Manufacturing can be overwhelming.

One of the really important things in choosing a manufacturer is not having all pieces produced in one place.

It’s preferable for you to price and source your own garment and all of the pieces for it. For instance, you might have a client who says, “Maybe I should just send this pair of trousers to the manufacturer, or you say, “Can you just match this?”

That’s not going to be an exact match. You didn’t choose the fabric on your own. The manufacturer will go out and get it for who knows how much, and then they’ll just charge you for it. Also, transparency isn’t always guaranteed, and building partnerships with manufacturers take time. So, what you want to do is gather all of those materials on your own. You want to have as much control over your manufacturing process as possible.

Touch and feel each piece. Make sure you know how much it will cost. Negotiate the price of each component on your own. Then, send it all to your manufacturer, who will put it all together for you.

You’ll be curious as to who else they make items for. Sometimes it’s a matter of confidentiality, but a manufacturer will often inform you that they produce for a specific company.

It’s ideal if you can identify a manufacturer who has a track record of producing high-quality products for other well-known companies. It will assist you with quality control.

Another important element to remember is that while you’re sourcing all of those different pieces, you want to make sure that they all make it to the factory and know what to do with the pieces.

To summarize, it is recommended that you price each of those items separately for yourself. Take a look at what the company has already created. Check out who else they’re manufacturing garments for.

Also, while everyone is an expert in some areas, only a few people are experts in all areas. Don’t be afraid to defer to the experts. There’s an expert that creates clothes tags. There’s an expert that makes unique tissue paper for the package. There’s an expert that can finish the trim on your garment. Find your expert. And remember, not everything has to be done in one location.

If you’re going to get into the fashion design business, it’s important to completely understand the varying complexities that impact the supply chain. Stick to the parameters of your business plan to get the full picture of its needs—in knowing every detail of your plan, you’ll make the best decisions for your business.

For example, if you’re going to focus on only selling underwear, you might immediately start planning to get your production completed in a hub like Medellin, Colombia. It’s a major manufacturer of underwear and denim apparel, and after locking down plans to source your production there, you may have questions about regular trips to Colombia throughout the year. It’s also worth wondering if fluency in Spanish is required, as you may want to go to the factories and communicate to the team how your product needs to look, wearability concerns, and customer expectations to consider.

Additionally, choosing Medellin as your production hub introduces questions about distributing the final product to America. Currently, Colombia has a free trade agreement with the United States, making it an excellent place to outsource. It also happens to be in the Eastern Time Zone, which is beneficial if you’re based in New York City. A production location that’s based in your time zone will reduce the likelihood of having to take midnight calls—which is often the case for those sourcing products from China, with a 12-hour difference between there and NYC.

The requirements of standardizing production can snowball to involve many small details. It’s crucial to think beyond exclusively sourcing a final piece of clothing. Rather, it’s important to think about so much more: the means of communication with vendors, ease of access to the site location, distribution pipeline quality, as well as current events and political issues.

At the moment in the United States, China is a frequent topic of conversation. We source many consumer goods from Asia, which menas political events can have an impact on your particular business. Understanding the intersection of global politics and economics and how it can affect a small boutique designer in the South reveals how pivotal these decisions can be in the global ecosytem, whether made in Washington, Beijing, Paris, or any other fashion hub.

Modern factories are sophisticated. They used to be in Hong Kong and China, and now they are everywhere. They are available almost 24 hours a day. They take your design, turn it around as quickly as they can, and get it back to you.
Most people don’t understand how the factory economy works. It’s very similar to the airline industry. If an airplane is one-third-full, it loses money. When it’s about half-full, it makes money. At three-quarters-full, it makes a lot of money. And if it’s running at 100%, it’s making a ton of money.
The word factory in the fashion business refers to textile mills and sewing factories. A sewing factory traditionally is a CMT – Cut, Make, and Trim. They take the raw material and put it on the table, cut it to shape, and assemble it. They deliver a finished garment to you.
A textile mill is different. It has three functions. They spin the yarn, weave or knit it to shape, and then add the dye.
You deliver that raw material to the CMT factory. Designers will frequently tell the factory, “You buy the raw material for me.” The process becomes a little easier. But, remember that if you provide better inputs, you get a superior product. So, the designer should go to the textile mill and get the correct material. Because if you use sub-standard material and assemble it into a beautiful garment, no one may buy it.
You take a similar risk in the CMT when cutting the raw material. How well you cut the cloth, and how much utilization you get from the fabric is a significant part of this online fashion education course. How you assemble the garment is also an important part of the course.

One of the most popular fashion parlor games is figuring out who the consumer is. In the past, brands would construct a profile.

Suppose I were interviewing a CEO or a designer as a journalist. I’d say this: “Who are you trying to sell to? Who is your target audience for this?” And they’d say things like, “We imagine our customer to be Sally, a 20-something-year-old woman who has recently relocated to the city and is working her second job in advertising or the creative arts. She also wants to wear something appropriate for the office, go on that date, and then meet up with her friends afterward.”

They would invent this person in their head.

They would spend all this money on targeting. And find it. Then try to design something for that person. Finally, they’d hope that there was a large enough portion of their target audience to communicate with.

From Gen X to millennials to Gen Z, we’ve been following these diverse generations. People are continually trying to figure out who’s out there. The responses we receive when we ask that question and look at the consumer base, I believe, are so often just too simple.

It’s always been too simple.

If a brand had a vision of its ideal consumer 20 years ago, that person might’ve been out there. But how many of them were out there? We have no idea because people are now trying to speak with 10,000 people at the same time. You won’t be able to accomplish that either.

I’ve always disliked the idea of Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. I don’t believe in generations. It’s sort of like a big thing that people talk about, in my opinion. You have a way of making sense of things.

Millennials are people who are between the ages of 25 and 38. That’s a really broad age range. There are many life cycles between those two points—from someone starting their first job to someone having their third child.

Because it’s such a significant change, and I’m personally skeptical, can you draw all of the conclusions that everyone does? The world is a confusing place. There are people from various walks of life. They’re on the go and doing all these things. Brands are attempting to find some way to think about it and who they can sell to.

Historically, trade shows were an enormous vehicle for moving your brand. Smaller brands who were looking to get their brand out there in a larger way or bigger brands who were looking to increase visibility would get a booth at a trade show. They would put their booths together as if it were a store, and buyers would walk the floor. They’d come and check out the brands to see what they had. It was really a huge vehicle, and a lot of people used it all the time. They were typically done in New York and Las Vegas. There were some on the West Coast for apparel as well. You would have a store in South Carolina, like a family-owned shop that’s been in your family and you’re looking for new product, fly to Vegas, walk around, and place all your buys. That’s not going to go away because people will still need a place to shop the market and will still need to see what new things are out there. But, it’s going to change.

Within everything, we have to evolve, so trade shows are evolving. ComplexCon’s something that’s evolving. Everyone wants to experience something, and if you can bring it to the consumer, and you can have that conversation. It’s all about driving conversation because the same brands that are doing the pop-ups, the same brands that you may find at a trade show, you’ll also find at ComplexCon or Sneakercon or any of those things. It’s all to drive conversation. These things won’t cancel out the other, but they will continue to evolve.

Sourcing is one of the biggest components when you talk about manufacturing and production for your fashion business. Sourcing will basically dictate your costs. The key to keeping costs down is to do research and source worldwide for the best rates. For Elle B. Zhou’s founder, Elle B. Mambetov, this means having her brand’s dinnerware made in Poland, while her fashion collection is produced in London, and digital printing is done in both the United Kingdom and U.S.

Fabrics are sourced from other locations, based on cost comparisons. For new garment tags, Mambetov priced them out in several different countries before deciding. Sometimes, pricing is going to be better to have items made in the U.S. rather than China. Why? Once you factor in Chinese New Year, that’s going to cause a time delay. Then there is the extra cost for shipping overseas. Once you add the shipping cost, you may actually get it faster in the U.S. for basically the same price.

Time and shipping costs are things you want to factor in when you’re sourcing a product. Learn from online fashion education, conduct research on manufacturers, and look everywhere before making your final decision rather than default to sourcing in China. You also need to think about the quality.

Mambetov knows when she’s sourcing garment lining she will find impeccable quality in London without having to oversee the process in person. To take away the guesswork, she sources from reputable companies she has bought from in the past that have produced high quality product.

When sourcing new fabrics, always make sure to ask manufacturers for swatches. They should send you these swatches at no cost. You are offering them business, so they will send these for free in hopes of winning your business with quality fabrics and materials.

Sourcing can be complex. It also can be simple. It just depends on what you’re going for. If you’re a company that wants to simplify your supply chain, then you usually go for an all-in approach, right?
Go with one company, they’ll source everything for you. They’ll produce the product for you. You pay them one price, you bring it in, and then you sell it.
If you’re a company that cares about where everything comes from, if your customer is concerned about sustainability, if your customer is concerned about child labor practices, if your customer is concerned about the environment, you can’t put your trust in one company and assume that they’re going to also have those things top of mind as well.
In today’s world and in today’s market, how the customer is so important to how people buy and what they produce, go to each company individually. Maybe you have to source a button from this factory and fabric from this country and this factory and maybe zippers from this country in this factory because you really are looking into the business practices, the reputation of the company, who they are, and what their story is.
Then, when you bring all of those pieces together, you can communicate with your customer, “Hey, we were thinking about you in this entire process. That’s why it took us three months to find three components to get you this hoodie because we know what’s important to you and we know that sustainability and the environment are also important to you.
If you care about who your customers are, maybe you can find a company that does all in production that also has the same business ideals that you do and the ideals that your customers have. But from my experience, sometimes it takes going to three different manufacturers, getting different components, and then bringing it all together to make the final product so that you can be really proud of the product that you’ve produced.

When you’re looking at materials, understand what the function is. If we’re looking at a sportswear shoe, are we looking to ensure that there is a four-way stretch? Then we have to look at what that means in terms of our manufacturing partners to deliver that.

Is a four-way stretch going to influence the dyeability of the fabric? Is the dyeability of the fabric going to influence the tensile strength? Is that going to influence any sort of friction on the wearer’s foot?

These things all start from a material selection standpoint.

If it’s a sports shoe, do we want it to be moisture-wicking? Do we want it to take water away from the wearer’s foot during activity?

If it’s a boot, do we want to make sure that it’s wipeable? If it’s faux leather, real leather, or any other mixed material, are we going to ensure that mechanical finishes can be applied to it?

For example, a common material used in faux leather footwear is PU, which is polyurethane. It’s important for polyurethane that it passes stretch, heat, and temperature testing. Also, what is the dyeability of that fabric?

When we’re looking at materials, understand the purpose of your footwear. Is it for formal or creative purposes? Is it going to be able to reach the design aesthetic that you’re looking for?

Ensure that your material selection can be dyed, finished, and manufactured to your liking. Also, make sure it has a great hand feel and colorfastness.

These are all things to consider when selecting your materials.

Fashion merchandising has the ability to create and transform a retail store’s environment. Whether it’s selecting light wood furniture for an airy, beachy vibe or going with a darker wood to convey a more serious tone, small details set the store’s scene and invite customers to explore. It’s an extension of the design of the garment on display. What is the environment you envision that garment in?

It’s important to lay store merchandise out in a way that’s going to guide the customer around the store. Rather than having potential customers come in, see the first rack of things and leave, merchandising encourages the customers to stay. In the fashion business, you want customers to end up at the back of the store so they then have to make a circle through the store to view all of your merchandise.

Merchandising ties in fashion education and has a creative, theatrical flair that draws attention. When someone stops in front of your store’s window and takes a picture, you’ve already captured the interest of that person who’s now a future potential customer. Writing on the windows and displaying your Instagram QR code means people can scan it and easily go to your Instagram.

From there, a customer can get an online fashion education of sorts on the store, view the store’s Instagram highlights, learn more about the founders and their story, and find out what’s in store and what’s coming soon. All of these tactics are interactive for the client. We want to provide them with ways to interact with the brand and the store before they even step inside. This is something that’s really important in today’s digital age where consumers want to be more educated and conscious about where they shop.