out of this game. And by that , I mean the game of creation, artisanship, true luxury, and making great things for human beings, not a quick buck on the IPO by faking it for just long enough to hike the stock price up enough to pull the deal off…. and not trying to buy up every single young kid trying to get started out of fashion design school, and every journalist on the circuit trying to write about fashion, and every young retailer trying to start up a good new shop in his or her town, so that in the end- the customer doesn't know anything about what is really out there and really available.

And that too is another story...




View of the new expanded GBS Via Spalato
workrooms at Cavarzere Venezia where we
create about one thousand individual hand
made clothing pieces per year. Really.

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[Geoffrey B. Small]

(continued from above)

So TriggerDiscipline, I am warmed and very glad that you liked the handwriting, but I need to make sure everyone out there reading SZ understands that it is far more than just about adding a personal touch to the product to make it look like it came from some "artisan designer."

No, as you may have noticed with the feel and experience of trying on some of our work, it is far from that.

It is a symbol of a personal commitment to making the visible evidence of our extreme belief in the power of our own minds and hands to challenge and defeat the Corporation at making the best clothes in the world.

It is also a testament to a mission to reteach that world how to make clothes again in the 21st century. For instance, we are fed up with the totally corrupt fashion-design-school-industrial complex that is also now bought-lock-stock-and-barrel by the Corporation, and is more intent on squashing education, skill building, critical thinking and creativity than cultivating it- taking student's money (or their parent's) and turning out corporate cogs for a machine that does not intend to employ even one in 50 of them on average upon graduation, just to feed itself ever more on higher tuition fees and corporate sponsorship.

And it is a reconfirmation (that adds significant time and risk to the production and delivery of each piece), that contrary to much of the industry's lame business-school thinking, we do not believe in "scaling up." We believe in scaling down. And don't worry, all you MBA-fashion-wannabes-out-there, business can still be done. In fact, we may have some numbers that would make some of the bean-counters running things at Kering and LVMH take notice.

But we don't need them or their banks. We don't need their "prize-money" or their creepy Vogue-or-whatever fashion awards, and even less (if you are unlucky enough to win one of those trojan horse awards) their in your face "consulting" or "advice" for a full year or whatever. No thanks. Been there. Done that. Nor do we need their lackey retailers who feel the need to lie now to their customers in an attempt to show that they too are now in on the "artisan thing". And God forbid, we certainly don't need some stupid Twitter celebrity on their payroll, to be "seen" and photographed wearing our pieces, in the hopes of going viral.

Viral indeed.

No, our power lies in our passion to create and build the most incredible clothing products that customers today have ever experienced. It will take longer, but in the end, we will prevail. And we will do so one individual piece at a time. Each and every single piece we make and sell within our tiny group of courageous and visionary dealers is playing a crucial role in the development of this great story of making clothes for human beings again.

And each one of those pieces has my total personal involvement in its development and its creation- from beginning to end.
You may even find some of my blood on them sometimes.

And so, yeah, I sign it.
And I number it.




It is my Art and it is my work. It is not a brand thing or a label thing. It merits the proof that a real human being is behind it. And that human being wants the eventual owner of the piece and anyone else who views it to know it as well. It is one human being passing a piece of his soul, a life's work, and passion, along with that of those who work beside him, to another human being in the form of a garment designed and built to surpass any previous preconceptions of a what a piece of clothing can possibly be.

And even among our supporters, this story still needs to get out more.
For example, a recent article on our work in Singapore here mentions that:

"Exclusivity is the key to the appeal of Geoffrey B Small. The Made-in-Italy line is reported to be restricted to only ten or so retailers in the world, and the limited editions have a quantity of 500 pieces per style, per season. Each garment has an artisanal quality to it (right down to the hand-written hang tags!) that inevitably draws out your curiosity about them."

Whoa… 500 pieces per style per season? A little off the mark, I daresay. We make 500 pieces per season, not per style, but of the entire collection. Our entire production is 500 pieces. That is only about 1,000 total pieces per year for men and women combined for the entire world. An average of only 4 pieces per style per season. The tightest production and distribution in the business for any designer working at our level, and far, far less than the article, as positive as it was for everything else, implies. Yet in this day of e-commerce being so supposedly necessary to do anything, "mass luxury," and the spiraling over-consumption of plastic bullsh_t that befits a civilization so dumbed-out and unconnected with the realities of what is happening all around them on this planet: it is not surprising that it might be difficult to grasp what our production numbers really represent and signify… and that is nothing less than a total revolution, a direct and absolute challenge to go forth and slay the dragon with nothing but a product.

A product that defies all tentacles.

From the signing of the pieces, to the type of retailer you will find our work in, to the extreme hand making and creation technologies we use day and night to build the most labor and time-intensive designer clothes collection on the market today, to our more than 20 years of design leadership in environmental and ethical sustainability, everything we do is based upon bringing the value of the intelligent human being back into the clothing experience in very a big and bold way. The personal touch is real, and it's dead serious. Every person who works with me here in the new expanded Via Spalato workrooms at Cavarzere Venezia does indeed touch- each and every piece- as it follows its unique and magical path of creation, with their full attention, heart, and passion. That's why it looks and feels so personal, because it is, to each and every person here.

The emotion you feel when you experience the product is our emotion that we put into it as we created it. In the end, I sign and number it on behalf of each and every one of us who are working together to build the dream of making the greatest clothes the world has yet to see and experience.

Each piece forms a unique and historic part of this totally unique story in clothes-making.

So thank you again TriggerDiscipline for your kind message and the inspiration to take some time and post these thoughts as they came to my mind.

And thank you Faust, for keeping SZ alive and still the only room in the media world today where thoughts like these can be expressed to the few who may still care.

Best wishes to all and thanks for reading.


Geoffrey
for everyone




For reference, you can see the article in Singapore here…



Coming up next: our latest Paris collection presentation…

[Anwar]

I felt the need to post even though i don't post often. Love the collection, got me re-evaluating my entire wardrobe... Would wear any of your clothes in a heartbeat!

[Pumpfish]

Geoffrey,

I love you and your care in communication. In a world of fakes and empty bullshit spin, you have earned it and can supremely articulate your beliefs.



Thank you.

[Faust]

Geoffrey,

I love you and your care in communication. In a world of fakes and empty bullshit spin, you have earned it and can supremely articulate your beliefs.



Thank you.

Agreed!!!

[surver]

great selection of GBS @ eth0s :)