FASHION INCUBATOR

APPAREL BEHIND THE SCENES:

If you are interested in a consistent dialogue on the factory floor, this is a good place to go:

Fashion Incubator

We have drawn a great deal of valuable and free information from the above website.  I recommend buying the book too:

The Entrepreneur’s  Guide To Sewn Manufacturing

Union

Living in L.A. going to garment factories on a regular basis I have never met anyone that is a part of a labor union. I assume there used to be garment unions in Los Angeles, but I don’t think there are any now. Recently I was reading The New Yorker and found a book review on “Killing for Coal: America’s Deadliest Labor War” by Thomas G. Andrews. It is a history of the Ludlow Massacre in which coal miners went on strike against their employer C.F. & I a Rockefeller coal company. Here is an excerpt: “Andrews’s account—less moral and more mineral than the standard one—runs something like this: Ancient sun-energy is stored beneath the earth. Because industrial capitalism wants it, the force exerted to draw it out of the ground is high, and, because there is an abundance of unskilled workers, the counterforce that miners are able to apply in their own defense is low. Or so the capitalists calculate from the laws of supply and demand. But it turns out that there is another force to reckon with: the miners’ go-for-broke willingness to fight. The capitalists expect a smooth hoovering up of hydrocarbons and workers’ rights, but instead violence explodes. People discover, to their dismay, that the desire to exploit an energy resource as cheaply as possible can lead to something like war.” as written in There was Blood by Caleb Crain for the New Yorker issue Jan. 19, 2009

If you want to hear what the owner of the biggest factory in Los Angeles,Dov Charney has to say about his immigrant laborers click here:http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=1618767941

If you want to see more images of our process click here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/purlieu/sets/72157606223096073/

Money, Politics, Art, JEWELRY

50 cent says when rhyming he reveals “defects” from his life prior to being a celebrity to show his legitimacy as writer/mc. To him, most rappers’ content poses as  “super-human” in contrast to his auto biography which is authentic.

Click here to see the video.

Marketing 101

I know it is old, but I find this video strangely interesting. It involves Soulja Boy talking about the nature of publicity. I don’t know if any of this is true or if it even matters, but I find it intriguing. He has this earnest, philosophical epiphany at the kitchen table in his mansion. The Philosophy is: if you say something it will come to be.
Click the link below for the real experience:
http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhjoMTNmJQBsfNU7B5

Inauguration Day

Not to be be trite, but I think it is amazing in such a short span of time, practically simultaneously, we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. and a new president. Not only a new president but someone who is a testament to the work MLK put in for the civil rights movement. There are overwhelming expectations of Obama. I assume the majority of his time will be spent fixing the problems the previous administration left for our country to deal with. Despite the out come of his term as president; this inauguration alone is progress. From segregation to inauguration: “Change” happened, hopefully the progress can continue. Below is a link to MLK talking about the hypocrisy of a nation at war ( as far as speeches go, I highly recommend it):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b80Bsw0UG-U&NR=1

New Fabric!!

New Fabric!!

Originally uploaded by PURLIEU / NATIVE AMERICAN

Our designs are printed on rolls of cotton lawn!!! Believe it or not, these rolls of fabric will make over 600 dresses!

I DON’T LIKE MONDAYS

Buy these sexy Purlieu dresses now at www.idontlikemondays.us !!!

And they have lots of other good stuff too…..

..

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL

home of the brave

NATIVE AMERICAN

Alex & Anna on the roof. Tees by Purlieu. Skirts & leggings by American Apparel. Bow by Peggy Noland. Shoes (left) by Zara.
Tees available now at select Urban Outfitters locations:
San Francisco CA, San Diego CA, Santa Monica CA, Irvine CA, Dallas TX, Roosevelt Field Mall NY, Broadway NY NY, Paramus NJ, Boston MA, Miami FL, West Edmonton Mall AB CAN, Vancouver CAN

Welcome To Purlieu

OUR INSPIRATION FOR SPRING 2009

Originally uploaded by PURLIEU.NET

Hello,
This is the very first blog entry from Purlieu. I’d like to begin our introduction with this fine piece of work, created by our very own Mr. Sky Ferren. This is an art form we’ve become fond of called “cross-modernalism”…