++ Reading time 3 minutes ++
Why the back office employee at ROSSIS is developing a new vegan design handbag .
An undiscovered designer sits in the ROSSIS back office
Last week I visited the ROSSIS team in Zurich. Francesco and Sara were looking at sketches and colors. "Is there a new vegan handbag ?" I asked Francesco curiously. "Yes, but not from me," he replied, pointing at Sara. "Sara is the designer this time".
I was surprised. Of course I knew Sara. But up to that point, I had only noticed her as a back-office employee. I looked at her in astonishment. "Are you a designer too?" Sara smiled mischievously and nodded. My curiosity was piqued and I wanted to know more.
A creative and useful HF work emerges
"Sara, how come you design a bag at ROSSIS?"
“In addition to my work at ROSSIS, I am studying Fashion Design & Technology at the Swiss Textile College . In the summer, I'll graduate from higher technical college and then start my bachelor's degree. At the end of the HF there is a detailed work that deals with a real problem of a real company. So I asked Francesco if I could do my studies on ROSSIS.”
“That sounds exciting. What problem do you think ROSSIS has?".
“Rossis was very successful in the early '0s. Back then, every woman in Zurich had a bag by Swiss designer Francesco Rossi. Many of these women are still loyal ROSSIS customers today. They buy the new vegan handbags from ROSSIS because they know that they are very elegant and robust bags .
“Gen Z doesn't know that Zurich has a vegan handbag brand called ROSSIS”.
Today the average ROSSIS customer is over 45 years old and comes to us because she has known us for a long time. ROSSIS, on the other hand, is little known among boys. Hardly anyone from Generation Y/Z knows that there is a brand in Zurich that has been producing animal-free bags and sustainable fashion for many years , long before this term was written on every product.”
" Once you knew what the problem was, how did you proceed?"
“ In order to appeal to new, young customers, I decided to design a concept for a vegan handbag for Generation Z.
First, I wanted to find out what this special group of customers expects from sustainable fashion and specifically from a vegan handbag. To do this, I conducted a survey. I asked about the shape and size, what the bag is used for and what it can cost.
I then researched the current fashion trends intensively. What colors, fabrics and textures are trending right now and what will be coming up next year.”
The ROSSIS team can be pretty secretive!
“That sounds very exciting. Can you tell us more about it."
Sarah laughs. "I'm not revealing anything at the moment. My work is not quite finished yet. "
“A little note for our blog readers?”
“It will be a ROSSIS style vegan handbag . However, in a new interpretation of the previous design bags . To do this, I studied the design language of ROSSIS in detail. Then I combined these with the current trends”.
"And?" I asked hopefully.
Sarah laughed again. "I'll tell you as soon as I've handed in my work."
"I won't give up ," I promised Sara. Then I gave another hopeful look at the table with the sketches and color samples that I had seen when I came in. But Francesco had already put everything away. - 'But this is also a secretive group, this ROSSIS team', I thought to myself. And then it occurred to me that Francesco had promised to tell me more about the TEXAID project. He has, I can tell you that much. More on that next week!
Your Laura
