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.

If you’re a classification business like a denim business, you may have one fit of jeans. However, you need to have that in different colors and washers and probably different fabric weights. That’s planning a range with the same items made with various components, different stretch levels, and for different end-users.
One may be white denim, another black denim. While you may have the same item or product, you’ve created it in different ways, ensuring that the client doesn’t pick between them. Essentially, a client might say, “Today, I want a pair of white jeans because it’s July and it’s summer, and that’s what I wanna wear.” They’ll buy the white jean, wear them, and probably say, “Wow, the fit is fantastic. I’ll go back, get the black jean, raw denim, and the stretch because I love them.” You’ve had successful range planning with this approach because you’ve enabled the consumer to get into your product. The client has also seen the opportunity to buy more of that product to complete their wardrobe.
We all have a pyramid in our closets. At the pyramid’s bottom, we have most of our basic stuff. T-shirts, jeans, or a ton of sneakers. Mostly, these are things that you use every day. The next layer has things that are a little nicer, preferably clothes for work. Or probably when you go on a date or dinner with your loved one. At the top of the line, you’ll probably have suits or tuxedos or high fashion items that you don’t wear often. In that sense, you should develop your line similarly.
What are the basic things you want to sell? Well, you want to sell a great tee. How many colors do you need? You probably need four or five colors in a great tee to have some assortment of it. Then, you probably need a polo rugby shirt with some embroidery on it. That’s a little bit of fashion, so you might need three different colors.
While building your product line, focus first on the price points. The more expensive things are, the less of it you should do. If you find a beautiful jacket that’ll cost a lot of money, you probably only need one of these. Because you won’t sell a lot of them. But in essence, you still need somewhat of a collection because no buyer will buy everything you do.

As a fashion company grows, they need to sell more than just one product. Typically, a fashion company starts with that one great idea – that perfect dress that’s perfectly on trend and everybody wants it. From there, you have to grow your business and think about how to scale. In fashion business, the typical way one does this is through building a range of products.

It might seem quite simple to think of just adding bags and shoes to our mix, but it really is much more than that. The most expensive part of any sort of business is creating new concepts. They take a lot of time and typically take several samples to get right. In other words, somebody has to make a full bag or dress before we know if it fits right and if it’s in line with our other products in terms of quality. This can take some time and it’s quite expensive.

You must be careful in terms of new products you’re going to include because of the added overhead. Another piece you have to consider is the expertise. If your expertise is in creating and designing ready-to-wear clothes, you probably didn’t have fashion education to learn how to make bags or shoes. Shoemaking is a very complex art form.

In terms of sourcing materials, you’re going to have to source from completely different places. For instance, you can’t just decide to make denim if you’ve been making pants, they’re very different. You have to have different machines in order make denim. You’re going to need the expertise of somebody who knows how to design it from a technical point of view as well as production that can scale and make enough to sell for it to be worthwhile.

Deciding whether to sell wholesale and/or direct to consumer is a common question in the fashion industry. Many factors come into play on making this decision, including the fashion brand’s business model, negotiation with buyers and manufacturers, and sales data.

If you’re a fashion company that sells to wholesalers and direct to consumers, you have to consider the buyers’ opinions. At market, when buyers give their feedback and write orders, you’ll often find you have to negotiate with them to take a chance on new styles that give a proper representation of the collection.

After orders are placed, you’ll then go to your manufacturer and present your orders for fulfillment. Some manufacturers will require a larger quantity of units. Drawing from your fashion education, you then have to analyze your collection and say, “Well, if I only have orders for 500, am I going to put in the other order for 500? Is it really that crucial to our assortment or our collection this season?”

Sometimes it’s worth placing the order. Other times it isn’t. If you have a wholesale and a direct to consumer (DTC) model, it’s a combination of opinions that determines what actually goes into the market, into stores or online for that season. If you’re a completely DTC company, you’re tapping into online fashion education, trend forecasting, and looking at sales data to see what performed well and what didn’t in past seasons.

On the flip side, you want to make sure you’re not over-saturating the market and there’s still demand to ensure you won’t have excess supply. It depends on the business model you’re in and the business model you would like to have. This will determine how you successfully plan for the assortment you’re going to release each season.

Popups are a spectacular avenue for brands to gain exposure through creative activations. For one, popups aren’t a long-term commitment; they allow brands to test the waters before opening up a brick and mortar or locking into a lease. Second, popup shops create a sense of excitement around the said brand, event, service, or product. The best aspect of popup shops, however, is their ability to drive conversations, giving brands and business owners an opportunity to directly communicate with people who are interested in what they have to offer or sell.

Gucci, North Face, and Lululemon are prime examples of high fashion business enterprises that have cultivated customer loyalty through their brand identity. At their storefronts you might see longer lines and customers getting excited about making a purchase. A positive experience and initial interaction with a brand can have a lasting impact on the customer. It can even convert them into lifetime customers.

Experiential Marketing Drives Traffic
As consumers, we like to experience the new, and relish the experience long after it has ended. That’s why during fashion weeks in places such as Paris or Milan, popups have been largely successful. When things are experiential and playful, customers tend to gravitate toward it. Miami Art Basel, LA and other larger cities or events that draw lots of foot traffic are prime destinations for popups in the realm of fashion.

Fashion popups are also a magnificent opportunity for brands to identify what locations will be best suited for their business if they were to open up a storefront. Digitally native brands can mine data from their online customer base and do a test run with a pop up to see how it will do in that particular environment. It is a cost-effective marketing strategy for direct to consumer brands who’ve hit the ceiling on their online traffic.

Online v.s. In Store Purchases

Anyone can make a purchase for a clothing item online with a few clicks of a button. but having a conversation really sells the consumer on who and what is going on and how they can connect with the brand. It makes the brand relatable and customers feel a stronger connection to the brands they are buying from. Online fashion education can only extend so far; that’s why it’s worth it to give potential customers the opportunity to touch, feel, and see fashion pieces up close and personal.

A new category of footwear is changing the footwear business and the approach to footwear design. There are traditional categories of men’s and women’s shoes. Now unisex gender footwear is popular. This requires product developers to have a new footwear education before designing a new shoe.

Unisex footwear design is challenging but it’s being done with increasing success. The key challenge is designing the lasts of the shoe. There are anatomical differences between men’s and ladies’ feet. Men’s and ladies’ shoe designs try to respect these differences. Product developers are now trying to build footwear that can be marketed to both men and women.

Unisex footwear tries to be comfortable for both men and women. Product designers are trying to accomplish this task by adding a little extra padding or enabling the wearer to make minor adjustments to the shoe for personal comfort. This may include laces or closures that can be adjusted to help the shoe feel more natural on the foot.

I started in men’s footwear thinking I would eventually move into women’s footwear. Women’s footwear seemed like a crossword puzzle. There were so many variables. You could have a high heel or a low heel. Square toes or pointy toes. Men’s shoes seemed like they only had one variable. They had low or flat heels. It is a basic shoe. Men’s footwear seemed to be simpler but I discovered it is challenging. The years have taught me that you have to put a lot of creativity into making a shoe that a man would buy.

I am a female footwear product designer. I don’t have the perspective of a male to understand what a guy would wear. I have to really think about it. I have to ask myself: what would he wear? Why would he wear it? Why would he buy it? These same questions apply when designing unisex footwear. Always keep the wearer in mind when designing a new shoe and work backward from there.