Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
- Brand name: coldlogic
- [SL Marketplace]
- [SLURL]
- Blog
- Estimated average item price: L$300
- Brand owners: Damien Fate, Janie Marlowe, and Zyrra Falcone
When coldlogic first emerged, mesh fashion in Second Life still hadn't quite found its footing or enjoyed the success it does now-- although many would argue that we're still not quite there, it's in no small part thanks to coldlogic that we've come as far as we have. Built by a team of incredibly experienced designers (all of whom have been in SL long enough to remember when flexible prims were the bleeding edge of SL design), this brand has become a staple of a well-rounded rounded mesh wardrobe. Whether you're looking for professional but up-to-date clothing for a working avatar, a sweetly casual ensemble for a sim picnic, or an eyecatching party dress for the digital club scene, coldlogic's incredibly broad range of mesh clothing can provide.
This week they released a lineup of short and flirty holiday dresses, including Merry, the one I'm wearing in the picture above. Coldlogic releases regularly every few weeks, usually offering a half dozen new items when they do. A regular release schedule like this is often crucial to designer (and blogger) success in SL as it prevents people from forgetting about your work and keeps them coming back for more. Coldlogic has been even more devoted to their release schedule than most and that alone is worthy of praise; this team of designers is among the most hardworking I've ever met, and I look forward to seeing what's to come from coldlogic in the future!
We're blogging the top 20 brands in our Readers' Choice list. Stay tuned for the rest soon!
Tweet Iris Ophelia (Janine Hawkins IRL) has been featured in the New York Times and has spoken about SL-based design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan and with pop culture/fashion maven Johanna Blakley.
Coldlogic is my favorite store. I've shopped with them from the beginning and its fun to go into the store and see how much they have expanded.
They haven't had a release yet that I wasn't in awe of their skill and workmanship.
Best of all they keep their prices reasonable.
Posted by: Lourdes | Thursday, December 06, 2012 at 12:14 PM
coldLogic is insanely expensive.
(I should know, I shop there constantly... Then again before Mesh I was used to Bare Rose prices - but Bare Rose's mesh styles, while still amazing, are different from my current fashion preferences.)
But I also think they're perhaps the most responsible for the rapid take off of mesh fashion.
Only a few competitors have the same quality, only a very few of those have lower prices, and all of them have small inventories.
- You can go buy up all the competition in this quality range in a week, and still not have a full wardrobe. :)
So I give the place kudos -and- shake a claw at them at the same time. I wish they were cheaper, and I recognize that if they weren't there pushing up the standard, I'd likely not have many mesh choices anywhere. :)
Its worthwhile to be on their subscriber list to see what they come out with, almost weekly.
And for the guys, FATE is the same creator of the underlying mesh - on his own land, as a store for men's fashions. I've wandered into there, and it looks equally high quality.
Posted by: Pussycat Catnap | Thursday, December 06, 2012 at 12:16 PM
@Pussycat I strooooongly disagree with you about their prices, and normally if I feel like a product is too expensive I'll say so gladly. Coldlogic's prices are average for the current market-- they were even average when most people were still selling sculpted clothes. Now they're nearly low-average because people tend to charge more for mesh-- and rightfully so. L$250 for a pair of mesh shorts is far from insanely expensive when there are still respectable shops selling sculpted shorts for that much.
A good mesh item, original and unrecycled (since B@R often recycles certain texture pieces, sculpts, accessories and other components from their sizable resource bank), can take days and even weeks to perfect, and putting in that much work then asking for less than two bucks is entirely reasonable. It's at least twice the work of a piece of textured clothing, maybe even three times when you consider the sculpting, the texturing, and the rigging necessary to make each piece. If coldlogic wasn't a 3-person team for example there's no way in hell they would be able to support the volume of new releases they do.
Mesh is only quick or easy if you're using fullperm templates like the poorly-rigged Meli Imako items you can pick up dirt cheap on the Marketplace and resell, and in that case yes you should absolutely be charging on the low-end of the scale. Especially the dozens and dozens of "designers" who don't even alter the default texturing of those items before bundling them up for their own shops, presenting them as original items.
BareRose's prices are not the norm for anything, and they *never have been*; they've always been below the rest of the market for comparable items. You can get an outfit in 4 colours from BareRose for under a dollar and that's *great*, but it's not fair to hold other designers to that as well. It's June's choice-- it works for her and she has the volume of sales and the community to support it-- but designers deserve to make more than pennies per hour for the work they put in.
Posted by: Iris Ophelia | Thursday, December 06, 2012 at 01:56 PM
I think coldLogic is very deserving of being on this list!! And their prices are HARDLY "insanely expensive." Of course, if you're always used to buying cheap...
I had sticker shock when mesh first came out as well because we'd gotten overly used to the freebies/cheapies that completely saturated the market. Template junk was all over the place at rock bottom prices. There was one event that took place and SEVEN of the stores were offering the exact same lingerie, some of it even in the same colors as the "designers" hadn't bothered to change a thing.
I'd rather save up and then pay more for beautiful, original mesh than dig around in the bargain bin to see who has the cheapest templates. But that's just me.
Posted by: Alicia Chenaux | Thursday, December 06, 2012 at 03:38 PM
Opinions may differ on price, but this:
" It's June's choice-- it works for her and she has the volume of sales and the community to support it-- but designers deserve to make more than pennies per hour for the work they put in."
- I'd wager June makes more than most -because- her prices are lower. You can sell 10 for 150 faster than 3 for 250. Bare Rose succeeds in part because of this.
Shops that want to make more per hour, should consider charging less per item.
Posted by: Pussycat Catnap | Thursday, December 06, 2012 at 04:44 PM
@Pussycat In the real world, behemoths like Wal-Mart and McDonald's thrive due to their volume sales at cheaper prices. Clearly, however, they aren't the only businesses that are succeeding, and most consumers aren't shopping only at Wal-Mart and McDonald's.
It's a big market. There's room for a range of businesses, pricing models, and budgets. And let's not forget the matter of pricing psychology, where sometimes the item with the bigger price tag is perceived as being the more desirable purchase.
So, no, the idea that "Shops that want to make more per hour, should consider charging less per item" isn't necessarily true.
Posted by: Melanie | Thursday, December 06, 2012 at 07:55 PM
I would say Cold Logic's prices are about median range. If you really want to save money on their clothes, sometimes they'll have that 50% off storewide sale. Unless you're like me, then it's like letting a fat kid alone in a room with cake and ice cream O.o. The way I figure it, if I spend good money on something I really enjoy and dress my avatar in a lot, then it's worth it.
Posted by: Tracy Redangel | Thursday, December 06, 2012 at 09:02 PM
I don't like cold logic's recent dress releases.....they are too short, an unflattering short for the designs they are. They would look nicer just a touch longer. I'm not saying I want them below the knee, but a fall sweater dress or holiday slipdress should be longer than "just below crotch".
As for their prices, their singles are slightly overpriced in my opinion.....that said if you want 2 or more colors their fatpacks are a better deal. In other words the utility of their fatpack discount kicks in too soon, and favors the classic "fashionistas who always buy the fatpacks" market.
But I am very much in favor of "everyday low prices" a la the Bare Rose pricing model. It works. It's why Bare Rose not only survived but thrives after being in SL for so long. Bolume bolume volume.
Posted by: CronoCloud Creeggan | Friday, December 07, 2012 at 04:58 AM
I have to be honest, never heard about this brand before!
Still main question, are outfits mod?
Cause if mesh outifts cant be modded (and some can for sure, i have added prims to mesh boots and hair and more without any problems) there is no reason to not let them be (hate the stupid paranoia about copybot and so many excuses to not make itens mod, I prefer much more a non copy but mod item then one that be copied millions of times but i can't remove useless scripts of it or old bots that i cant get ride of the inv prims scripts and replace them by alphas!)
Posted by: ZZ Bottom | Friday, December 07, 2012 at 10:30 AM
@ZZ Coldlogic tends to release their goods both Copy AND Mod OK if I'm not mistaken!
Posted by: Iris Ophelia | Friday, December 07, 2012 at 10:34 AM
Btw, when one will post about something that LL tried to stop being ussed, Users that come in World using defered rendering already noticed, but most, and i dare to say, many that are called fashionistas, still didnt realize?
he fact that there are still, to many using invisible prims scripts, that make theuir feet look insanly ugly for some that has the fortune to run Sl with shadows on?
Posted by: ZZ Bottom | Friday, December 07, 2012 at 10:37 AM
Coldlogic's clothing items are rigged mesh and rigged mesh is no mod as far as I know.
As far as being over priced it all depends. If you are used to ordering from McDonald's Dollar Menu then of course Chili's or TGI Fridays will seem disgustingly over priced. However the quality of burger you get from both places are vastly different.
Posted by: Lourdes | Friday, December 07, 2012 at 04:44 PM
@Lourdes I thought that too, and I know that means that you can't stretch or reposition them, but you should still be able to do things like rename them or tint them if I recall correctly, so maybe attaching things is possible? I'm honestly not sure because I've never specifically tried it myself, and I don't know if ZZ has done this with anything rigged or just unrigged items.
Posted by: Iris Ophelia | Friday, December 07, 2012 at 06:05 PM
I think it would be great to mention some good bargain-hunting places here. I always hit The Dressing Room (this month has some excellent goodies). Lots of brand names, and most everything is at or below 70L.
Posted by: Tracy Redangel | Friday, December 07, 2012 at 09:47 PM
The coldLogic team was overjoyed to see this article, thank you so much!
Posted by: Damien Fate | Saturday, December 08, 2012 at 05:20 PM