Shine On Rainwear Video
The beauty and the curse of having many ideas is wanting to do them all. Shine On Rainwear is one of those ideas that is so good that I had to get it going. This is another product development process and circular economy case study for me in terms of sourcing recycled materials and feasibility of end of use recapture of the fabric.
The Quick Story
After 4 years of year round bike commuting in Portland rain, I started developing my own designs of fashionable rainwear for female bike commuters. I was tired of wearing the rain gear that looked like black pajamas - wearing black in the dark in the rain is the worse idea for rainwear. I started to design one piece, long coats, and attractive two piece rainwear on paper. Shine On Rainwear was born and the name encapsulated the need to be seen, to be radiant, dazzling and inspire people to keep shining even though they might feel like drowned rats in the rain.
The design and business started and amazing people showed up to help with the prototype including Heather Treadway a producer of stellar clothes for dance performers. We had a blast producing THE SUPER SUIT! It is now a digital, graded pattern. My dream for this company is to be U.S. made and ethically produced. I would like to support the land base of those producing environmentally friendly and sustainability harvested fibers. My connection in India for silk struggles to compete with china. Running the numbers on production and finding ethical fabrics has been financially challenging. I'm allowing other solutions and angles to arrive to find the next step.
This business has inspired a group of Bhutanese weavers and their teacher to use shiny waste in the production of accessories. As the business grows I am wanting to support the production of clothes and accessories for people around the world that move in dark places to be seen and seen with their shine on.
The beauty and the curse of having many ideas is wanting to do them all. Shine On Rainwear is one of those ideas that is so good that I had to get it going. This is another product development process and circular economy case study for me in terms of sourcing recycled materials and feasibility of end of use recapture of the fabric.
The Quick Story
After 4 years of year round bike commuting in Portland rain, I started developing my own designs of fashionable rainwear for female bike commuters. I was tired of wearing the rain gear that looked like black pajamas - wearing black in the dark in the rain is the worse idea for rainwear. I started to design one piece, long coats, and attractive two piece rainwear on paper. Shine On Rainwear was born and the name encapsulated the need to be seen, to be radiant, dazzling and inspire people to keep shining even though they might feel like drowned rats in the rain.
The design and business started and amazing people showed up to help with the prototype including Heather Treadway a producer of stellar clothes for dance performers. We had a blast producing THE SUPER SUIT! It is now a digital, graded pattern. My dream for this company is to be U.S. made and ethically produced. I would like to support the land base of those producing environmentally friendly and sustainability harvested fibers. My connection in India for silk struggles to compete with china. Running the numbers on production and finding ethical fabrics has been financially challenging. I'm allowing other solutions and angles to arrive to find the next step.
This business has inspired a group of Bhutanese weavers and their teacher to use shiny waste in the production of accessories. As the business grows I am wanting to support the production of clothes and accessories for people around the world that move in dark places to be seen and seen with their shine on.
