Fashion Talk with Vicki Taylor of taylor

Vicki Taylor is the founder and designer of contemporary fashion brand, taylor. We caught up with Vicki to chat about how the fashion industry is responding to the global pandemic, and her favourite pieces.  

Consumers have become far more interested in how and where garments are made, and they love getting a behind the scenes insight. Can you tell us about taylor’s manufacturing?

At taylor we really work hard to ensure our garments are well designed and truly limited. Each one of our black label taylor garments is fully manufactured in New Zealand and passes through 5-6 local businesses. Our Black label makes up 90% of our range, with the other styles produced offshore to gain access to machinery and manufacturing processes that are no longer available here in New Zealand. These are The Patternmakers, The Cutters, Machinists, Pressers and Finishers who sew on the buttons, attach domes or keyhole buttonholes. Then of course our Quality Control team. These are the people who make what I design come to life. Our Makers are specialists in their craft, many of whom have worked for us for 20 years.

The textile and fabrication in each garment are the starting point for our designs. A quality, textile is the backbone of any garment and it is the key that will enable a garment to stand the test of time. I am incredibly lucky to have relationships with some amazing textile mills in Italy and Japan, from where we bring in many of our special fabrications. When I started my business 20 years ago there were approximately 40 places locally that I could buy textiles from. Today there are about 5-6 textile wholesalers left in Auckland who can supply us fabrications. Sadly, this decline has come as when designers make offshore, they also produce their fabrics offshore. We are so lucky to have this ability to source internationally from reputable long- standing ethical textile mills and produce taylor garments here in New Zealand.