When its dark outside, and you are on your bike you know you need to be visible for safety reasons. Neon fashion trends have always lingered around but have never been as prominent than in the 1980s. Everywhere you looked it was about neon. Whether it was about visibility on the ski slopes or looking dope in a night club, more was more in the 80s and this affected everything in life. Big hair, big nights, big shoulders and .... big, bright colours.
I am not a big skier but i was a teen in the late 80s and remember a particular school ski trip which for some reason i remember was filled with zinc, white lips, wrap around mirror visors and bright neon colours.
Who had a pair of Reebok Freestyles ? i know i did. I probably wore them to aerobics classes. Gosh i miss those times!
Whether neon be used as an accent colour, or as an all-over colour scheme, it is definitely a colour that pops and attracts attention. I thought for Goodordering this would work well because our bags have always been designed for cycling. The coming together of fashion and function is what the brand is all about.
These were some early designs (above) i played around with a few years back. They involved colour blocking and the use of white binding to stay true to the brand. Back in 2015 or so when i originally drew these i wasn't 100% convinced that they worked so put this project on hold for a while.
Now take these neon classics and of course they will be translated into high end fashion eventually. All brands from Balenciaga to Louis Vuitton have had their fair share of neon drops and this will no double continue for... ever!
Here are some designs i have been working on for Goodordering.
I have always been inspired by colour and right now, in this depressing time, i have definitely been seeking bright colours to cheer myself up.
Swedish weekly tradition of lördagsgodis.
This word literally means 'Saturday sweets' or 'Saturday candy'. Lördag is the Swedish name for Saturday, which comes from the Old Norse name laugardagr which meant 'bathing day'. Laug meant 'pool' or 'lake' and dagr meant 'day'.
Here are some sweets pictures i came across in sweden recently. I fell in love with how they look so brightly coloured and playful. They have an instant attraction to children and anyone with a sweet tooth. When i saw the miles of pick and mix options in the shop i suddenly thought about how wonderful it would be to be a sweet designer.
Now for sourcing the materials. I knew that I wanted to use a lightweight but functional, sporty material for the main bag body. I decided on a lightweight rip stop nylon which takes bright colours really well.
Once i had selected the types of materials and fabrics i wanted to use on the range it was time to decide on the exact colour combinations, a fun job but a difficult job because everyone has different opinions.
I am lucky that i am able to turn to my thousands of helpers / customers / followers on instagram to help me decide. By asking my customers on a post about which colours they prefer it helps me make the very difficult decision.
The sample stage is one of my favourite and one where i need to make some big design decisions. It is also where the designs really come to life and where i can start to get some ideas of how the bags function in real life and the cost of producing them.
Here are three early samples of my brand new neon range which i hope to launch in the summer with a range of new styles as well as some old favourites. Once i have the samples in my hands, i use them and test them and most importantly gather feedback about them. Its so expensive to get bags manufactured - from the minimum order quantities to the shipping costs and tax , its not something i do all that often so i need to 100% sure that i'm making the right decisions when it comes to design.
I was pleasantly surprised when these samples (above) came. It was so fun to see the classic Goodordering designs come to life in a completely different vibe. I have been using these bags and taking them out for testing over the last few weeks. For me a bag designer, it is a good way for me to figure out whether i like the colourways and also test the functional parts of the bag.