Tech Pack vs Spec Sheet

Tech Pack vs Spec Sheet

A spec sheet and a tech pack are essential documents in fashion production, but they serve different purposes.

Mastering Quality Control in Apparel Manufacturing: Insider Secrets for Emerging Fashion Designers

Mastering Quality Control in Apparel Manufacturing: Insider Secrets for Emerging Fashion Designers

Quality Control (QC) isn't just about ensuring your garments look good; it's your ticket to exceeding customer expectations, minimizing issues and setbacks, and optimizing production efficiency. By maintaining stringent QC standards, you deliver exceptional products and establish your brand as a reliable force in the industry.

When done right, it will make your life easier, decrease your stress level, increase your profit, and reduce waste.

The Different Types of Cotton

The Different Types of Cotton

Cotton is one of the textile industry's most widely used natural fibers. However, conventional cotton production methods have raised concerns about sustainability, environmental impact, and worker welfare. 

In response, various alternatives have emerged, including organic cotton, recycled cotton, cotton produced under the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), as well as a few other specialized types of cotton.

Let's dive into the different types of cotton and shed light on their differences and contributions to a more sustainable future.

5 Signs of a Bad Clothing Manufacturer

5 Signs of a Bad Clothing Manufacturer

Clothing manufacturing is not for the faint-hearted. Working with the wrong manufacturer can end your business, especially if you are a new brand.

You can take steps to find the right factory. However, some signs will only be noticed once you work with the factory.

So what are the symptoms that should make you run away from a factory?

3 Tips For Grading Apparel Products

3 Tips For Grading Apparel Products

If you are developing a new apparel product for the first time, you’ll find yourself asking these questions:

At what stage should you grade your pattern?

What grading rules should you follow?

What range of sizes can you grade using one pattern?

Why Is Producing A Small Production Run Expensive?

Why Is Producing A Small Production Run Expensive?

Producing small batches has many advantages on many levels…but it has one major challenge - It’s expensive.

Prices in production are a factor of quantities, which is why most factories don’t want to work with small batches . It’s not economical for them.

Here is why.

3 Tips For Working With a Patternmaker

3 Tips For Working With a Patternmaker

Finding the right patternmaker for your product and knowing how to work with them and what to provide them is critical for the success of your product development and the production of your fashion product.

These 3 tips will help you get better and quicker results from your patternmaker.

What Is The Most Profitable Category In Apparel?

What Is The Most Profitable Category In Apparel?

The answer is one of these industry "secrets" that if you are new to the industry, and especially if you do sew or never produced apparel before, you simply wouldn't know it...

Yet once you hear the answer, I bet you'll go, "oh yes, that makes a lot of sense."

In this video, I also share info about the cost of labor and why certain categories are assumed to cost less than others...

What Are The Different Types of Samples And Their Purpose?

What Are The Different Types of Samples And Their Purpose?

If you are new to the fashion industry and especially the development and production processes this is something you need to know of.

There are different types of samples that are made in the process, each has its own name and its own purpose.

How Many Styles Should You Launch Your Fashion Brand With?

How Many Styles Should You Launch Your Fashion Brand With?

What is the ideal number of styles that you should offer when launching your fashion brand?

On one hand, you don’t want to invest in a big line until you get your proof of concept, but on the other hand, you want your line to look big enough so it will be taken seriously.

Is there a magic number you should be aware of?

How Many Rounds of Fitting Should I Have When Developing a Fashion Product?

How Many Rounds of Fitting Should I Have When Developing a Fashion Product?

Developing a new apparel product is complex and requires numerous rounds of samples and fitting before you can get it right.

If you are new to this process, and since each round is an additional cost and time, the question becomes how many fittings rounds is reasonable to have? And how many rounds are too many?

How to Build Long Term Relationships With Your Manufacturers

How to Build Long Term Relationships With Your Manufacturers

COVID 19 exposed an unethicz22p3al fashion industry where brands and retailers treat their manufacturers with little to no respect. Those same factories that they depended on for years to produce their products are now being ignored, left with canceled orders to fend themselves.

Solving Inventory Challenges in a Consumer-Led Marketplace

Solving Inventory Challenges in a Consumer-Led Marketplace

The apparel industry is still largely playing a guessing game when it comes to merchandising, pinning their hopes on goods with commitments that were made months in advance with only an inkling of what tastes will be in the future.

It’s a high-stakes venture that many are losing.

The Five Latest Technologies in Fabrics & Materials

The Five Latest Technologies in Fabrics & Materials

Technology is changing the way that we, fashion designers, approach fabric sourcing.

There's a whole range of pioneering textiles that are not only groundbreaking in a

technological way but also push the fashion industry towards more sustainable practices.

This includes the development of fabrics and materials from the byproducts of other

industries, which is also a much-needed step into a circular economy.

How to Source Fabrics for Your Fashion Product

How to Source Fabrics for Your Fashion Product

Sourcing the right fabrics for your fashion products is half of the battle in developing the perfect garment.

However, the process can be overwhelming, long and frustrating, especially for a new brand that is new to the industry and can't yet commit to high volume.

How can you make this process more effective and less complicated?

Below I've put a checklist of the steps and actions that you should take to help you with that.

Design with Production In Mind

Design with Production In Mind

“We are experiencing many issues with our production, can you help us with this?”

If I had a cent for every time that I heard that sentence I would probably be retired by now.

Most fashion brands (especially if they are new or small), assume that since production is the last part in the process they’ll just worry about it when they get to it, and rather choose to focus mainly on designing and making the perfect samples.

NEWS FLASH - that is the wrong approach.

8 tips to conduct The Perfect Fitting Session

8 tips to conduct The Perfect Fitting Session

A good fit is obviously a result of a good pattern, but you will be surprised to learn how much impact your fitting sessions can have on how quick you will get there and how good and consistent your fit will be.

Not to mention how much money it will save you!

I have been part of hundreds of fitting sessions during my career and I'm always surprised to see how quick a fitting session can go wrong.

What is an RN number, And Do I Need one?

What is an RN number, And Do I Need one?

You have probably noticed it on some garments that you bought.

It is a number, usually somewhere on the care labels, most likely with the letters RN# before it. As in the picture below.

An RN number or registered identification number is a number issued by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), upon request, to a business residing in the U.S. and engaged in the manufacture, importing, distribution, or sale of textile, wool, or fur products.  

How to Calculate And Fix Fabric Shrinkage

How to Calculate And Fix Fabric Shrinkage

Fabric shrinkage is one of the main concern points when producing apparel. It can affect the consistency of the sizing and the fit of your garments.

In this article, we'll walk you through everything you need to know about fabric shrinkage and how to resolve it.

Offshore or Domestic Apparel Manufacturing?

Offshore or Domestic Apparel Manufacturing?

Deciding whether to produce your fashion product offshore or domestically goes beyond the reasons of cost and number of units you will need to produce.

As a matter of fact it's a decision that will impact how your business is set up and operates to best fit that scenario, re; what kind of people/services you should hire and even the details of your designs.