Fashion Incubator » Lean Manufacturing http://www.fashion-incubator.com How to start a clothing line or run the one you have, better. Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:35:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 How to build a 20 million dollar company with Facebook http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how-to-build-a-20-million-dollar-company-with-facebook/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how-to-build-a-20-million-dollar-company-with-facebook/#comments Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:30:03 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=12924 lolly_wolly_doodle_logoVia the WSJ comes word that children's wear manufacturer Lolly Wolly Doodle, got a round of funding to the tune of $20,000,000 -that's right, 20 million dollars. For a moderately priced children's wear company that started in 2009 out of someone's garage, that's not too shabby. So what are they doing and how did they do it? From what I can tell, they followed a playbook similar to what I've outlined on this site for years. If you want the quick start guide applicable to a grassroots start up, you can see these entries that explain how to turn cloth into cash: How to start a homebased handmade sewing business How to start a homebased handmade sewing business pt.2 How to start a homebased handmade sewing business pt.3 Which is not to suggest that their journey has not been without its problems. In fact, the company has an F rating at the Better Business Bureau. Still, they must be doing something right to have picked up 20 million in funding so what might those things be? Here are a few obvious conclusions:]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how-to-build-a-20-million-dollar-company-with-facebook/feed/ 7 Cool presser foot (turret) http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/cool-presser-foot-turret/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/cool-presser-foot-turret/#comments Mon, 19 Nov 2012 23:29:21 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://fashion-incubator.com/?p=12162 So maybe you already knew about these cool presser foot changer-outers -aka turrets (thank you Stu) but they were new to me. I had seen them in the sewing line of a customer's factory but even then, I didn't know where to buy one because I didn't the name of it -much less a part number. My customer couldn't help because being new to the industry, they didn't realize these parts (that came pre-installed on the used machines they bought), were unusual. Long story short, I finally got around to looking for the part, ordering it and having it installed. Oh, I guess I need to explain what this turret does and why you may need one. This turret holds three different presser feet. When you want to change feet, you swivel the round thingie to the mounted foot of your choosing. This is much easier and faster than getting a screw driver to completely remove one foot to replace it with another. This means you can go from sewing straight seams to installing a zipper or switching to a compensating foot or whatever. You only need to have the thread cut, you don't need to rethread the machine or anything else in switching out the feet. Click on these links if you want to see more photos.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/cool-presser-foot-turret/feed/ 20 Pop Quiz: Designing a t-shirt sewing cell pt.2 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-designing-a-t-shirt-sewing-cell-pt-2/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-designing-a-t-shirt-sewing-cell-pt-2/#comments Wed, 30 May 2012 23:08:10 +0000 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=11339 tshirt_seam_countFollowing up to last week's entry, the questions you were invited to answer are:
  1. What kinds of machines are needed to sew tee shirts?
  2. What is the ratio of needed machines?
...all while keeping the constraint of only six machines total are to be purchased. What you were not privy to was that the customer had decided to buy 4 overlocks, 1 coverstitch and 1 double needle chainstitch which is why I wanted to do this exercise because I didn't agree with the ratio. Perhaps the first step is to itemize the sewing steps of the shirt. You can refer to the image off to the right for this discussion. There I've listed the seams for this product which isn't exactly the same as the one in the Juki app. Jessica was first to mention seam selection as being pivotal, specifically with the joining of the ribbing to the neckline. She mentioned coverstitching -which I also had but the customer said they were going to overlock the seam rather than cover stitch it. Jessica (and Tara) guessed a ratio of 2 coverstitch : 3 overlocks : 1 double needle chainstitch would be needed. Their estimate comes closest to what I had in mind.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-designing-a-t-shirt-sewing-cell-pt-2/feed/ 5 Pop Quiz: Designing a t-shirt sewing cell http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-designing-a-t-shirt-sewing-cell/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-designing-a-t-shirt-sewing-cell/#comments Wed, 23 May 2012 23:54:57 +0000 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=11319 juki_app1Here's a different kind of challenge for you -beginning industrial engineering using the simple example of t-shirts. Are you excited yet? Don't go away, it could be fun and you may be surprised at how well you do. But first I want to tell you about a free Juki app for iPhone and iPad (HT: Jessica Montoya) because it can be used as a sort of cheat sheet and also, I am using some of the images from it (without permission) but Juki may look the other way if I plug it. Then again they may not, they're tightening down their IP. But anyway, the app is pretty neat. The Item List screen loads a selection of products to choose from. You pick an item and the application loads a schematic of the product with its seams in call outs listed by number. Below the schematic, each number lists the kind of machine you need to form the seam along with the model numbers. The model numbers themselves are also hyperlinks so you can read about the machine, its specifications et cetera. Now back to our challenge which comes in two parts. You don't need the application to do this challenge and can instead, follow the provided links above. For what it's worth, I didn't use the app to come up with what I think is an optimal solution.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-designing-a-t-shirt-sewing-cell/feed/ 15 Why sewing is slow and expensive http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/why-sewing-is-slow-and-expensive/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/why-sewing-is-slow-and-expensive/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 01:04:36 +0000 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=11211 blog_ssa-1Sewing itself is very fast so why does it take so long to get finished product out the door and why does it cost so much? As I mentioned in my book, you can have a much greater effect on reducing production sewing time and problems in the design phase than you can in production and today I'm going to show you how. Sewing a seam is very inexpensive on the face of it but because sewing is measurable, that is how costs are calculated. People look at a seam and mentally put a price to it. Whether it is ten cents, a penny or tenths of a penny, it really doesn't matter (no, it really doesn't). It is not sewing that costs -it's handling. The problem with handling is that it is mostly invisible; it can't be measured. If it can't be measured, you're not paying for it directly, only indirectly and in the worst ways with bad quality, delays, missing pieces, and dirtied goods. So the trick to reducing a lot of cost is to analyze your seam design to reduce handling points. It seems more effective to analyze seams for the number of handling steps and assign a value based on cost and complexity for each seam. Ideally, each seam would only be one point. More points are justified if the price points support it or the material or finish require it.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/why-sewing-is-slow-and-expensive/feed/ 17 Is mass customization in apparel possible? http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/is-mass-customization-in-apparel-possible/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/is-mass-customization-in-apparel-possible/#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:11:16 +0000 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=10810 I've been seeing more and more mass customization type apparel companies and they have been mostly men's formal (shirts, suits, etc.). What are your thoughts on that? I have your book and have been reading your blog and I believe you have written about just-in-time manufacturing/custom manufacturing in years past. Now that technology is improving and costs of overseas manufacturing seem to be rising with some "hard line" products coming back to the US. What are your takes on "mass customization"? Could it be done with apparel? Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Sorry, that isn't funny but it was the first thought that came to mind. Yes it is possible within given parameters and I'll answer it in the context of a start up business option. Other than the obvious, there are two central issues with respect to Mass Customization -or MTM for Made to Measure (manufacturing)- that must be determined. The first is timeliness and the second is product diversity. With respect to timeliness, how quickly do you plan to ship to your customer? In a day, a week, a month, two months, more? There are no set criterion but much of the discussion of MTM seems to imply that delivery should be relatively fast. If long lead times (a month or more) aren't an issue, it is typical for MTM enterprises to have their production outsourced off shore. If you want to deliver more quickly, it will probably have to be domestic and you'll have to be the one doing it. If you're asking whether it is possible for you to do it cost effectively domestically, the answer is yes but again, there are a few hurdles that I'll get into further down.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/is-mass-customization-in-apparel-possible/feed/ 9 Open tabs 3/8/11 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/open-tabs-3811/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/open-tabs-3811/#comments Tue, 08 Mar 2011 21:25:27 +0000 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=8848 seyed_alaviToo often I don't share what I've been reading or finding across the web but several sites compel today's effort. That and I have too many tabs open in my browser. Typical. On the heels of yesterday's entry I found three textile glossaries courtesy of Textilesmithing, glossary one, glossary two and glossary three. There's a fourth but it's not loading for me. Textilesmithing is a newish blog featuring topics on surface design, weave, pattern and with a healthy smattering of stuff you should have known a long time ago. Such as, sharkskin suits are not made of sharkskin. Yes indeedy! I imagined they weren't made of shark skin but I didn't really know what they were made of and so now thanks to the internet, I can pretend I always did. Be careful though or you can waste a whole day there -speaking of the Lexus carbon fiber circular loom that amounts to nothing less than autie-porn. The photo above is Sayed Alavi’s Flying Carpet installation at the Sacramento Airport, again courtesy of this entry on Textilesmithing. If you follow Seth on twitter, you can pick up more tres cool stuff like this gizmodo story about a brief history of bulletproof fabric.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/open-tabs-3811/feed/ 15 Pop quiz: Lean-ify this iPad case pt.2 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-lean-ify-this-ipad-case-pt-2/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-lean-ify-this-ipad-case-pt-2/#comments Thu, 24 Feb 2011 00:10:06 +0000 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=8739 gold_star_on_FIWe got some excellent responses to yesterday's challenge, I'm very pleased and appreciate the time you took to watch the video and record your responses. And here is your gold star! I should have started passing those out long ago. Now for analysis from your responses. Cherry wasn't first but she provided our only product assessment which was exactly the context we needed. She agrees the case is nicely made but said the elastic closure is losing recovery. She suggests a wider elastic, perhaps 1/2". Nearly everyone mentioned workplace set up, that equipment wasn't placed optimally for efficient flow. Paul mentioned the cause of this problem in an earlier entry saying
[...] what happens in real life is that as things change, are added, or removed over time, people just expand into the next available empty space rather than rearrange to keep the whole thing most efficient. It seems too disruptive to rearrange. So you end up with a really bad arrangement and materials are moved a long way from each step to the next, and you have to go through a major/expensive project, or keep on being inefficient.
Here is a summary of the specific items you mentioned:]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-lean-ify-this-ipad-case-pt-2/feed/ 6 Pop quiz: Lean-ify this iPad case http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-lean-ify-this-ipad-case/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-lean-ify-this-ipad-case/#comments Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:04:22 +0000 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=7298 dodocaseYour challenge: watch this video and figure out however many ways you could think of to streamline production of these iPad cases made by DODOcase. It is neat to watch practiced people doing their jobs so smooth and neatly. That's evidence of the muscle memory of experienced craftsmen at work. The video was a companion to this blog post; the video at the top of the page is a song and dance about why the sponsor (an online software product called Shopify) is dandy. I'm not suggesting the product isn't great (I would love your opinion if you've used it), I only mention it so you can skip that video for the one I linked to in the first line. Then scroll down and read the feedback from the various manufacturer contestants who participated in the project. When each (respectively) were asked about their "Key manufacturing and marketing lessons learned", responses mostly focused on marketing rather than manufacturing. Pity.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-lean-ify-this-ipad-case/feed/ 7 Prevent mistakes with better sorting http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/prevent-mistakes-with-better-sorting/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/prevent-mistakes-with-better-sorting/#comments Fri, 22 Oct 2010 21:25:53 +0000 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=7901 garden cart kit that Mr. Fashion-Incubator bought. As you know, DIY construction from store bought kits can be an exercise in futility if not frustration but this garden cart kit was designed to minimize confusion in one ingenious way; namely through hardware sorting and organization: kitting]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/prevent-mistakes-with-better-sorting/feed/ 7