Archive for July, 2007
This is an add-on to my last post on Spec Sheets. Ayomide was kind enough to elaborate on her experience with this aspect of the development process in a comment she left on the blog post. I just wanted to highlight what she shared, because she has valuable input from an industry-insider’s view.
She also points out that they called them “Tech Packs”. Here’s what Ayomide had to say on spec sheets:
“I remember doing spec sheets at work. So much information but we called them tech pack, becuase it was like a pack of paper we would send to the manufacture with so much info. We would have the specs, the style #, size range, black and white line drawing, a colored line drawing with the colors called out, art information, with all the colors called out, sometimes send the actual embellishments, and sometimes a swatch of the fabric.”
One of the main things I gather from reading her comment is that if you have a decent enough color illustration, then you don’t need a full prototype. I’m not that good at drawing yet, but creating a prototype works great for me, gives everyone in the process a real picture of the expected outcome. It would be nice to be good enough at drawing to save the time it takes to create a prototype. Practice, practice, practice.
*Also note she refers to the technical sketch as a “line drawing” – I point out these terminology differences because they are useful search terms, industry slang, which we might not think of on our own.
July 21st, 2007
I have to get the tech sketches and spec sheets together for the pattern maker. If I can get this whole concept to come together by the September tradeshow, I will be very excited. I’m just excited to have a concept. So, fashion design spec sheets tell the pattern maker (and everyone else down the line) all the information he/she needs to know about a style. Here’s the information that I need to get together for the pattern maker:
- Tech Sketch
- Finished garment measurements
- Fabrics and Other Inputs that will be used ( buttons, velcro, snaps, elastic, etc.)
- Style #
- Style# to base the style on (blocks or existing pattern)
- Size of Pattern
- Description of Style
- Prototype is ideal!!!
I’m lucky enough to have a couple of patterns from previous designs that I can tweak to get a decent prototype. I’ll be using the same neckline and armholes anyways – so I think it’ll work. I can tweak it enough to get a decent prototype to my pattern maker.
Every time I look at the list of what still needs to happen by ABC Kids Expo, I freak out. Brochures and photographs and catalogs and posters and a mock display setup – pre-show pr and advertising – and then the design and development of the products we want to launch at the show. It’s better to not say all of that out loud sometimes, better to just chink away at the top item on the to-do list.
July 19th, 2007
I came across a great book on fashion illustration last week. It’s called Drawing Fashion Models by Lee Hammond. The book is a part of the Discover Drawing Series, copyright 1999.
It’s an excellent tutorial book for those of us who both have no clue about fashion illustration and need a lot of help with it. It is designed to take you from beginner to master, with each excercise building on the last.
One of the things that I really like about the book is the that the author really focuses on fashion. She talks about tweaking proportions and flattering model positions. She also goes into detail on how to draw all different kinds of fabrics and folds and even lace.
I have a long ways to go before I have anywhere near the drawing skills of the author, but it’s a great kick off for learning the skill. If I could be even just a little bit better at illustrating the fashions I’m designing, then it would streamline our development process. Better drawings would communicate my vision better.
Fashion illustrations, which attempt to show the viewer what the apparel looks like on a model, are different than technical sketches, which show the viewer what the article of clothing looks like when laid flat on a table and viewed from above. It is a technical sketch that you hand over to your pattern maker.
July 16th, 2007
Do you ever notice how your life weaves in and out of themes? A couple of months ago, my theme was easily pegged as “get organized”. Right now, the theme of the times seems to be apologies. For phone calls never made, order sent out late, emails not responded to in a timely manner. Which weaves out of the “get organized” theme and into the “wear less hats” theme, which I can tell is approaching on the horizon.
I try to take my life lessons and my business lessons from the predominant themes. Right now, I feel like I’m trying to get to a “good” place, where I don’t have black clouds hanging over my head, or any more apologies to make. To do this, I have to first make apologies and then right the wrongs. I’ve done that for most things, free gifts with the late order and a sincere, hand-written apology.
But I’m mainly learning that I need to gain more focus, get more help, tone down how skittered-skattered I am all the time! I need to revisit the business plan, it has changed almost completely from the last update. Business plans are supposed to be living documents, because plan though you might, you can’t predict the future. But the other half of “living document” is that it is supposed to be updated consistently to reflect recent changes in the business model.
I feel like we need this update urgently, just to get a grip of where we’ve let ourselves veer off track. And to figure out whether we want to stay on the offshoot path or try to return to the original plan. Hey, our marketing plan section will actually have some meat in it, now that we’ve gotten our feet wet.
We’re exceeding our PR dreams, somehow magically, it seems. Good reviews lead to new good reviews and if I could ever get around to writing a press release, I’m sure we’d get even more coverage. With a revisit to the business plan, I’ll actually allocate time for all the things I’ve let fall to the bottom of the list abyss – newsletters and press releases.
July 9th, 2007
Okey Dokey – So we’re now what, 8 weeks out from the ABC Show? Eight weeks and there is far to go. No more lolly-gagging along. I’m going to have to weed down how many new designs I wanted, but I am still going to make this happen.
We have eight weeks to get a pattern, get the sample fabrics, and have our salesman’s samples made, not to mention pictures. I keep wanting to pretend I don’t have to make time for pictures and a catalog too.
I have to revise my previoulsy created project plan, drastically, and put everything into fast motion. On Monday, I need to set an appointment with the pattern maker and get the sample fabrics ordered. I can’t put it off any longer.
At the same time, I’m learning to have patience with my current product offering. Since we are still so relatively new, there will be a lot of retailers at the ABC Show who haven’t seen any of our stuff. I can take comfort in the fact that we have a decent product line as it is. We need to keep pushing branding and exposure.
This next two months now becomes “how to take a product from sketch to launch in 8 weeks”. My own personal eight week challenge. And this is after I wrote about being behind in the season – but we’re in business now. I don’t get to put off our official launch until I can make something real appear. Now, we have no choice but to make it happen.
Which isn’t to negate all of the legwork I’ve done for this season already, including committing to a theme, scouting suppliers, and hashing out the design basics. But, now we have to put the action behind the plans. And we can. We can, we can, we can.
July 6th, 2007
Sometimes it takes a vacation for me to realize how much I need a vacation. We’re just back from a week and a half away, and the world didn’t completely fall apart while we were gone. (I know, I can’t believe it either). Sure, there were a couple of fires, but they were worth every single minute I spent away from the office, which were minutes mostly spent outdoors.
It seems counter-intuitive that taking time off will increase your productivity, but it really does. Operating on a full tank of creative juices and energy is just amazing compared to operating on empty.
So, we’re back to it. I’ll admit I kept up with extremely urgent emails. Even though it was only every few days that I would check in, it did give me piece of mind to know that the world hadn‘t fallen apart. I can’t say that I see any business owner able to completely “check out”, but I got close.
It was actually a good check for the business too. It gave me the opportunity to see how easily we can hand stuff over to people who don’t know much about the business. We have a lot of work to do in this area, and we really should start documenting all of our processes. Add it to the “to do” list.
So, the whole point of this post is to say “take a break”, you’ll absolutely love yourself for it!!!
July 5th, 2007
