Behind our designs & how you can inspire the next pair of gPants
Ever wonder how we come up with the designs for gPants? We talked with co-founder Kim Graham-Nye about the process, and we’ll tell you how you can get involved too. Read on…
How do you come up with new designs?
Inspiration pops up in all kinds of places. From tea towels, pillows, stationery, shirts, bathing suits. Sometimes we’ll come right up to strangers and ask if we can take a picture of their purse! One time, we bought a set of teacups that became the inspiration for gFleur.
Sometimes inspiration will sit in our think tank for a while until it fits with the right season. I’ve had this hat for a long time, and now it’s the inspiration for gPants coming out this spring.
You mentioned seasons. How often do you come up with new designs?
We have two seasons per year, and each season we release two boy designs, two girl designs, and one gender-neutral design. We work about a year out, so we’re already wrapping up Spring 2017.
When we’re coming up with an assortment, we want a connection between all of the designs. This can be tricky. They don’t need to match necessarily, but they all “family” together. That means some of our inspirations end up working a year or two after we discover them because we’re looking for just the right fit.
We also look at what gPants patterns have been popular. That way, we can give our customers more of what they like, but with a new twist.
We’re very mindful of making designs that appeal to everyone. Some people like ruffles, some don’t. Everyone has preferences. So we try to make something for everyone. Some of my favorites have been Girly Twirly, Game Day, gBloom, gPrincess & gPrince, Gentle Giants (a design we created with Every Mother Counts), gUniversity, and Graceful Rose. There are too many to name!
So what is the design process once you have your inspiration?
Right now, Mimi Starrett, gDiapers Product Designer, and I are in charge of in-house design. We’ve worked together since the very first gPants. Mimi is stellar at what she does with lots of industry experience.
We start by looking at different patterns applied to gPants diagrams. We’ll play with the scale of the pattern.
You know you have a good print when you can resize it, recolor it, and it looks good. As you can see with the I Love You More gPants, we explored other color options before we landed on the colors of EMC’s brand.
Creating the next family of gPants is so fun. It’s one of the best parts of the job. We can’t wait to unveil what’s coming up next.
Join the design fun
Kim and Mimi like to use Pinterest to collect inspiration for future gPants designs. Now they’ve created a board just for you, where you can share your ideas for new gPants! If you’d like to join us, email community@gdiapers.com, along with your email address that you use on Pinterest. Then we can add you to the board!
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