Comments on: What does it cost to prototype a bag or clothing line?

By: How much cash do you need to start a small clothing line?

How much cash do you need to start a small clothing line? — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:52:17 +0000

[...] to post it here first. I frequently get variations of this question, a previous entry I wrote was how much does it cost to start a handbag line. My stock response is, how much does a house cost? Is it a dump in a crappy neighborhood or is it a [...]

By: Alison Cummins

Alison Cummins — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 12:35:28 +0000

Hey Aaron, you might want to buy the book and join the forum to talk to other handbag manufacturers.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 05:23:04 +0000

Hi everyone,
I apologize for my lack of experience and knowledge on this topic. For the last year or so I have had an idea for a new handbag line that doesnt exist at the moment and am so eager to go some where with this idea. I, for a small time worked with my friend who majors in jewelery design and has had some experience with handbags. Needless to say it did not work out so I am still stuck here without any resources. I guess that my question/questions would first be, what do you suggest I do about finding someone interested in helping design this product? My is, what if I can’t find someone, are there resources to help someone such as myself move a product forward in design and also production from no basic sketch? Again I apologize and thank you.

Aaron

By: Weekend Reading for Mom Entrepreneurs September | The Mogul Mom

Weekend Reading for Mom Entrepreneurs September | The Mogul Mom — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:05:01 +0000

[...] What does it cost to prototype a bag or clothing line? [...]

By: What does it cost to prototype a bag or clothing line? pt.2

What does it cost to prototype a bag or clothing line? pt.2 — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:20:22 +0000

[...] is a follow up to the first entry. It not really true to the topic but addresses some issues that came up in the comments. I’m [...]

By: Theresa

Theresa — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:51:19 +0000

I still wish there were more small quantity manufacturers in the US. Every time I stop to think about what I would want to do if I started my own business, it’s get back to either custom sewing/prototyping or small quantity sewing. I was a factory stitcher for so many years but I ended up switching over to the importing and overseas manufacturing side of the business. All those 1,000 + unit minimums means too much is all the same and helps feed the push manufacturing problems. There are so few factories left in Massachusetts and the one I used to work for stopped doing handbags and accessories and now focuses solely on the leather furniture side of the business.

By: kulchababy

kulchababy — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 02:35:08 +0000

Hi, Ladies. I have to weigh-in on this one. I live in a city where one of the major universities has an undergrad fashion design program. So, I’m mainly a self-taught patternmaker, but was able to drum up enough biz to help pay my way through college. Talk about the nightmares. I used to get people who only had sketching 101 trying to enter design contests around the world and trying to start clothing lines. My company (Ladyfingers) would take the client’s ideas from conceptual to realized designs. I had lots of clients who had no idea how their sketch would work in 3-D form. When I would try to explain simple things like why a zipper or buttons or velccro for that matter might work on this garment or ask how the clothing would stay on the model’s body the designer would get snippy. When I did mock-ups sometimes the designer was so overwhelmed by the functionality that the item needed in order to go on a human body things would get even more messy. I grew tired of the sleepless nights slaving for someone who had no real idea about the serious time and energy that went into realizing their designs. Oh, and don’t let me get started about the designer’s who couldn’t sketch, but wanted you to draw for them as they verbally explained their garments… but guess what, as a wahm, I’m thinking of revamping my company. If you’re in need a prototype, please be considerate of the patternmaker and/or seamstress. We can make or break you on preview night…

By: marie

marie — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 14:34:55 +0000

Thank you for your recent post and for sharing your experience so freely. It seems as though I am so far out of your league and that of your other readers but I am learning. I have had a small business in which I make leathergoods, mostly deerskin, and sell them at our local Artisan’s Festival. This business has produced at least part of my income since 1975. I make my own patterns (self taught) and do all of the production work myself at home. A few of my items are pretty popular, so I had dies made at a small shop in Maine ($80 each) and have the pieces clicked out in Brockton, MA (.20 a click). I also do custom work. At times this business seems overwhelming and I wish there was a way to have some items sewn by someone else, but I haven’t had any luck finding an individual or small shop to hire. Mostly, I feel fortunate to be in this unique situation where I do not have depend on anyone.

By: celeste

celeste — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:01:06 +0000

As usual always very insigthful.
I don’t have any experience with protypes, but I have been looking into dyeing some small quantity of fabric. Which usually falls under the cateogry of sample dyeing. That to can add quite alot to the price. Easily another few hundred dollars depending on the number of colors needed.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:56:06 +0000

First, thanks Kathleen for the great blog and amazing amount of knowledge you have provided to us here! I don’t comment often, but I did have experience with this so I shall share…

I had some simple vinyl purses prototyped about 2 years ago, they were extremely simple (see photos here: http://funklectic.com/90/ – the actual ones I had prototyped didn’t have the fancy inlays like the owl but were simple lines, mostly like the last one – brown / teal polka dot). I actually made a bunch of them myself initially, but then decided to work with a manufacturer here in Denver, CO as they were too much work to do by hand. I submitted my patterns to them (to which they made modifications and made their own patterns) and they were prototyping the actual bag portion. The vinyl handles I was going to get cut by a local laser cutter guy (I had been making them myself with a router). I was also going to do the attaching of the handles to the bags myself, which differs from what you see in the photos and were actually going to be attached with screw rivets. Anyway, bottom line is that they only prototyped the fabric portion of the bag, which included an internal zipper pocket and a small “open” pocket on the inside (not sure what the technical term for this is). I had 4 different purse samples made to take to a tradeshow, and my total cost was $637.50 ($75/hr at 8.5 hrs).

This company had come highly recommended, but at the end of it, I wound up dropping the whole collection all together as they turned out to be a nightmare to work with. All signs were telling me to drop the line, the biggest one was my difficulties in working with this particular manufacturer, and the tradeshow was crummy and I didn’t sell enough to justify continuing. The biggest problem I had with these people was quality and meeting deadlines. My samples were 1 week late and I had to rush to their facility to pick them up the night before I left for my show. The quality issues were many and included pattern pieces marked with ball point pen (where the internal pockets were supposed to be sewn in, and the pen was clearly visible in the samples). They claimed that actual production would be drilled, but I thought this unacceptable regardless (am I being too harsh? Is this normal?). The stitching quality was also mediocre, some of the lines weren’t straight, and they didn’t sew my woven brand labels into all of the samples as requested. (All in all I felt like I could have made the samples better, but I wanted them to look more “professional” which is why I requested them to do it). I addressed all of these issues with them and they were answered fairly appropriately, but bottom line was that I left feeling really poorly about my experience with this company and couldn’t justify moving forward. It all felt like it just wasn’t meant to be.

After this experience I felt discouraged (and am not really in the financial position to go into clothing/handbag production) and have stuck to jewelry production as it’s much simpler and cheaper. Maybe one day when I make enough money off of my jewelry, I will venture back into clothing/handbags. For now, I just hand make them, one of a kind, as I need.

Hope the info was helpful! If you are in Denver, you can contact me about this company but I won’t mention their name publicly.