http://www.fashion-incubator.com How to start a clothing line or run the one you have, better. Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:22:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/questions-for-a-sewing-contractor/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/questions-for-a-sewing-contractor/#comments Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:47:06 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=7164 clothing manufacturer sewing contractor. The company is huge, a vertical operation, the largest in her country. They (it's her family's business) do everything from thread spinning to knitting to dyeing, cutting and sewing. She likes start ups and will do 300 unit minimums for the occasional diamond in the rough but is at the end of her rope because 9 out of 10 callers are not ready to talk to her. She asked me why they aren't coming to me first (she read my book ten years ago) and I said I don't know why. Just for grins, I asked if she had a website. She said no and that she doesn't ever plan to, that "things are bad enough". But I digress. Please post questions you would like me to ask her in next week's interview. We would appreciate it.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/questions-for-a-sewing-contractor/feed/ 18 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/spesa-lawson-for-fashion/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/spesa-lawson-for-fashion/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:00:11 +0000 Stuart Friedberg http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=6863 I wasn't planning to look at software while at SPESA, but fell into a conversation with Marie-Pascale Authie at the Lawson booth. Lawson sells Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software to a variety of industries with about 4,500 customers world-wide. "Fashion" is one of their target industries, with about 350 customers in this area, explaining why they were showing at SPESA. ERP software suites are targeted at companies whose operations are complicated enough to benefit from some paperwork automation. Usually, those companies are much larger than a DE operation, with hundreds or thousands of employees. However, that's not a rigid rule. Marie-Pascale indicated the smallest customer of Lawson for Fashion has 15 employees. And I want to focus on some specific features that would benefit even the smallest company engaged in just-in-time, make-to-order production with a stream of small orders. One caveat before jumping in deep: This is a description, not a review or a recommendation. I haven't used Lawson's suite nor do I know what their competition is like for the fashion industry. Looking over the Fashion-Incubator members' forum, I see references to

• Apparel Magic,
• FrogFish,
• StyleFile by PatternWorks,
• EAS (Enterprise Automation System),
• Open Bravo,
• ADempiere,
• Apache OFBiz,
• Compiere,
• OpenERP,
• World on a Hanger, and
• xTuple

and I probably missed some. They all play in the ERP space, but have vastly differing functions, complexity, specialization to fashion, and prices. I am not competent to compare and contrast them.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/spesa-lawson-for-fashion/feed/ 1 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/a-refresher-on-basic-industrial-sewing-concepts/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/a-refresher-on-basic-industrial-sewing-concepts/#comments Tue, 27 Apr 2010 19:42:57 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=6620 the first entry leads me to believe it could be time for a review of basic concepts of industrial sewing. It's been a long time and maybe some people aren't familiar with older content on this site. By way of introduction to today's entry, Sherry writes: I have always wondered why domestic sewing methods vary so much to industrial methods, but I suppose it is so a beginner is able to complete the project adequately. Take staystitching - for a beginner it would stop them inadvertantly stretching an area they shouldn't, but an accomplished machinist could omit it. And industrial methods usually assume some skill - eg skirt cuffs, slotting the sleeve into a preassembled cuff and stitching down, I'm not sure a beginner could do that well. A couple of things that I think should become standard work in home sewing circles is more fusing and more notches! Stay stitching: I don't believe stay stitching is a skill. It is closer to a work around, a way to solve a problem on the fly that was created further upstream. The problem in question is usually a poorly made pattern. The facings and collar do not walk into the neckline correctly. In industry, we will never sew products without having tested the pattern first. Also, quality RTW products usually include a fused neckline. In home sewing, the perception is that the industry takes short cuts. Not only do we not take short cuts, we actually do more work. Sewing time is shortened by mostly four things.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/a-refresher-on-basic-industrial-sewing-concepts/feed/ 11 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/hiring-a-full-package-sewing-contractor-pt-2/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/hiring-a-full-package-sewing-contractor-pt-2/#comments Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:45:12 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=6386 the first entry I made points that could be summarized as:

• Technology doesn't speed the production cycle as much as we have the expectation that it will (you can't hire 9 women and get a baby in a month).
• Long work days are required of this and nearly any other business.
• If you don't have the time, you have to buy someone else's.
• If you don't have much money, you can only buy a limited amount of someone's skills or time.

This leaves people in the position of :

• Determining priorities, that which they must have. Being new, they often want what they don't need and don't want to pay for what they do need.
• Calculating what they can afford.
• Find a full package provider who can provide the options one can afford.
• Figuring out a way to do the things one can't afford to pay for.
• Reducing complexity, hand holding becomes more attractive.

If you're looking for full package, you need a full package provider whose operating costs are not inflated by the costs of options you don't need. Toward this end, I breathed a sigh of relief to read that others expectations and definitions of what full service is, have not evolved as I had feared they had. On my end (the regulars can skip this), I'm seeing a disturbing uptick in the number of people who are looking for a "vertical manufacturer". Akin to this previous entry, if you're someone looking for a vertical manufacturer, it means you're trying to do business with GAP, Victoria's Secret et al. The only way to do that is to buy products as a consumer or to sell them store fixtures, labels, services, real estate or whatever. In other words, you cannot become a vertical manufacturer by trying to hire one.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/hiring-a-full-package-sewing-contractor-pt-2/feed/ 4 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-why-do-knits-get-larger-pt-2/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-why-do-knits-get-larger-pt-2/#comments Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:23:49 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=6348 Stuart did the heavy lifting on yesterday's quiz. Lucky me! His comment requires little elaboration on my part (thank goodness) and is a great resource if you're having difficult to define problems down the road. Gold stars to everyone else who gave the answer I was looking for. Note I didn't say the only right answer, just the particular problem I wanted to cover in this entry. If you are like me in that what you know about knits could fit in a thimble, this is the one thing you should know: that improper tension and pressure in spreading knit fabrics can cause grave problems. [I cover a lot of material about spreading fabrics and even teach you how to make markers in my book. It is poor economy to not avail yourself to that.] Consider the common rubber band. When it's flacid, it has x width but when you stretch it, it gets narrower. Knit fabrics are no different than a rubber band. If the fabric is lain with too high a tension, it becomes narrower. If you cut out your products while fabric is in that position, the product will be wider (and shorter) once the pressure is released and the fabric relaxes.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/pop-quiz-why-do-knits-get-larger-pt-2/feed/ 4 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/the-rules-on-seam-allowances-pt-2/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/the-rules-on-seam-allowances-pt-2/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:55:01 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=6060 my first entry because comments from two people who have every reason to expect they'd understand what I was talking about, didn't. Perhaps my entry was too brief (1,500 words on seaming is brief) but I didn't want to get too technical lest legions of readers expire from abject boredom, their hands affixed to the armrests of their chairs in the final stages of rigor mortis. I have a silly question on overlock seam allowances. Are 3/8" and 1/2" the seam allowance as marked on the pattern or the finished seam allowance after sewing? I think most of my RTW knit garments have 1/4" finished overlock seam allowances, and I'm pretty sure 1/8" is trimmed during sewing. That would mean a starting seam allowance of 3/8". When we talk about allowances, we mean the total from nett (the sewing line) needed to complete the seam successfully. In the course of doing an overlock (serged) seam, it is presumed that successfully completing the seam means it is necessary to trim off a scant 1/8" portion of the edge (or edges). In other words, the seam allowance (3/8" for 3-4 thread, or 1/2" for five thread safety stitch) will mean that after sewing and required trimming of the edge, the remainder will be 1/8" less the finished viewable seam. So yes, a knit garment with a 3 or 4 thread overlock seam will finish at 1/4" width from nett (the seam line) although 3/8" was used to make it.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/the-rules-on-seam-allowances-pt-2/feed/ 10 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how-to-fix-production-problems-with-production-managers/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how-to-fix-production-problems-with-production-managers/#comments Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:27:09 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=5560 the forum, paraphrased to omit sensitive information: I paid the pattern maker I hired to provide production management services but I've had so many problems with the factory he used. My small production run of thirty dresses had so many construction problems that they had to be returned to the factory to be fixed. I am due to pick them up beginning of next week. But before I go there and possibly encounter any further issues, I would appreciate any advice I can get regarding quality control responsibilities of factories and the person handling the production management. Q: When you hire someone to handle the production management, what should they be responsible for? If they tell you their fee includes being at the factory to make sure everything is going smoothly, but then there ends up being many problems with the construction of the clothing, is this something that should have been prevented or am I expecting too much? Brief background: The pattern service in question has a solid reputation among colleagues. Pricing is in line with competing providers and he has 30 years experience working with contractors in his area. I had been told that he did his own small runs in house (50 pieces or less) so I'm not sure why he sent this work out. The designer in question (Tina) has been proactive and diligent in learning about the process. In my opinion she should not have experienced the problems she described particularly because her pattern maker was the ideal party to prevent these problems with his colleagues. It would be another story if the production manager was a separate party who could not vett the accuracy of the pattern or understand construction fully. Ideally, one would have an agreement in place to list the sorts of duties and responsibilities included below.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how-to-fix-production-problems-with-production-managers/feed/ 0 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/the-best-technical-software-for-small-companies/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/the-best-technical-software-for-small-companies/#comments Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:32:31 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=5548 [This is the perfect example of why tunes should not be playing when people land on your website. I'd lose at least half of you because my preference would be to play the Glenn Miller version of At Last. Yeah it was a bunch of white guys so it's not as popular or cool as the Etta James version but the clothes were better.] If you're having a hard time keeping on top of things like quality, vendors, product testing, keeping on schedule with patterns, sampling and production, have I got news for you! Yes, StyleFile, the best and lowest cost technical design package and project management software is back with a new version called StyleFile LE. Since I know budgets are tight, I'll give you the cost up front, it's $699. You can try it free (no registration hassle) for 30 days. I strongly suggest you use the wiki which will be invaluable in getting you started. Here's a tiny list of what it can do for you: -oh wait, new FTC regulations governing endorsements say I must disclose the nature of my relationship with the vendor. The vendor is Patternworks Inc, a boutique pattern services provider in Los Angeles. In my opinion, they are the standard by which pattern services should be measured. Which is no small thing to say considering they are technically my "competitors" although I prefer the term "colleagues". I enjoy warm collegial relations with the owners -as well as one can considering distance and all. I have not been paid for any entries I've written about any of their products or services. I have not received a free software package of LE either. I was employed by the firm to test the first PLM/PDM product and to write documentation (I am a technical writer) for which I was not paid but I did receive the software in trade. Lastly, I will not be paid a commission if you buy any of their products or services. Disclosure dispensed with, this is but a tiny portion of what StyleFile LE will do for you:

• Tracking the work process, soup to nuts.
• Line sheet creation
• Bill of Material (BOM)
• Complete costing
• Full technical specification packages
• Writing sewing instructions (to which you can attach illustrations)
• Grading and sizes management (grading charts and reports)

]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/the-best-technical-software-for-small-companies/feed/ 5 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/denim-laundry-contractor-pt-2/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/denim-laundry-contractor-pt-2/#comments Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:51:15 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=5223 Tuesday's entry here's part two on laundering premium denim. Fashionably distressing jeans is labor intensive. Considering all the work I saw being put into them, I'm surprised they don't cost more. If you thought seam classes were overwhelming, the range of denim treatment options are bewildering and complex. Here is a survey of available options. A very simplistic description of the process -a veritable lather, rinse and repeat- is:

• Pre-treatment, handwork, sanding, and resin whiskering
• Washing
• Potassium permanganate spray applied and dried.
• Wash again
• Paint spatters, these are dried in the oven.
• Wash again
• Lastly, is stone washing.

The first part of the laundry that Robert showed me was the hand abrading section. Below you can see jeans blown up on mannequins off to the left and right. Below this gentleman is wearing down jeans with abrasion using a super duper secret material known to insiders as "sand paper".]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/denim-laundry-contractor-pt-2/feed/ 17 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/transitioning-to-in-house-production/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/transitioning-to-in-house-production/#comments Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:22:22 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=4606 Context: I was talking to a friend of mine this morning about a potential new-to-me client that I would be sending his way. By the way, if you didn't know, I send most people requesting services or consulting to other businesses that are closer to them or are better suited to their purposes. Anyway, this company has sales, marketing, business admin and fulfillment established. The only production related function they do for themselves is graphics application using blanks made to spec by their cut and sew providers. At this juncture, this company is interested in expanding into other product lines in addition to the one they have now. Their goal is to do their own design, patterns, cutting and sewing in house for the new products, while retaining their existing relationships for their flagship product. From what little I know, the idea is solid and pragmatic because they've defined the new product types very narrowly. Narrowly defining your product focus is pivotal if you're thinking of transitioning to doing production for yourself. If you should find yourself in a similar situation of wanting to expand to do more of the work yourself, you may be surprised to know that service providers think this is great. While no one is happy to have to find another customer to replace you, we support you in this decision. Here are tips on how to make the most of your transition if you're currently using production services. Honesty is the best policy If your goal is to do perform the services in house for yourself in the not too distant future, say so. This is for two reasons. First, if a service provider is going to have a problem with it, it's best to know now rather than later so you can find someone else. Second, I can't speak for everyone else but I'd do things just a little differently for a client like this. If you don't realize you want to do this until you've been doing it for awhile, broach the topic with your service providers once the idea has crossed your mind a time or three. It's likely they'll make suggestions for strategic changes you should consider making for a smooth transition.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/transitioning-to-in-house-production/feed/ 2