After The Contract Is Signed...

For those of you wondering about the many ways this whole process can work, I've decided to start a blog so you can read of my exciting adventures in the fashion industry. Things usually start with an email to me that reads something like, "Hey, I want to make this. Can you help me?” I quickly respond with "Let's arrange a time for a call or in-person meeting to talk details." If all goes well at this initial free 30 minute consultation, I'll email a contract to e-sign, and then we jump into design or product development depending on the stage of ideation. This brings me to today.

I started with a new client this week who has a really fabulous idea for a new collection of women's apparel items (top secret! always!). At our arranged meeting spot, we went through sketches that were already completed by another designer and reference samples from market shopping to really nail down what garments we want to launch with. Materials are key to any apparel design so we swatched fabrics and trims for me to source the desired components with the two factories I have in mind. Then we dug deep into every sewing detail and every seam of each piece. I provide lots of input as I've seen a ton of clothing sewn together over the past 2 decades. Once construction details are worked out for the first sample, we start talking about general fit based on the end customer, so I can get some starting measurements into the tech packs.

This whole process today took us about 4 hours for 8 styles. It varies quite a bit based on how much preparation has been done by the client, and how complex the garments will be. There are always a lot of variables in creating new product! In this case, styles were very highly constructed and complex. She had sketches from a designer that we started with but we made a good amount of revisions to them.

Now, to do a little re-sketching in Illustrator and then make some thorough tech packs so the manufacturer can see the whole collection we want to start sampling. Stay tuned for a future post on tech packs!