Posts filed under 'Product Development'
When you call or visit a textile supplier, one of the first questions you’ll get from them is “what do you do (make, manufacture, etc.)”? They ask you this because they want to help streamline your shopping experience. They also want to keep from wasting time if they are not going to be able to help you.
The more details you can give a fabric supplier, the easier you’re going to make your life. These people are never going to steal designs, they aren’t looking to see your tech sketches or design specifications. When I speak with a supplier, I’m very detailed about what I’m making, what qualities I’m looking for, and what I need. Right now, I’m scouting for jersey-type fabrics. I tell the supplier’s rep that I’m making babywear, I’m looking to make baby tees and body-suits. This doesn’t tell them anything too specific about my design, but it does give them a good picture of what type of fabric I need.
The other bonus to giving specific details is that the supplier likely knows about some fabric choices that you don’t know about. Keep in mind, they want the sales and they want the repeat business. They want you to grow and they want you to stick with them while you do. When suppliers ask you qualifying questions, or tell you they have high minimums, don’t be offended; but do ask them if they have anybody else they would recommend.
It’s a good idea to make a list of everything you’re looking for in a fabric before you call:
- type of fabric
- special care requirements
- price point
- minimums you’ll be able to meet
- specific color or detail requests
June 13th, 2007
Sometimes after you’ve gone through something and left it far behind, you forget what it was like to go through that experience for the first time. Enter our first contractor experience.
It was going to be our first season – I had all the pieces in place, the sample fabrics I needed and the patterns I needed. One tiny little issue was that I was running late in the season – but, not a big deal, starting small, only need a couple of salesman’s samples to make it to market.
Well, the Big Deal was that being late in the season ensured all the *good* sewing contractors were good ‘n busy. Including the ones who were recommended by my pattern maker. I thought, ok – I’ll find someone by calling around, just like I found the pattern maker. So I started calling and finally got the number of a lady who had some experience with children’s apparel.
Called her and she was available. YES!
So, I went and met with her, showed her my patterns and she said she could do it. I was so clueless at this point that I took her the whole rolls of fabric. Expecting her to do the cutting. She didn’t say anything except “OK”. Here’s the mistakes I made, which, by the way, are mistakes that any respectable contractor wouldn’t even have let me make:
- Dropping off the rolls, instead of the cut pieces – why in the world she was ok with this, I have no idea. My current sewing contractor wouldn’t even consider the idea of doing the cutting. He does the sample making and handles the production.
- Not providing prototypes. I expected her to make the samples from the pattern and fabric swatches alone. Everything that you hand over, to any contractor along the stage, has to be VERY CLEAR and VERY ORGANIZED. I had patterns, with fabric swatches attached to the spec sheet, in the order they were supposed to go in (from left to right, staple the fabrics that are used in the item – self, contrast, trim – to the top right corner of your spec sheet). By the time I’m ready for salesman’s samples, I should have a few prototypes to hand over to my sample maker. Basically, give your contractors as many tools as possible to make the job as easy as possible.
- Did I mention I was late in the fashion season cycle? It should have been a red flag to me that she was even available. (I say this because she was a small shop – I’m sure there are large job shops that can handle rush orders). So, with her doing the cutting on top of the sample making, on top of whatever the heck else she had going on, ended up being a disaster.
Now that I’ve owned up to my part, I get to say that she was the worse contractor I’ve worked with yet. Not only did my stuff come back 6 weeks late (yes you read that right), but about 50% of them came back basically re-designed. Different trim on items, even self and contrast backwords. I can attribute some of this to not providing the sample, but why in the world wouldn’t you call and say “you need to come down and show me what you want”?
Needless to say by now, that season didn’t happen – at all. I still have some of those damn samples like a big gray cloud over my head and the kicker is, now that I’m doing a few cash ‘n carry shows, I’m actually selling them off (the few that were made correctly). So, in the end, those things have given me confidence in my designing ability again. That something I designed a few years ago is selling well today. The colors are even still “hot”…which is pretty amazing to me.
I remember being so nervous making those first calls to pattern makers and sewing contractors. I think I was nervous enough that I let it hold me back from asking a million questions. At that point, I was still worried about being new, so I’d work it up in my head to more than it was. Remember this through the entire process – asking questions is a sign of strength, the more you know about something, the more you’ll ask about it.
My current contractor is brilliant, was recommended by my pattern maker, and is patient enough with all my newbie mistakes to help me learn as I go along. I’d love to hear some other experiences, as I’m sure we could all learn from each other’s contracting dramas.
I forgot to mention my poor husband had to go down to the contractor’s when the samples were finally “complete”, so he didn’t even know what was right or wrong (I didn’t provide him with prototypes either). He counted the number of items, handed over the money, scooped up our daughter and the extra fabric, and away he went. And her parting words were “don’t forget about the little people”.
It’s definitely an experience I’m happy to have behind me. But I learned a zillion things about manufacturing, working with people, project management, and setting expectations. And not being late in the season!!!
June 1st, 2007
I’m trying to keep from spreading ourselves too thin. Just as our personalized blankets start rolling I’m off and running with other things. But I need to reel myself in. The blankets are rolling, keep them rolling. We have a good thing going and we’ve finally almost worked through all of the kinks.
I shipped display kits to three different states yesterday! YES!!! This is a big thing for us. This is an exciting thing for us. And I feel good about the kit that we’ve put together, we’ve covered all of the bases, from the redemption brochures to a FAQ sheet.
We have our blankets in one of the hottest San Diego boutiques and I stopped in last week to give them updated brochures. Our blankets had been in the store for a week and she sold one right before I walked in. Which was exciting, and which had raised questions for the boutique. Good questions, because we can now come up for a solution for something we hadn’t thought of on our own.
A friend of mine is considering entering the pet industry and was asking me if I thought it’d be better for her to go through the development of a niche product or just start with graphics on ready-made products. Niche, niche, niche.
I recently heard from friends and family how disappointed they were in me for switching from baby clothing (my first idea behind starting the business) to blankets. They never asked me why I did it, only told me just recently THEY didn’t think it was a good decision on my part.
If they had asked me, they would have known there was a grand plan behind it. That by doing something so niche and so unique, I had a better chance of standing out and getting shelf-space in boutiques. Once I have a relationship with the boutiques, it’s going to be easier to get our clothing line in; rather than competing right off the bat with everyone else.
This isn’t to say, at all, that if you’re doing clothing, you’re not doing something niche. Niche can come down to the style of clothing you’re offering. But I do strongly believe that you have to STAND OUT, you have to offer something unique that the “big boys” aren’t already offering.
Getting the manufacturing process for our personalized blankets figured out was an incredibly lengthy and painful process. There is no such thing as “mass manufacturing” because each name has to have a unique placement on the blanket, based on size of letters and length of name. Not only that, but the blanket has to be assembled after the hand-applique is done, because it is backed and bordered with the same cotton print as the appliqued name. We can not buy a pre-made blanket and hand-applique because I would not be happy with the stitching showing through on the back.
The niche will pay off, and is paying off, because these products are really really unique. This is paying off in a lot of free press for us (without me pitching it yet) and the press is making it easy to get into boutiques. Not to mention building my confidence. And the plan is working, we’re now selling our graphic tees to boutiques who first purchased the blankets. We’ve built trust with them, and the unique, fabulous style is representative of our brand.
Consider what your niche is and focus on building that before spreading yourself too thin. Of course, you might have to experiment a little to figure out what your niche will be, but finding a niche will give you a fighting chance.
March 24th, 2007
I’m very excited because it looks like I’m going to get to meet up with “friend” who runs Baby Nika out of Canada at the April Int’l textile show in Los Angeles. I put “friend” in quotes because we’ve never actually met in person, but we’ve exchanged a lot of emails and a few phone calls. She has decided to travel to the US because she’s sick of sourcing supplies over the internet and phone, and I’m very excited to meet her. We’ve been on the same path with our businesses from back when we didn’t even have our websites launched 
I’ve been going to this bi-annual textile show for a few years now. I definitely don’t make it up to all of them, but it is an invaluable experience every time I do. Even the first time, when I was an absolute deer in the headlights; that first time I learned so much about how the industry works. Since then, I’ve always had luck finding suppliers w/ low minimums that are willing to work with small design companies.
I have the advantage of proximity, being only a hundred miles away from Los Angeles, but I highly recommend it to anyone who can make the trip. My favorite part is the trends display they have in the lobby. It’s a great overview of the upcoming season’s colors and trends in textiles. It’s also a great launching point to start your day at the show. You can cruise around the tables and make notes of which suppliers carry the fabrics that are catching your attention. These notes can at least give you some basis of where to start.
Then it’s up to the show floor, and when you step out, it’s overwhelming. There are usually wide open halls full of booths and then rooms full of vendors as well. It always helps me to just walk it once. I learned at the KIDshow that everyone has different buying habits. I’m one who likes to walk it and get my bearings. On the first walk around, I will drop in on existing suppliers or companies that I’m already familiar with. Once I’ve done the first walk, I’ll go back and visit the booths that really caught my attention, in addition to any of the booths I want to visit based on my notes from the trends section.
It’s funny, at my first show, I was afraid to ask about minimums because I didn’t want to scream “Newbie” to everyone I met (I did anyways LOL). Now, if I stop in and see a fabric I like, my first two questions are price and minimums. These are the most immediate qualifiers for me. And if they are high, I now have no problem saying we’re relatively new and the minimums are out of our range. Trust me, the vendors appreciate that you’re not wasting their time either. If I really like the fabric, I’ll take their card and make note that I’d like to check them out again when we’re bigger.
The Textile Show is from April 16 – 18. If you follow the link, all of the pictures on the home page are taken in the trend & forcasting area in the lobby.
Also, if any of you out there are looking for suppliers with low minimums, I can point you to some for a wide variety of fabrics from plush micro-fibers to cottons. So feel free to contact me, at the very least I can copy pages from show directory. I can be reached at info@babyfabulous.com.
March 20th, 2007
Wow, where’d I go? This week was so crazy. My husband has started up his high-school season (he coaches volleyball in the afternoons / weekends), and I’m doing a couple of side writing jobs, so the balancing act is just awesome. But, it works. We’re keeping it up, and one of us is still with the kids at all times. My daughter has had to miss a couple of days of school in the last couple of months, because it’s a parent participation pre-school. But, my neighbor has offered to take her with her, her daughter is in the same class. So, that’s incredibly helpful.
We got a surprise review on celebrity-babies.com this week. That sent us a lot of unexpected traffic and
has already led to a few good and flattering offers; these sorts of things are like little blessings, and they seem to come when they are needed the most. 
Another blessing has been finding an amazing local pattern maker / and grader who got our cutie-pants (TM) pattern crafted in 12 months and graded into all the sizes we needed. Now we have cutie pants outfits to ship this week. And then, we have our fall fashions in boutiques- YES!! Going beyond the blankets.
So, this is when it’s up to me to “ship on time”. We’re on it. We’re so on it.
Delivered a blanket set to my dream boutique yesterday. And they were impressed by how well we had the whole process put together. It’s easy baby! That’s the whole point. We’re creating demand. We’re actually creating demand for our only-on-of-its-kind product. It’s amazing to start experiencing the plan working. Actually working.
Back to it. Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today.
March 10th, 2007
I managed to get my urgent pattern dropped off for grading yesterday. And I learned something new, which is awesome, but I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before. I need to have an infant’s pattern and a toddler’s pattern made for each style. Especially for bottoms, because the room for the diaper in infant patterns requires a pattern change, not just a sizing change, between toddler and infant styles.
The first style that I had graded was a poncho, so there wouldn’t be much impact between toddler and infant growth; there’s really neck hole (already has a slit to ensure it eases over the head) and arm length to worry about with a poncho.
The standard sample size for infant clothes is 12 months, and standard sample size for toddler clothes is 2T. So, I was ok with the size 2T – and we can have that graded up fine. But, she has to do pattern adjustments to create a size 12 month pattern. I’ll work up a prototype, do a fitting, and then we’ll go from there.
I’m happy with this, because I was considering changing from size 2T to size 12 month patterns for my samples. At this stage, I felt ok with this change because: A) I haven’t created a ton of patterns at this point, nor anything I feel adament about using as block. B) Size 12 months clothes just look so darn cute compared to the size 2T clothes.
I went with size 2T samples because the kids are always walking by that age and the modelling should be easier. Now, I don’t have to compromise or lose what I’ve invested in…but I will start creating size 12 month samples as well. Here’s a link to an infant & children’s garment size chart: http://www.fibergypsy.com/common/children.shtml
It’s very exciting to be in the clothing sales now, and beyond the blankets, as magnificant as they are. Happy Sunday to all of you – I hope that you get some R & R.
February 25th, 2007
In the past week contractor nightmares have been a theme. And, since I dropped off the sample kits with my sewing contractor yesterday (I still can’t believe I made it – I was cutting up to the last minute, even putting the right spec sheet with the right kit on the way there!), it seems really timely to share what I’ve learned. I even learned more yesterday.
The first contractor I went to, I found through the yellow-page grapevine. Few people in the area take on, or have experience with children’s clothing manufacturing. I was also running late in the season – which made me feel desperate to find somebody, anybody, that would work with me. I should always be concerned about finding THE RIGHT person to work with me.
This being my first experience I went in with somewhat schizo spec sheets (admittedly), bolts of the fabric. I’ve since learned sewing contractors generally never cut the sample fabric on their own. She didn’t say anything about this. It was a disaster. Not a single sample came back on time, not a single sample came back decent, and what’s worse was that the styles actually changed. Unmatching prints and fabrics came back, wrong color trim on many of the garments – and in restrospect, I’m sure she had no clue what I actually wanted. But instead of ASKING me what the he** I just left with her (we did talk through it when I was there), she just went for it. We shouldn’t have paid, but we did – so mistakes all the way through.
Now, I’m in the loop with a good contractor, who was referred to us by my most-excellent pattern maker. He laughed at me (not in a mean way), when I asked if he cut the samples.
After our nightmare experience (and a whole season literally lost), here’s the single most important thing I learned, and trust me, if you don’t have the time to do this, then don’t do your season: Have the contractor make only one or two samples the first time. See their work, understand the communication process and how they like to work, what they expect from you, how they meet deadlines, how much respect they have for you as a small business – all of these things are crucial to the development of your product.
Beyond that, here’s what I need for my contractor and how the sample production process works:
- Once I’m satisfied with the pattern, fit and look, I sew up one final prototype. I will take this prototype to the sewing contractor, it doesn’t matter if my sewing skills suck, it’s for a visual of the style.
- I cut the fabric for the samples and group them together. Yesterday, I dropped off three styles, for two samples of two styles, three samples of the final style, almost all in different colorways. This is a small line and you can see from reading that last sentence how confusing it can be. The sample stage is more complicated because you’re throwing a variety of styles at the contractor at one time. (I’ve received some good production advice along these lines, but will save it for another day).
- Group all of the inputs for each sample together into one kit. I throw it all in one ziplock bag – including the associated spec sheet. Make sure any buttons, snaps, elastic, ties, etc. are also included in this bag.
- The spec sheet is the most crucial part. I hated the very idea of spec sheets when I first started this, maybe based on fear of the unknown alone. The spec sheet says everything about that style, contains the technical sketch of that style and (this is important) has mini-swatches of the fabrics and trims stapled to the top right corner, reading from left-to-right in the following order:
- Talk about each style and each sample of that style. Don’t leave until you feel you’re both on the same page (or get off the phone, whichever it may be).
I’m lucky enough to have a local contractor; this eliminates weeks of back-n-forth shipping for the samples. I will literally have the first round of samples next week, and time to drop off the final round of samples before KIDShow.I’m sure there is more I’m missing. Oh, yes, the new thing I learned yesterday. Stick the style# to the prototype for cross-referencing. I didn’t do that. I’ve needed little stickers a lot lately, so probably a good idea to just have a few blank sheets of address labels in the car at all times.
It was such a relief to get everything done yesterday that I actually got a full night’s rest last night. That’s about the most amazing thing of all. Somehow, miraculously, we’re all a little happier this morning. And I have lunch with some of my oldest and dearest friends. Excellent.
January 27th, 2007
Ha Ha, I was going to write everyday. I can barely keep up with myself everyday, much less on top of everything. Kids are starting the holiday break and that means a less-hectic schedule for us. Less running around anyway. Met a friend for lunch today and ended up in this same random strip mall that has a wonderful CUSTOM baby / child boutique that is going to be a great match for our products, so that was fortuitous.
I’ve had all of these projects just h-a-n-g-i-n-g over my head for a couple of weeks; I was knocked down with the flu, and I’m just finally caught up. I have done some planning for the gifting suite. It was flattering to talk to the event planner, because she raved about how excited she was to have OUR products represented – even if it was just a lot of sunshine, it was nice to hear it.
Here’s what’s big in my life right now and I don’t care how cheezy it sounds – positive vibrations. I got into such a rut – and could feel how much thinking about being in the rut made the rut worse – so, I had to remind myself of what an optimist I truly am and get myself out of the rut; faith and hard work helps a lot too.
Something cool for me is that I’ve devised a new product that I’m really excited about and believe we can realistically launch by for the celebrity event. And I’m really excited about it and the labor is simple, the design is simple and this is good stuff. I feel strongly that we need a hot product that is at a good price point. Our personalized blankets are hot; getting a lot of buzz, but they are still on the pricey side of baby gifts. I know that the sales will continue to build, but how nice it’d be to have an item that’s HOT and accessible by a larger demographic. This will be a great KIDShow item too. I’m working on the first pattern to get a prototype, so I can find out if my idea will work the way I envision it. But if it does, it’s full of all sorts of potential.
Oh, I saw a whole blanket tag about not leaving bedding in the crib with infants, so I’m going to have to look into that and see if I can find standard wording. It was much more detailed than “not intended for bedding”.
Isn’t there always so much to do?
December 15th, 2006
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