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Zuzana Kraemerová is a special occasion and bridal designer from Prague. She specializes in historically influenced clothing and imports specialty brocades from China which she makes available for sale through her online store, Sartor.cz
1) How are you involved in the fashion and textiles industry?
I am a...let's say, designer and seamstress, I make historical costumes as well as fantasy creations or non-standard bridalwear. I promote some of my work on my website, which is now rather an internet shop with silk fabrics.
2) Do you find all of your clients through your website?...If not, how do you get work?
No, I find about half or even more than half clients through friends, friends' friends...and customers' friends. It works like magic - one customer tells her friend about her dress, the friend comes and wants one, then she tells other people... I can work only about 3 days a week, so I can't take too many customers. If I did this for a living, I would probably get most of the customers through my website (which would have to contain more and better images of my work than it does now)
3) So if most of your work is through word of mouth, how did you get started? If someone else wanted to be a dressmaker, what steps will they need to make to find that first client, that second client, and so on?About 4 years ago, my friend pointed me out to his two friends that were running a shop with historical and fantasy equipment. They needed a seamstress and didn't require much - I sent them some pictures of my work I had (which I, now, think was absolutely terrible) and they got excited and put my pictures on their website. For about half a year, nothing happened - and suddenly, customers came like a waterfall. I made some money and made new dresses I photographed...I was able to earn much more money than I ever did before, though the two guys had about 30% of the price for themselves. They wanted me to go cheaper and cheaper and I just didn't like to obey some rules. About a year later, my sister told me we could make our own website - she would do the finances, taxes, etc. and I would do the technical part. So we got a guy (a 13 year old, by the way) that made us the website and we started offering my products on my own website. Of course it took another year till someone noticed it and customers got going, luckily I had many "word of mouth" customers, so I was able to manage even without the website.
4) Six months before you got going? So patience is definitely a good thing to have I guess one could say :) You said that you already had some dresses made, were these dresses for yourself? Had you made them in school or were they just sewing projects that you taught yourself to do?
Yes, it takes a long time till customers start to notice new products. Anyone who is starting a website should be prepared they get no orders for about a year, and the business starts to pay off no sooner than in two years (we're still in minus, but expect to get to zero in the end of this year). The dresses I made were for myself...just for fun...I wasn't very good at sewing then, so now I don't understand how someone could buy them:-) About a year before I met these guys with their website, I attended a sewing evening school where I learned how to sew like a professional seamstress - all I needed was practice.Since then (and also before then) I was entirely self taught.
5) So the only course you took before starting your business was an evening tailoring course? Not a college course for credit. Do you think your business has suffered because you took the self-taught route?
It was an evening school that took one year and was officially a "school" - we got a certificate that is accredited by the government. What we did in one year on the course is what is taught in colleges for three years. Of course we didn't do everything, but we did just enough to be able to continue on our own. This also supports my theory that 70% of teaching in colleges is a waste of time. I'm quite sure I would learn faster if I could study in a good fashion college, but there aren't any such schools in Czech Republic. The level of fashion education here is so poor that I made a better choice studying languages officially and self teaching and sewing in my free time.
6) You obviously love dressmaking to have pursued it on your own so much. What do you enjoy the most about it?
Definitely patternmaking and fitting. Of course I love to create and see the results, use great fabrics (thanks to our shop:-)), I love history and costumes, corsets...but I'm just obsessed with the idea of perfect fit and my aim is to create a system that would allow you to draft a pattern based on the person's measurements that would fit and need no alterations.
7) Sounds like a great goal! Let me know when it's done :) You mention fabrics from your shop, can you tell me more about what your shop offers and why you started it?
My sister moved to China some time ago and while we were beginning with the shop,she found out the fabrics there were so cheap! We thought we should give it a try and buy some small quantities and see if people are interested. They were! So we started buying and selling, first transporting the fabrics in friends' baggages when they went from China to Prague, then officially by mail. My sister was the one that paid all this in the beginning, now the shop is slowly "paying her back". We sell silk fabrics and silk brocades. These fabrics are very hard to find here and all reenactors need them. We want to focus especially on brocades as these are hard to find in the whole Europe. We sell firm, tigthly-woven brocades that are usually 50% silk - very good material for corsets and evening wear, and of course for costumes.
8) Zuzana, where do you see yourself going in the future? Is further education in your sights or do you think you have learned everything you need and from now on you just want experience?
I don't think I ever stop learning. I love studying and thinking about how things work. I don't think one can ever stop learning and say "now I know enough". That would mean you think you know everything. Many people do that, though. I admire people that are able to learn even in 60 - Donn McCunn for example, he's amazing - never stops learning! So I'll study and experiment and take notes - and one day, hopefully, I'm going to come out with new techniques, new methods...in a book?:-)
9) I've enjoyed talking with you today Zuzana, is there anything else you'd like to add? Any advice? Any words of warning for the readers of Fashion Students Online who may be looking at you and thinking "I want to do that"?
My advice for beginning sewers or patternmakers would be: go and attend as many courses as you can! You'll save yourself so much time! If I could take more courses in the beginning, I would save myself many future mistakes and errors. Invest all your money back into education and equipment! And if you want to start a business, remember you can do everything if you really want to and it's all up to you! But always be self-critical. Do what suits you best, don't try to make something out of yourself that you actually aren't. I'd suggest to read Alexis Black's article on YWU "When It's Time to Seek Help For Your Costume Making Addiction (Or Go Pro)".
To learn more about, or contact Zuzana Kraemerová, please visit Sartor.cz
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Wednesday, 07 October 2009
Zuzana Kraemerová is a special occasion and bridal designer from Prague. She specializes in historically influenced clothing and imports specialty brocades from China which she makes available for sale through her online store, Sartor.cz 1) How are you involved in the fashion and...
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