Chris Francis Exhibits at CAFAM

Chris Francis has been a very busy guy. Since we featured his incredible story last March, he has been buried away in his new East LA workshop, creating a mind-blowing collection of shoes for his inaugural exhibition at the Craft and Folk Art Museum of Los Angeles (CAFAM).

The concept for the show was to not only celebrate a special curation of Chris’ hand-made footwear, but also to situate him in the museum window, as artist in residence.

It took three guys and two weeks to set up what he affectionately describes as “organized chaos”.

Many of the exhibiting shoes have been made with found objects and raw materials; some are made entirely by hand, while others are made by hand and machine.

When asked about his experience and collaboration with the Craft and Folk Art Museum, Chris explains,

“It’s an honor to be here and to be shown in a museum, especially this museum. I love CAFAM; they back artists who wouldn’t necessarily get to show in other venues. It’s been a wonderful experience, creating the show and working with the museum.

I met a lot of fans at the opening night and the pre-show event, which is really cool; it’s fascinating to hear other people’s interpretations of the shoes.”

For the next three months, Chris will be working on location in his pop-up workshop on Wilshire Blvd,. Visible from the sidewalk, he will be creating a new collection for the Bay Area’s Richmond Art Center.

“I’m a fan of machinery, I’m inspired by machinery, and one section of the CAFAM show is actually mechanical; they are very functional. That will be some of the ground I’ll be covering while I’m here working in the window.”

Watch the Brilliant Collective interview to get the inside scoop on the show, and make your way down to CAFAM to see the magician at work!

To find out more visit CAFAM.ORG

Creative Direction & Writing: Jennie McGuirk

Photography: Betsy Winchell

Film : Jan Lim

With special thanks to the Craft And Folk Art Museum

Stock MFG Co : Creating A Sustainable Future for Chicago

Left to right: Tim Tierney (Product Development) Jim Snediker (CEO) Jason Morgan (Operations Director) Mike Morarity (Creative Director).

The Stock Manufacturing Company story began just two years ago, as an entrepreneurial group of guys joined forces to launch a premium, menswear brand out of a fifty-year-old factory in the heart of Chicago.

Each bringing their own skill sets and industry perspectives to the table; they are pioneering a vision to create jobs, support the local economy and keep prices as competitively low as possible, on a range of clothing that they themselves proudly wear.

By combining the time-tested factory infrastructure with the explosive power of digital media, the team has found a way of successfully leveraging both traditional and modern business practices to create a sustainable model for American manufacturing.

The brand draws its name from the legendary Chicago Stock Yards that not only played a defining part in the city’s history, but also went on to inspire advances in American industry, such as Henry Ford’s auto assembly line.

The stock market was the epicenter for white-collar innovation as well as the backbone of blue-collar job creation.

Our logo, the bullhead, is Mike’s interpretation of an old restaurant logo where all the high rollers in Chicago went when the Stock Yards were still big.

We’ve pulled a lot of inspiration from the architecture and the Bauhaus movement of Chicago; everything that we do comes back to the Mid-Western mentality.

The masculine aesthetic of the brand is woven throughout: from the design decisions that go into the clothing, to the website and various marketing materials.

Emphasis is placed on the functionality of each product as much as the style aesthetic, giving the brand a distinct visual identity in the marketplace.

Mike comes from an industrial product design background, keeping functionality in mind with a lot of the designs, while Tim is from a product development background so will look at it from a salability aspect. The product has to appeal to the market but still stay true to the brand as we want to make sure that our pricing stays consistent.

The team also designs with the core customer in mind, as a third of sales are in Chicago itself, followed by California and New York.

It’s the major cities in America but Chicago isn’t exactly fashion forward, so we’re trying to ease into fashion forward product but with focus on stable pieces.

As the demand for domestic-made products continues to grow, Stock Mfg Co. is tapping into the menswear market with its own style of modern basics.

There’s a lot of hometown pride and we’re one of the only local factories that makes menswear in the city. The market isn’t as nearly developed as it is in NY or LA, which helps our visibility and exposure.

However, rather than marketing themselves as a Made In America brand, they just consider it to be an integral part of how they do things.

We want our products to be able to stand against any clothing brand. We are half the price of comparable brands that are made in the USA, so that’s where we fit into the discussion, as we’re trying to bring quality and craftsmanship to a broader appeal.

There are clear advantages of having a local workforce who are there at the factory for the whole process. The current drawback however, is the lack of trained labor, as the factory is certified as a Mil-Spec quality manufacturing facility and finding people with that level of expertise is not as easy as it might seem.

As we grow, we’re going to have to start finding more operators; there will be a need for in-house training and apprenticeships down the line.

We’ve held training programs in the past where 75 -100 people came through and maybe only one of those people became a full time operator. It takes sewing skills but also the ability to be able to sit there and focus.

Initially testing a crowdsourcing model that supported up and coming designers, the team was finding it difficult to gain traction as a fledgling company. The breakthrough moment came in the form of a collaborative project with a group of well-connected bloggers, stylists and photographers based in New York.

These Brand Evangelists promoted a genuine social media dialogue, which in turn validated the product and saw the brand scale to new heights. 

That led to us dropping the crowdsourcing aspect and going into making limited run collaborations. It was a good way for us to scale up initially, and it was also when we figured out our customer.

A lot of our customers are trendsetters, so they’re out there representing the brand, and getting exposure for us.

We’re good at what we do in terms of knowing what products are going to sell, and making the right amount of inventory so that our overhead is still low. We started with single pieces and have grown to capsule collections.

Featured Model, Steven Sampang, is one of team's most prolific Brand Evangelists:

I've been following the Stock Mfg guys since they put their first shirt into production and have been hooked on their brand ever since.

It's fascinating to watch these guys doing something that no other clothing brand seems to know how to do; and that's do shit the right way. As I get older and invest in the threads I buy, I'm realizing that it's nearly impossible to get U.S., let alone Chicago-made pieces without paying designer prices.

These guys are proving that there's no reason why local, ethically conscious, high quality, and affordable clothing can't all fit in the same sentence; or did I just prove that for them?

By remaining lean and nimble in their business structure and practice, they have identified various marketing channels, which double up as customer acquisition.

A big part of having an online business is that you can see who your customers are and you maintain contact with them rather than relying on them to walk into a store. So far our entire customer acquisition model has been through digital media, and it’s been very organic. The pillar of our business is the agility of being online with the backbone of the factory where we can enact changes quickly.

The setting of tangible milestones has been key to maintaining an ambitious pace for business growth, as well as encouraging focus on what ideas work and what needs to be dropped. By paying close attention to online metrics the team has been able to design, test and iterate not only the product but also the entire business model, allowing market feedback to inform their choices. 

We’ve had a bottle of 23-year-old bourbon that we’ve been waiting to open at a major milestone, but we keep hitting the milestones and decide to wait for another one before opening it.

Hitting each goal is really satisfying, and each one creates more momentum towards the next one. Getting feedback from clients actually wearing the stuff we make is really motivating.

Another breakthrough moment came as Stock secured several B2B contracts for high-profile Chicago brands.

Goose Island was bought by a large company but wanted to maintain their Chicago identity, so they came to us to show that they are still a local craft beer brewery with local business in mind.

We’ve also created uniforms for restaurants Alinea and Next. They’d been sourcing stuff from France with a 6-month lead-time; we came in and cut their costs in half and developed stuff exactly to their specs. We’re providing a service and a value that wasn’t really out there.

The collaborative angle of their model places emphasis on delivering individual design solutions for each client’s needs. This isn’t a one-size fits all shop; Stock forms a partnership with each of its clients, in order to provide custom solutions that make the difference.

Not only do they deliver a better product and save their clients time and money by producing locally, but the team is also able to market directly to a target demographic through the labels that are stitched into every uniform.

Whether it be for the Stock in-house label, a creative collaboration or a client company uniform; each Stock product is “branded” with a unifying logo that represents quality, trust and a shared vision for sustainable growth.

Visit Stock's online store

Or email: info@stockmfgco.com

Spread the love by referencing Brilliant Collective

Creative Direction & Writing: Jennie McGuirk

Photography: Betsy Winchell

Model: Steven Sampang

Factory 45 : Accelerating The Sustainable Apparel Industry

Image Courtesy : Factory 45.

Are you a designer or entrepreneur with an idea, design or prototype, and need a bit of help taking things to the next level?

Are you looking to create a sustainable apparel business that promotes a healthy work culture and creates American jobs?

Are you looking to scale your existing operations or searching for reputable local vendors and suppliers to partner with?

Look no further than accelerator program Factory 45.

Created by sustainable apparel industry visionary, Shannon Whitehead, this 6 month online program will give you the resources, tools and mentorship, to "Build. Launch. Grow. On the Fast Track".

Applications are open until April 28, 2014.

A Story of Stubbornness

Standing true and steadfast; Filson has perfected the art of being stubborn with good reason.

Lovecraft Leather: Perpetuating the Art of Custom Shoe Design

With Chris Francis of Lovecraft Leather.

Nestled among one of the most exciting creative hot-spots of Downtown Los Angeles, Chris Francis has one foot in the past and one foot in the future of custom shoe-making.

He dedicates his time and energy to finding and restoring original cobbler machines, creating inventive new solutions for design challenges and preserving the knowledge of the traditional craft for generations to come.

My workshop is very important to me as this is where all my inspiration comes from; it’s organized chaos with a lot of ghosts from old shoe cobblers.

Lending a poetic twist to Chris' Los Angeles-based story; heels are made from the melted down plastic of countless Hollywood movie reels.

He meticulously creates bespoke footwear for colorful characters on and off the stage, mixing self-learned shoe-making skills and a plethora of experiences from his own eclectic background.

Part art form, part method of communication; his process is defined by a genuine desire to connect with his subjects and translate human form into designs that are loaded with their personality and his own creative flair.

Growing up in Kokomo, Indiana, Chris was surrounded by factories, machinery and a working class labor ethic.

After they closed, we played in the factories and it gave me a love of machinery. It’s a big reason why I collect the machines and have the need to be surrounded by them; it evokes a kind of nostalgia.

He rode freight trains around the country and took work where he found it: the carnival, lumber-jacking and even sword fishing ships.  It was a baptism of fire for him each time, learning new skills in order to survive.  He now applies all of these diverse skills to everything he makes.

I apply knots that I learned on the fishing boat towards sewing or stitching on a jacket and I can use what I learned when I was a carpenter towards creating the architecture of a shoe.

Putting the final touches to Guitarist, Donna Grantis' heels.

Along with his multidisciplinary skill-set comes a resourceful mentality to create something from nothing.

Some of my favorite designs are when I’ve had absolutely no money at all to buy any materials and I just find materials on the street. That’s where a lot of really inventive designs come from.

A true artist at heart, Chris has continuously been creating work over the years. The guise may have shifted from painter to sculptor to designer, but the vision remains constant. His focus shifted to shoe-making just four years ago but footwear has been a common theme throughout his life,

I was painting pictures of shoes on the trains I was riding, or I was collecting shoes when I got off the railroad, and then my art at the time consisted of paintings of shoes that featured on billboards or in magazines.

When asked what was the first defining moment of his shoe-making career, he responds,

I guess maybe the moment when the shoes went out on stage at a rock ‘n’ roll show. Like it’s more than just something that sits on a shelf at a shop; the fact I had made something that was performing in front of people, that was a really cool moment.

In addition to his mind-blowing creative vision, one of Chris’ most endearing qualities is his humility. The shoes that he’s referring to were on the feet of legendary “Queen of Metal” Lita Ford.

Due to the fact he is so consumed in the design process, his marketing efforts are minimal, and he marvels that somehow he “keeps getting found”. However, once you have spent some time in his company and observed the care and attention that goes into each of these incredible products, it’s blatantly obvious why he attracts the people and projects he does.

Shoes are a way for me to take a concept, a thought, and then turn it into more of a two dimensional drawing and then use math and geometry to create a pattern that surrounds the complex third dimension. Which also for me goes to a different dimension of capturing someone’s personality in a piece, and that’s what it’s really all about, what I value is that experience.

Citing music as a huge inspiration for everything he makes, he also references the great Italian shoemakers Ferragamo and Di Fabrizio.

I’m always striving for perfection on every single detail, down the stitch. A lot of the people that I’m making for judge by the standards of the high fashion houses, and I have to live up to it. You have to make the equivalent of an Italian product.

Shoes Modeled by Vanessa Gonzalez

He consciously tries to use as little new, store-bought materials as possible; up-cycling leathers, wood and exotic skins whenever he can.  His love of animals and the environment drives his search for alternative materials and more ethical processes.

His dream is to make an impact through exceptional, bespoke design and leave a legacy that perpetuates the ancient handicraft of shoe making,

I hope to leave lots of art and shoes, and make things that get collected by others in the future, that get looked upon like the things that inspired me. I hope that other makers will find these tools, and that all these tools stay in use. I’d love at some point to be able to pass the trade onto others and help others learn the trade. That wasn’t something that was offered to me as a lot of the makers didn’t want to teach and now the trade is dying out.

No matter how tough the design challenge is, Chris refuses to give in.

Failure is never an option. Even if you feel that it’s not working out, you still have to make it and understand why it doesn’t work so that you learn for the next piece. You need all of that information. You run into every single situation imaginable during the design of a garment or a shoe, especially custom orders.

These things have to move on stage, they have to be tight fitting, they have to be comfortable, they serve so many functions and you always have to be ten or twenty steps ahead of the game. You have to have the end result in your mind at all times, and pull rabbit after rabbit out of your hat. It’s like you have to be a magician at all times to pull it off.

It can be tough and demanding, but ultimately very rewarding.

---

Chris can be contacted at : info@lovecraftleather.com

Spread the love by referencing Brilliant Collective.

Creative Direction & Writing: Jennie McGuirk

Photography: Betsy Winchell

Model: Vanessa Gonzales