Author: Sophie Hannah Bernard

I’ve always been asked to continue to refine YOUNIFORM and question why it would fulfill the gap in the market and the best way to do so as a product: with every meeting I’ve had. After heavy discussion with my co-founder, we realized the shopping and marketplace aspect of YOUNIFORM doesn’t make sense with its values and message. It also technically would be extremely complicated due to our In-house coding. We decided to step away from the marketplace aspect, removing a large group of competitors such as Depop and second hand sites. Grailed is still a major competitor due to its educational and community aspect of ‘Dry Clean Only’. I recently had to send a breakdown of the application to Ammolite – a production and creative company I am going to intern for. The founder was so excited to see what this application can do! Here is a newly refined breakdown below:

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As I have to pitch write a blurb of what YOUNIFORM is: I challenge myself to do it every few weeks (due to my workload) and here is the most recent one that I have been sending out to people.

For those who are fashion conscious within the elevated streetwear subculture, they have hit a wall creatively with Instagram. For those who are fashion curious and want to get involved, they don’t know how to, or where to begin. There is a gap within this Gen-Z subculture to create a safe space for the online community. 

@youniform.global is an extremely personalized mobile social networking application, as a one-stop-shop for everything related to elevated streetwear. It connects and educates the online community. Youniform provides features such as: outfit inspiration, news and videos, discussions, and more. The user’s profile creates a timeline to archive and document the user’s journey with their personal style.

As a team, we decided after coding and laying the groundwork down – we should work through each section and work through extreme detail. We decided to work through the inspiration page. Jason designed the UX for the detail pages that we were missing, and Luca decided to code and work through to make sure it matched in the backend. Here is a preview:

Streetwear is being affected by Corona virus just as anything else. I recently read an Essay by Bobby Hundreds, co-founder of the OG streetwear brand the Hundreds. He described streetwear as almost a virus itself: “It’s novel and innovative. It needs a receptive host to share it with a community. It’s infectious and resilient and mutates over generations. And although it comes and goes in waves, no matter what the world throws at it, it’s almost impossible to extinguish. It survives.”

Recently, with revenge purchasing occurring in China, streetwear’s shopping has moved from Brick and Mortar to digital. Digital currency of streetwear has stayed the same, and buying is making people feel rational. Funny enough, GQ stated that the price of designer streetwear masks has almost doubled in price. It’s the question on every small business owners mind: will people ever shop in stores again? Streetwear stores are where the youth comes together in a physical environment to grow and create. It’s the local hangout – take that away and what is missing? A localized platform for the community to meet and discuss together. That is why my mobile application is so important: during a time of uncertainty, we need conversation and community for the streetwear subculture online.

Recently – Bobby has used this texting service called Community to reach out to famous individuals and text them (making it a direct to consumer marketing tactic). I decided to text Bobby and ask if my mobile application would be helpful for the community and his text responses are above. As Bobby says, “Direct-to-consumer doesn’t just stop with sales. It encompasses marketing, cultivating trust, and most importantly, community building. Lockdowns may not last forever but society may be hesitant to re-enter the outside world anytime soon.” I want to make YOUNIFORM direct-to-consumer in its marketing tactics – involving those who will be apart of the mobile application each step of the way and encompassing their feedback into the product.

Although I am not personally writing YOUNFORM’s code as my co-founder is, I decided it would be in my best interest to understand what he was coding in which is apple’s XCode. Through Xcode you can build interface (UI) for any mobile application without having to completely code it from scratch. It also allows for in-depth testing – so for example to simulate if the app would run on an extremely slow network – what it would look like.

To do so, you work collectively in Xcode and UIKit. Xcode provides template projects as starting points for every app created. It provides minimal UI and so Luca can build and run the project immediately and see the results on a device. We are using TestFlight and it is shared collectively between Luca, Jason and I. We have meetings once a week to go over the progress. We have a base code of everything, and have begun to go over each section with a fine tooth comb you can say and make sure it visually looks like the UX designed by Jason to match.

The UI kit allows Luca to not have to write code, but work visually. It is similar in the way that Adobe XD works by linking and dragging to create a functioning model through a control panel, as it simultaneously writes the code for you. I decided to take a walk through this apple lesson: Starting Developing iOS Apps (swift) (which is also Xcode): so now I understand the panels in case I need to ask Luca to fix anything specific. https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/referencelibrary/GettingStarted/DevelopiOSAppsSwift/ConnectTheUIToCode.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40015214-CH22-SW1

As of right now, I want to keep learning – so I have been looking into free courses that are provided during the Pandemic. I am looking into Future learn as they have a sustainability course in collaboration with LCF that is free. I am also looking into Lynda Learning (connected with UAL) on a variety of subjects. I am downloading Cinema 4D as I really have been interested in animation and I know it is extremely desired right now.

In regards to streetwear and my continual drive to learn, I found a course that is run by Parsons x Complex online called StreetwearU. I believe there is a small fee but it aims to have you explore all aspects of the streetwear industry, discover related careers, and build your skills. It features many recognized leaders from across the streetwear world. Streetwear Essentials includes 5 video-based course modules, and related activities. Each module is broken into several shorter lessons, and graduates of the program earn a non-credit certificate of completion from Parsons.

During a time which is so up in the air and uncertain, it might be nice to have some structured academic learning about the subculture I am a part of. I have scheduled a call with the admissions department in regards to fees, etc during this time.

I collaborated with a friend who is an illustrator and animator from my BA course. I showed her my inspiration from Bauhaus, Rick Owens DRKSHDW, Aphex Twin, and Raf Simons Graphics from his early seasons. I showed her my color palette and the military style texture I was trying to achieve. I drew it out of her and we went from there. I am extremely happy with the outcome as I never had an emblem when I first worked on the app, just the font and the word. So this was exciting!

I have been reaching out to those 27,000 members within the online Facebook group ‘High Fashion Talk’ in order to directly talk to my future consumer, and gain insight on topics that relate to Youniform to gain feedback and new information. Originally this idea started as a test to see if people would even respond to my questions, and I have gained a large amount of feedback! I continued to do so each week, to see what the general public within this community had to say.

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Recently, I attended the Westminster Menswear Archive Exhibition. This exhibition focused on, ” the invisibility of menswear due to its intrinsic design language that concentrates on the reiterations of archetypal garments intended for specific functional, technical or military use; designers have disrupted this through minimal, yet significant modifications to produce outcomes that both replicate and subvert their source material.” (Invisible Men Exhibition Website).

I wanted to explore the unique perspective of how individuals appreciate certain pieces and the ideations that go along with them. By looking at pivotal pieces designed by creatives from brands such as Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen, it highlights the notion that consumers praise these individuals and the work they create. It was interesting to note the connection between workwear from those in the force as well as daily jobs, to brands such as Stone Island and CP Company. Personally, I noticed a lot of pieces and got very excited to have the chance to see them in person. I noticed around me were students, studying the shapes and hemlines of each piece for long periods of time. It was inspiring to see a room full of mannequins wearing items of clothing could mean so much, while being so simplistic.

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After reading books like: The incomplete: Highsnobiety Guide to Street Fashion and Culture (2018), This is not Fashion: Streetwear Past, Present and Future (2018) and Streetwear: The Insider’s Guide (2007); I gained insight on the large culture of Japanese Streetwear. It’s minimal design and aesthetic is similar to that of Archive Streetstyle. I mixed the two by looking at UX design on dribble (a Pinterest like website for digital design) and and Pinterest for old luxury fashion campaigns for layout inspiration from brands such as Helmut Lang, CDG and more. I decided to show these moodboards for my interview meetings I had with some potential collaborators from the MA UX Design course at LCC.

As I watch YouTube videos from influencers that are categorized as minimal luxury street wear enthusiasts, I have gained a sense of understanding within their liked design elements as well as color scheme. I pulled some of their outfit pictures posted on instagram as reference, and tried to create a new rebranding color scheme. I looked at Avery Ginsberg and Kailee McKenzie, the couple who started STAATSBALLET- a sustainable clothing brand. I also looked at Jakob Hetzer, who is beloved by companies like GRAILED and has created his own clothing line called Jakob Hetzer Archive. Someone who is a YouTuber that has a more modern approach to the archive market is @Whoisjacov- an instagram influencer who shows his DIY aesthetic through YouTube as well.