Without sounding like a negative soul, one of my golden rules in this industry is “Manufacturer’s are not your friends” and approaching them with the idea they’ll have your best interests at heart is an unfortunate error I see start-ups make time and time again. Often people will start communicating with factories armed with a single rough-sketch of their ideas. Unsurprisingly this is open to artistic interpretation and in the rare case a factory will even accept it as a starting point, you will find yourself paying further down the line through endless samples and processes to ensure you get the garment that most reflects your initial idea.

As a designer, pattern cutter and creative consultant, it is my duty to guide you through the process with clarity and confidence and equip you with the knowledge and appropriate documents to control your experience and get the most from your garment manufacturers. However far along you are in your production journey, there are three basic fundamentals in managing factories that are worth familiarising yourself with.

Tech Packs

Tech packs are a detailed blueprint of your chosen garment(s). A thorough tech pack will enable a factory to offer an accurate quote and remove any guess work, avoid hidden or additional charges and clearly illustrate the quality of your piece down to the last millimetre.

Presenting a hand drawn sketch, quite frankly, isn’t good enough. It’s a vague and novice way to communicate and without the painstaking detail a tech pack provides, your hand drawn sketch essentially gives creative license to your factory. You create ample room for error resulting in sample after sample that fails to align to your vision with expensive rounds of amendments and alterations that can otherwise be avoided by investing in a tech pack during the earlier stages of development.

Tech packs themselves are working documents which can change as you develop your designs, but they halve the risk of error by mapping out a very clear instruction and starting point for your factory to begin. If you work with me, your tech pack will include all technical illustrations, specification sheets, graded sizing charts, fabric and trim research, Pantone colour matching, clothing labels and swing tickets.

In layman’s terms, if you don’t invest in a tech pack the best case scenario is you receive something you like that’s not quite perfect. However the more common worst case scenario is that you’ll experience the factory taking advantage of you, delivering low quality because it’s easier for them.

Negotiate

Once you’ve established contact and approached your factory with all relevant and prepared material, it’s time to negotiate. You do not have to accept the first offer that is made. In fact, if you have established your desired RRP and invested in a good designer who has created a product in line with this (through smart selection of fabrics and design features), then you should have a figure in mind for cost of production.

By setting a target retail price before production, you create the opportunity to gather multiple costings and leave room for negotiation. For example, if you want to sell a top at £25, you can approach the factory with a target production cost of £5. Don’t hand the power of cost price to a factory, allowing them to dictate the whole deal, or you’ll run the risk of creating a product outside of your customer’s price range.

Equally, be prepared to be flexible in negotiations your end for the factory to meet your £5 target. The difference between cost price and RRP can vary depending on your chosen margins, but you’re equipping yourself with the focus and considered plan to enter a deal.

Critical Paths

So you’ve detailed your requirements and agreed on costings. It’s time to produce. You stress to the factory you want things completed as soon as possible. Yet somehow this translates to you moving to the bottom of their priority pile. How?

ASAP to a factory is the equivalent of saying “You decide”. Have you ever owed a payment to a handful of people at once but there’s one in particular who just keeps on at you? Unsurprisingly it’s often those characters that get paid first. Your friend who kindly said “just pay me back when you’ve got it” is probably still waiting on seeing that £20. Without constant communication, a critical path and a follow up, your ‘as soon as possible request’ is translated as a kind gesture allowing them the breathing space to deal with more demanding clients first.

Before you get underway, establish lead times for each stage of the process. Ask them when you can expect to receive fabric swatches, strike offs, first samples etc. and incorporate this into something as simple as an Excel document to keep track. Keep communication regular and let them know you’re expecting results by the agreed timeline. Stay in control.

If you would like guidance throughout your time working with factories, help creating a critical path or liaising with any stage of production, then please get in touch I’d be happy to help.