Discover the way Tux Couture used Make the Dot to design with clients in real-time, wherever they are

Hi Yansi, can you please tell us a little bit about yourself?

I'm Yansi Fugel, and I'm a fashion designer, brand owner and women advocate in New York City.

I've been working within the fashion industry in one way or other for over 30 years now, and I aim to create timeless made-to-order formalwear for woman of all shapes and sizes.

I have one daughter, who is on her own fashion journey working at ESMOD in Paris.

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How did you get into the line of work?

Well, my mother worked in the industry and had the best sense of style I've ever known, so I learnt to sew from her, which got me hooked in the industry from an early age.

Finding this was my calling, I studied to be a fashion designer at FIT here in New York.

From there I worked my way in the industry before opening my name sake retail store, Yansi Fugel, which I ran for 26 years.

I have now run Tux Couture, which has been going for 6 years.

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How big is your team?

It's just me!

But I'm supported by an amazing woman owned garment manufacturer in Shenzhen, who turns all my ideas into a reality.

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How would you describe your style?

Timeless pieces that can be played with depending on certain trends, but still stand the test of time.

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What kind of projects do you tend to work on?

Being in formal wear the projects I normally work on include weddings, workware, officeware and any kind of formal event. Generally thought, most of my projects are for weddings, and wedding dress alternatives.

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Talk me through your  design process before you discovered Make the Dot?

A perspective client would contact me through a contact button on my website, which would then begin the email communication.

Once we had a few emails, a call or two and agreed on the project details I would begin ideating, screenshotting and downloading inspiration from sites like Pinterest and Vogue, and then addi that into an excel spreadsheet to begin moodboarding.

Excel is not a usual choice for moodboarding but I liked the flexible layout and I would also add some flat sketches, color palette screenshots, and notes in there.

Once I was happy with the outcome I would export the content into a Word doc, save that as a PDF and then send that to the client as an email explaining what I'd done and my process.

If there was any changes required the client would then write them out in their reply or we'd have a call.

With it usually being both.

We'd repeat this process until the client was happy with the final outcome and I'd create a tech-pack to send that to my partner in Shenzhen for manufacture.

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What were the main pain points you experienced ?

If I find something on the web to use, I would have to screenshot it, copy it into a JPEG and then put it into the moodboard. So it's like a multi-step process, which is a pain.

However, I reckon I spend most of my time on emails with clients and then updating the document and re-sharing it with them and writing specific instructions about what I’m talking about and where.

This is all time wasted.

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How much time do you think this cost you?

I mean it's hard to say, cos I've been doing it that way for so long.

But if you had a gun to my head I reckon 10ish hours a week.

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How did you discover Make the Dot?

Though the Fashion Mingle community, and through one of Make the Dots Newsletters I read.

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How has Make the Dot changed your process?

The first benefit for me was of course the reduction the number of steps and tools needed to complete my process.

I can add images directly from the web into my board with the browser extension, and also build color palettes right there in the platform.

Visually to me as a designer It's been a game changer.

Like when I look at the boards I’ve created, its just much more pleasing to the eye and it's nicer to look at. It allows me to make a stronger statement. Also, dynamic resizing also gives me more control and helps me communicate my ideas better with my clients.

I guess though the biggest win for me is no longer needing to send lots of emails to clients or discuss complicated details within them.

We can jump on a call and have a look at the board together in real-time, or they either leave comments directly on elements on the and I can make adjustments immediately, rather than going back and forth on email.

When you're working on Made-to-Order, and especially remote, this level of communication is incredibly important, as any mistake can cost a lot of time, money, and may spoil someones wedding day.