2014 Goes Out With A Bang

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It’s that time of the year, when everyone looks back over 2014 to reflect on their achievements and occasional mishaps. We’re no exception. It’s been an extraordinary year for Fashionizer, with our first global contract, record exports, new products launched and an unprecedented number of garments designed, made and delivered (nearly 20,000!).

So we are devoting this blog to reviewing the year from a Fashionizer perspective – with a cheeky look at 2014’s winners and losers.

Best film

Only one winner here, surely. We loved The Grand Budapest Hotel, with its quirky story and beautiful cinematography. But especially because here was film that understood uniforms, with its attention to detail, wonderful use of colour and ability to communicate everything from brand to status and heritage through their uniform design.

Best TV

Uniforms are everywhere on TV. There is catering and waiting apparel in Masterchef, medical uniforms in Holby and Casualty and retro housekeeping ones for the staff ‘downstairs’ in Downtown Abbey. We’ve also kept a beady eye on the real-life uniforms in the documentary series Richard E Grant’s Hotel Secrets. But we are going for one of our own here: our housekeeping dresses played centre stage in the BBC’s Great British Menu , and we were especially proud that they featured in the WW1 memorial dinner.

Best uniform

It’s the festive season so we are in the mood for giving. We could easily go for one of our own uniforms and could make an excellent case for quite a number of them. But when a uniform not only has its own Facebook page but also has more than half a million “Likes”, we have to hold our hands up and surrender. So let’s hear it for the Norwegian Olympic Curling Team’s pants.

Boob of the year

A few contenders here. Arguably, the ‘This is what a feminist looks like’ campaign rather backfired, because of doubts over whether the t-shirts had been ethically sourced. But since that hasn’t been completely substantiated, we are relegating it to runner-up. We are going instead for the Polish Eurovision entry, a boob in more ways than one.

PR disaster of the year

They were clearly working on the principle that every girl likes a bit of pink, but Victoria’s Secret found themselves in hot water when they branded one of their shops ‘Pink’. But that’s not our winner. We are giving that to the aforementioned ‘Feminist t-shirt’ campaign. Look at it this way, when you manage to secure the validation of members of the government, no less, you are guaranteed high-profile publicity. Just don’t mess it up by not checking your facts.

Team performance of the year

That has to be a mention to our team who worked successfully on the launch of our largest project to date, that was Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach. The stats are impressive. Our designers created just shy of 90 new styles, and our production and delivery teams managed the manufacture and delivery of more than 8000 items of clothing. We sent a top team to Dubai who spent more than 1,000 hours fitting the uniforms for 550 staff.

We wonder what 2015 will bring and promise to keep you updated.

Wishing you a restful Christmas and a Happy New Year.

The team at Fashionizer.

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