Peter Do Research

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Peter Do Designer Research

Paula Antal K00229632

CONTENTS Company Designer Profile The Team Collections Company Signature Customer Competition Technology Sustainability Branding Promotion Social Media Stockists

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Company Peter Do the label, is a pretty new label as it was only set up in 2018. However, in the short amount of time it has garnered the attention of many in the fashion industry.

When Phoebe Philo departed Céline, she left a gaping hole in the market for unfussy, feminine and quietly powerful clothes.

Emerging designer Peter Do, who learned his craft from Philo herself, might just do the trick.

In his first season, the designer has attracted a slew of international stockists, from Net-a-Porter to Machine A, which bought into Do’s “real clothes for real women,” as the designer describes. “It’s about building a modern uniform and wardrobe for women.”

Do’s inaugural Spring/Summer 2019 collection, which draws its influence from menswear, as well as a focus on craftsmanship, features new takes on traditional tailoring items, asymmetric dresses and skirts, and pieces made from the designer’s “spacer” fabric, a spongy neoprene material he developed himself.

His pieces — inspired by Irving Penn’s “Small Trades” photographs of ordinary people in the 1950s, as well as Tokyo street style in the 90s and jewellery pieces that are found and repurposed — are simultaneously wardrobe staples and collectibles, with a luxury price point: $2,373 for a satincrepe and neoprene midi dress and $1,015 for a one-shoulder draped crepe and twill top.

Peter Do Autumn/Winter 2019 | Source: Courtesy For its first season, the label’s revenue was over $500,000, and it has already doubled market appointments for Autumn/Winter 2019. The label now has a team of 11 people across design, production and sales, all based in New York.

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Designer profile

Peter Do is a 28 year old designer based in New York. When designer Peter Do discovered fashion, the scene didn’t open on him as a child locked away in a suburban bedroom, sketching furiously, dreaming of days whiled away in light-filled ateliers. It was much later and involved reams of wax paper and garbage bags, in a Project Runway-style competition at his own high school in Philadelphia, as he likes to tell it.

The Vietnamese designer moved to the US when he was 14 years old and it was at high school that he decided to pursue fashion design.“There was no anything, no internet, so we thought it would be fun to do a little fashion show,” he says over the phone from his design studio in Brooklyn. “I learned how to sew, I was learning how to thread a bobbin, I was dyeing a curtain pink,” he recounts of the art club project that had him whipping up confections out of bin liners and sewing hems into toilet paper. It is clear that the 28-year-old Do, who grew up removed from fashion on a farm in Vietnam before moving to the US aged 14, isn’t habituated to embellish – on either his intelligently executed clothing or his stories. As he puts it: “I found out then that I really enjoyed making clothes.”

Two seasons in, Do has checked off an enviable stable of achievements with his eponymous label. After studying at the Pratt Institute, then the Fashion Institute of Technology, where he won top honours in the CFDA Scholarship Program, he finished in 2014 winning the Graduates Award in the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers. The reward was a job at one of the LVMH houses. That led to an opening at Céline, “I worked in Phoebe’s runway team… there I learned about the creative element [of fashion] and honed my craft,” says Do. After two years in Paris under Phoebe Philo he returned to New York to work at Derek Lam before going solo, where he experienced the business side of the industry through doing casting and market reports. He held appointments for his debut spring/summer ’19 season in a friend’s apartment and walked away with Net-A-Porter and Dover Street Market among a total of nine stockists, who between them bought every piece.

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The Man

So, who is Peter Do? Try searching for recent pictures and you’ll draw a blank: he refuses to show his face—not on Instagram, not on his website, and not even for features about him, like this one. “There’s so much celebrity in fashion,” the New York designer says, a soft accent revealing his Vietnamese roots. “I want us to be known for the work that we do.”

Note the words “us” and “we.” While the brand bears his name, Peter Do is very much a family affair. It’s run by Do and his four friends, a tight-knit group all of whom were once disgruntled with their jobs in the fashion industry. “I was like, 'you hate selling, you don’t like doing tech patterns… do you want to start a brand together?,’” he recalls. Over the course of a year, the group—now known as the “founding five”—would gather every weekend in Do’s Brooklyn apartment to refine their vision. They officially launched under the moniker “Peter Do” in 2018.

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Peter Do Team

The designer Peter Do (center), with (from left) Pablo Correa, Jessica Wu, Trung Tham, So Hyun An, Maggie Maurer, Utkarsh Shukla, An Nguyen, Yiru Wang, Montis Songsombat, Bebe Bolortoli, Cooper Robar, Vincent Ho, and Lydia Sukato.

Photographed by Charlie Gates; Styled by Allia Alliata di Montereale.

Initially when Do started the label it was only him and four of his friends. They named themselves the Peter Do five.

While the brand bears his name, Peter Do is very much a family affair. It’s run by Do and his friends, a tight-knit group all of whom were once disgruntled with their jobs in the fashion industry. “I was like, 'you hate selling, you don’t like doing tech patterns… do you want to start a brand together?,’” .

Over the course of a year, the group—now known as the “founding five”—would gather every weekend in Do’s Brooklyn apartment to refine their vision. They officially launched under the moniker “Peter Do” in 2018.

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As a young designer starting out, Peter Do, 29, received a lot of advice from people who had been in the business longer. Much of it went unheeded.

Many, for instance, told him it wouldn’t be wise to debut his New York–based brand during the pre-collections in Paris without having a public relations contact or a sales representative in place.

But he and his team did it anyway. Paris, they figured, would expose them to a larger audience, and the money they saved on outside help could be used to produce the clothes.

So they lugged 110 pieces up five flights in the middle of July to set up in a friend of a friend’s living room that was filled with flies and children’s toys, and posted their whereabouts on Instagram. Knowing little about sales, they had to Google technical terms thrown around by buyers (“What is ‘Ship Ex Works’?”) using shoddy Internet service.

And when their in-house model, Maggie Maurer, got stuck in Madrid, Jessica Wu, a diminutive stylist who is one of the brand’s founding members and now handles public relations, had to wear the samples, the pants pooling around her ankles.

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Collection

The clothes were equally compelling, evolving the language of tailoring and meant to empower.

Single-button closures on long blazers cinched up top were cut to reveal flared wide-leg pants below, while two-piece trenchcoats in khaki and his signature spacer fabric experimented with exposure in refined ways.

He had his first glam moment with a four-piece sequined suit, and fun when elongating the cuffs of a sleek coat.

Collections

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Ready to Wear Spring 2020

Peter Do

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He prefers the descriptor “clean” to “minimal,” and he’s focused primarily on tailoring, which is what he specialized in at FIT. His earlier collections featured pattern and color, but Spring is an exercise in black and white with pops of red and yellow.

The season’s hero piece is an adjustable jacket that separates into a bolero and a backless waistcoat. Another important item is the single-button jacket that fastens high and offcenter on the torso, producing a nipped-in silhouette. The key pant shape is straightlegged and boyish—in fact, Do says he’s often fielding requests for men’s sizes—but he also showed a prodigious fuller-leg trouser in spongy black leather.

Do may be measured in his approach to building his business, and there’s certainly a practical aspect to his output. Many of the Spring looks are finished off with a chrome card carrier with jeweled straps slung across the body. Do made one for himself for his ID badge at his Industry City studio, and now they’re his best sellers. But his aesthetic is the opposite of conservative. It’s a potent combination.

Ready to Wear Fall 2020

His fall collection is a tribute to what’s called the final girl. “She’s the one who survives the journey and comes out stronger at the end.” He made no literal nods to those films—his point of view is too well developed for that; instead he was attracted to the aesthetics of power and strength. There’s been a lot of tailoring in this week’s 1313 collections, but nobody’s jackets are as boss as Do’s: strong-shouldered, fitted through the waist, and elongated past the hips. They’re cleverly made to boot, with an option to button them to be either single or double-breasted, and featuring a pleated lining that increases shoulder mobility.

Do launched both shoes and knitwear for fall, and he said they instantly became his two best-selling categories. He’s making his shoes at the footwear factory that Ann Demeulemeester and Rick Owens use; Do’s square-toe boots with metal accents share an extreme profile with Owens’s especially. Do designs substantial turtlenecks with a stripe down one arm that mirrors the tattoo that extends from his neck to the back of his hand—is that next level branding or what?

He’s also onto something with the chunky shrugs that he layered over V-neck dresses. Sexy ribbed knit dresses and flared leggings made with a silk viscose that’s cooling to the touch were coveted too.

Peter Do's Fall 2020 collection is full of wins.

There's an assortment of chic bolero jackets and shrug knits that perfectly compliment each other.

Luxe leathers and rich fabrications lay the foundation of it all. This season's hero item comes in the form a waterproof, reversible trench coat – a piece Do has been perfecting for years. However, it's the pair of two-toned trousers with contrasted leather that will undoubtedly make it into every fashion girl's closet.

In this day and age, where moving from one trend to the next is considered fashion, Peter Do's sustainable collection of clean, cool construction is very much on time.

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Ready to Wear Spring 2021

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An early best seller was an adjustable jacket that separated into a bolero and a backless waistcoat. This season, he applied the concept to a technical silk dress that easily converts to an elegantly draped cape-back evening top.

In this moment, if women are to be parted with their hard-won money and if they are to spend it on designer clothes rather than on the home improvements that have bumped luxury fashion off shopping lists, a twoin-one that will play exceptionally well on Zoom screens is a smart bet. His snaky long dresses in T-shirt jersey, including one that can be worn back to front with a tank underneath (that convertible factor again), show off a softer sensibility than this tailoring-focused designer has displayed before. On a call, Do said he was eager to break his own codes and “respond to what happens.” That’s an effectual M.O. for a world in flux, and those T-shirt gowns are a seductive proposition.

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Company signature It’s not minimal, it’s clean Versatile and fun.

I think what makes their suiting special is that it is truly made for a women’s body. A lot of time they take a men’s blazer and they alter it, but everything is made from scratch.

The sleeve, the chest piece, the canvas. Even the fabric they develop from scratch. They constantly do fittings. The shoulder pads are different and the lining is different so that’s what makes their suiting different. It’s actually made for a women’s body.

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Signature 'Tailored but fun.'

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Customer

'We always say that we make day-wear for the women who make the most out of her day. Anyone who makes the most out of there day and looks good doing it -that’s the Peter Do women.'

A young woman in her 20s to 30s Lives alone Lives in a busy city, like New York and walks alot for her work Keeps a pair of flats in her tote bag 23 Works somewhere in fashion Is very stylish and is interested in current designers Takes the Subway, but mostly walks or cycles everywhere Late millenial or early gen z Can afford the finer things Tries to keep sustanbility at the forefront of everything she does.

Is a concious buyer Spends her lunch at the MET

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Competitions Competitors vary Celine Helmut Lang Dion Lee Balenciaga Orseund Iris Burberry Coperni Miista The Row Peet Dullaert 26

Balenciaga Peet Dullaert Celine

Burberry

Helmut Lang

The Row

Orseund Iris

Coperni Miista Dion Lee

Waterproof Trench

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Technology Do's creative process is aimed at targeting a shared specific need gave his cerebral designs a jumping-off point.

The execution is fueled by innovation. Do has developed a proprietary material, nicknamed “spacer,” with the help of a fabric mill in Germany. Here, he takes a transparent cloth type used in aviation and construction, and makes it thinner, less spongy, more suitable for clothing. Remaining sheer while firmly keeping its shape, the fabric appears extraordinary delicate, but is surprisingly versatile.

It holds the sharp, graceful lines of his designs—even intricate pleating—effortlessly.

Peter Do has been working on perfecting a waterproof, convertible trench for years.

It was difficult because everyone has a trench coat and he didn’t want to make another basic trench coat. That’s what they struggled with the most. It took a very long time to perfect the shape and it’s waterproof. It’s very functional.

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'Spacer' Fabric Peter Do Developed

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Sustainability From what I've read Peter Do is increasingly getting attention and awards for his incredible designs. But his ethics are also a thing to take note of. This young and fresh brand has incredible ethics.

Do's 2 collection a year is not because of the size of the company but also for sustainability and to give his employees a work life balance which is breath of fresh air.

This is an great action as the fashion industry is the second greatest pollutant industry in the world. If only other company would take note and slow down the pace of fashion, we would be in a better place with pollution.

I hope the brand continues to work this way and won't sell out as it's great and could influence other designers to follow suit.

When he then says he doesn’t want to increase product for product’s sake, it’s credible. “If it’s been done before, what’s the point? I don’t think we need any more clothes,” he says. Do re-uses mill offcuts as fabric and repurposed metals for his jewellery.

It is also a measure by which he edits collections. “If you can’t wear it, I’m not interested. If it’s uncomfortable but looks good, I cancel it or I improve it,” he explains, saying itchy and sweaty fabrics are out.

Another aspect is plastic. They are aiming to ban all plastic by the end of the year. They've already banned single use plastic in the studio. Every time someone brings in a plastic cup in, to the office, Do deducts the clothing allowance. So everyone has started to bring their own cups now.

Their hanger process changed plastic hangers. All of their biodegradable, so by the end stopping

to paper hangers instead of plastics are compostable and of 2020 they are completely plastic.

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Collaborations The company has collaborated recently with Medea Sisters on a series of handbags. This seems to be Peter Do's first collaboration with another label and a successfull one for a small label.

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Branding Do’s clean, sophisticated aesthetic was informed not just by his years with Philo and Lam but by his youthful discoveries of Helmut Lang and Martin Margiela on Tumblr. These days, he manages his brand’s Instagram account and has racked up an impressive following, not bad for a designer who operates so under the radar that a Google image search yields exactly two results (one from his FIT graduation and the other from the LVMH Prize competition). Instagram is where Zendaya’s stylist Law Roach discovered Do, and it’s how Roach reached out about outfits for the star’s Spider-Man: Homecoming promotional tour at the end of last year.

That worked as an extremely important piece of promotion for his brand.

There’s no highly paid PR firm pulling strings with celebrities, and Do has yet to stage a runway show or presentation during New York Fashion Week—but that doesn’t mean the brand’s ambitions are small. Instead of operating by the book, Do conducts market appointments in Paris during that city’s menswear collections. Connecting with buyers in January and June rather than February and September means their budgets are still full; they want to spend. And not only that: At those times, Do can secure factory space and feel confident that he won’t get bumped to the back of the line behind the larger production runs of New York brands like Marc Jacobs and The Row.

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Social Media

Social Media has become increasingly popular, by 2021 it is expected that over 3 billion people will be on the platform.

With over 300,000 on Instagram, alongside its official website, Peter Do updates their followers with their latest collections to keep them up-to-date on trends, this could urge their customers to act quickly by buying the latest gear, to seek that high-sta-tus value they desire.

When Do started the brand, he insisted on doing e-commerce— and it's one of the gambles that has paid off during the pandemic. Another decision that helped was to produce in New York, where they could have direct control over the quality of production. With his early success on Instagram and the community Do fostered around the brand, he already had plans for a virtual showroom in the works. He notes that this sense of community and dialogue will allow them to better anticipate their customer’s needs, and thus streamline the pieces that go into production to reduce waste as much as possible. Seeing the ways that the pandemic has impacted fashion, it’s pushed Do to explore new ways to communicate visually and to think about how clothes translate via the screen. The way we think of Peter Do is a synthesis of digital culture and life in the real: you need to know both, you can’t have one without the other.

Indeed, although the bulk of Do’s interactions over the past few months have taken place in the digital realm, that doesn’t mean he’s been insulated from the very real changes taking place in the outside world. In June, following the wave of Black Lives Matter protests that swept the world, Do pledged to donate 100% of the brand’s net profits throughout the month of June. Aside from his staunch solidarity with the movement, the message of anti-racism resonated with Do on a personal level.

They also have a highlight on their instagram page dedicated to their Commitments.

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Feed

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Stockists To begin with, Do word of mouth and soon, Machine A Street Market in

only had one market appointment, but it was social media that popularised his label and and eight other stockists, including Dover Ginza, Rare Market in Seoul and Gentlewench in London, came knocking.

Net-a-Porter’s global buying director Elizabeth von der Goltz discovered Peter Do when Maggie Maurer, who modelled the brand’s Spring/Summer 2019 lookbook, re-posted some imagery on her account. “Having someone with that designer aesthetic, atelier experience and appreciation for the fabric and quality… that’s what makes him stand out,” says Von der Goltz, noting that the brand has been “one of our best sellthroughs for a new upload,” with 60 percent of the buy yet to be uploaded on the site.

Sales The brand also makes it’s sales through the their online website and Instagram page which is a very smart and modern way of dealing with sales. They also have a whopping 40 stockists.

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