For the Wearables Fashion Faceoff contest, we asked six juniors at Moore College of Art & Design to come up with embroidery or screen-printing concepts to embellish a garment offered by Vantage Apparel. The designs are meant to complement athleisure outfits the students have been creating throughout the school year. As part of the contest’s educational aim, we encouraged representatives of Vantage to provide feedback on the students’ concepts and make suggestions on how best to translate them to their chosen medium.

Ariana Rodriguez’s initial idea for the Vantage garment was to scatter embroidered triangles randomly across a shirt. After reviewing Rodriguez’s rough sketches, Diana Mumm, creative director for Vantage, offered the junior several options that would be feasible from a production standpoint. Mumm suggested laser-etching to achieve tonal triangles covering the sleeve and body of a garment. Unlike embroidery or tech patches, though, the etching would be smooth and lacking in dimension, she notes. Vantage could also execute a design that combined laser etching and embroidery, either as a vertical left-chest design down the front of garment or in two placements: vertically on the sleeve and as an oversized left-chest decoration.

Rodriguez ultimately decided to go with embroidery and laser etching on a lightweight fleece jacket (3275) from Vantage. The triangle decoration is “spaced throughout like a mosaic” down the left side of the garment, Rodriguez explains.

Below is a slideshow documenting the evolution of Rodriguez’s Vantage look.

One of Ariana Rodriguez's rough concepts for Vantage Apparel

Another rough concept sketch for Vantage

A detail sketch from Ariana's rough concept

Another rough sketch from Ariana

The inspiration for Ariana's concept

The Vantage garment style Ariana chose

Ariana's finalized artwork for her Vantage look