Prior to the 18th century, if you were wealthy enough to have your own dressmaker, the paper patterns they worked from were very simple and had no annotation. They were usually made for each individual client. But if anyone else wanted to have the same garment made for them too, the re-sizing and pattern grading was a complicated task, even for the most adept seamstresses.

In the mid-19th century, sewing patterns were made available to the wider, albeit, still affluent public. Launched originally in America, women could purchase patterns through a women's journal published at the time.

With advances in technology, the large-scale production of graded, practical and easier-to-use sewing patterns, can be traced to 1867.

Ebenezer Butterick was the first to start mass-producing patterns and print them on tissue paper. They were available to purchase in a variety of sizes, with one size per package. 

It was not until the 1970s, when sales were lagging, that multi-size graded patterns b...

Working in fashion manufacturing means that often one spends vast amounts of time discussing THE critical path and making sure production runs on time. For those new to the concept - this is an important moment. Not understanding what the importance of the fashion critical path is, can only spell trouble for your business.  So let's take a look at what that is, how to create one and why it is so important to a business.

What is a Critical Path?

In the apparel industry, the fashion critical path is actually a production plan that contains a list of all of the necessary activities that are required to be done within a particular time frame. This ensures that your production orders are shipped successfully within the estimated time of delivery (ETD).

A smart merchandiser maintains the critical path in order to identify the crucial tasks, which if not attended to, could impact on delivery schedules for the products. This method of working and tracking production was originally develo...

How to find a good factory to make your product? A common question anyone looking to turn their fashion idea into a reality will ask countless times. Not because it is hard to find contacts these days, but simply because the prospect of contacting a manufacturer, whether by phone or through email, for the first time can be a scary one. What should you ask, what do they need from you, will they want to work with you?

Learn how to find a factory to make your product and find out the imperative questions to ask and what you must have ready before taking the next step. The success of your business and product depends on finding the winning factory for your idea.

It is important to trust a factory in order to work with a factory. To be able to trust a factory, one needs to ask necessary questions and know all the facts before one jumps into building a relationship with a factory on weak grounds.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE MADE?

When you are trying to find a factory to make your product, one...

Cutting fabric for production is a skill seasoned professionals know about and use as a way to make savings. Scaling up from sampling to production is a huge leap in regards to fabric and trimmings consumption.

The fabric you use represents up to 80% of the total garment cost and is the most important component on your costings sheet. To ensure successful growth in your business, when cutting fabric for production, fabric yield must be properly monitored. Fabric consumption costs must be noted during the sampling phase, so create a simple fabric costings sheet that lists the following: Fabric type, fabric width, fabric supplier and fabric yield. This sheet can then be used to calculate fabric consumption for production purposes.

Producing a moderately sized sample collection of eight to fifteen items will appear to cost you more than it would if you were producing larger quantities of each style. The reason being that fabrics and trims, when bought in bulk will be cheaper than whe...

The MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) is the lowest requirement for factories to produce a certain product. As a new designer just getting to grips with the manufacturing process, these limitations can upset the apple cart.

Understanding why these restrictions are in place can help you to navigate your way around MOQ's and negotiate different terms with the factory.

Countries that produce Fully Factored fast fashion, such as India, China and many more, tend to have very high quantity requirements. And these are based on a number of factors. The majority of overseas manufacturers operate on incredibly tight profit margins, sometimes as low as 3%-5%. Therefore, large quantities of products must be produced in order to break even.

How is MOQ determined?

The manufacturer's Minimum Order Quantity requirement is a reflection of the MOQ set by their materials and components subcontractors as well as for efficiency and operations cost purposes. For example, Fabric suppliers may require a minimu...

Approaching a fashion factory for the first time can be a nerve-wracking experience, especially if you’re new to the fashion business. Monisola Omotoso examines why often designers’ enquiries remain unanswered.

Finding a fashion factory in the first instance is difficult enough but how do you begin that all-important first conversation, that will hopefully lead to a lengthy union? This can be done in a few ways, such as by email or telephone, or even by setting up a video conference call. Whichever way you choose, firstly you need to get informed about their operation. Secondly, present yourself as someone who is professional and knows what they’re looking for. However, in spite of doing all these things, some business relationships are just not meant to be. The following five reasons should shed some light on why these partnerships fail to make it out of the starting gate.

Unrealistic Expectations

Problem: It’s the middle of summer and your collection needs to be produced within 3 ...

In the 1940s the Toyota Motor Company pioneered the concept of Just In Time manufacturing. Its objective was to eliminate waste, inconsistencies, and unreasonable requirements from the production process, thus resulting in improved productivity. It’s a process that can be applied to many different types of manufacturing, but is most famous in the fashion industry, for being applied to Zara's and Uniqlo's fashion supply chains.

Through their partnership with the large textiles manufacturer Toray, Uniqlo uses just in time manufacturing to produce a number of products including their innovative product range Heatech. The thermal underwear products use a chemically-treated smart fabric that uses air pockets to retain body warmth, milk protein for softness, and an antibacterial agent to minimize sweat. 

Initially, working with Toray proved a logistical supply chain headache for Uniqlo. Toray, primarily an industrial products manufacturer, operates all year round. Fashion companies usuall...

Most small fashion brands and industry newcomers underestimate the production process. Not only do they leave it to the end to find a suitable factory, but often they also don't know what is the best way to procure their production and what are the manufacturing options. CMT manufacturing or fully factored manufacturing are often two terms everyone should know of, yet remain often unknown or misunderstood. Let's examine what they mean and how they differ.

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According to the UK Fashion & Textile Association (UKFT), in 2016 the number of companies manufacturing apparel in the UK rose to 3,830 – a 10.7% increase over the 2015 figures. This is good news, considering the industry had taken a nose dive since the early 1990s. With a marked increase in the use of overseas factories in the East, many local businesses went into receivership.

Now, however, things are changing for the better with the number of employees in textile and ap...

Selecting the correct size label for your clothing range and whether you use letters or numbers sends a clear message about the market you aim to enter.

Their use isn’t based on random selection.  Both letters and numbers are used to communicate very different things in the industry.

In regards to sampling size selection, this too should be based on who you hope to appeal to within your market sector. Are they teenagers, thirty-somethings or a much older customer?

Whoever they may be, your ideal target market will inform the decisions you make for your brand.

Universal Lettering vs Numerical Size Labels

In apparel there are two standard labelling size ranges to choose from, depending on your market:

• Letters – XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL are more universal. It is a more generic way of labelling and it is usually suited to less fitted garments.

• Numeric – The Numeric system of size labels relates to a more personalised approach to sizing. Garments that are more fitted will be labell
...

Embarking on sample making is one of the most exciting and satisfying parts of the design process. Bringing your ideas to life in the form of a tangible product is the icing on the cake after months of designing, fabric sourcing and pattern cutting.

Not to mention the endless factory visits to find someone worthy enough to actually produce your samples and happy to do sample making. Some start-up designers assume that one sample of each design will be sufficient to show to a customer or buyer – but what happens if you need to source additional factories for your actual production, if your sales agents have appointments simultaneously, or if you get multiple press requests for a specific design?

The three phases that require accessories or garment sample making are Design, Sales and Production.

Design-related samples are used to model design ideas and (ideally) finalise the pattern for production. These are used by the designer and pattern cutter. Sales-related samples are used to wi...