Fashion Incubator » Sourcing http://www.fashion-incubator.com How to start a clothing line or run the one you have, better. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:36:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 How to search for clothing manufacturers http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how-to-search-for-clothing-manufacturers/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how-to-search-for-clothing-manufacturers/#comments Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:48:12 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=10776 F-I Facebook page inspired this one on how to search for clothing manufacturers. Said one visitor (in response to my news that domestic apparel production continues to increase for the third quarter in a row and is now at 20%!)
It sure would be nice if there was a list of manufacturers in the USA. It's pretty difficult to figure it out. Have any recommendations for women's wear?
I'll give the redux of my response to her below but back to the cheat sheet I made on how to search for clothing manufacturers: search_for_clothing_manufacturer]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how-to-search-for-clothing-manufacturers/feed/ 11 NEW! Wholesale fabric show, low minimums NY http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/new-wholesale-fabric-show-low-minimums-ny/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/new-wholesale-fabric-show-low-minimums-ny/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:36:57 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=10519 it is critical that this go viral -promote this show to all of your friends, colleagues and contacts because not sharing the details can kill a show like this faster than anything. If you don't make an effort to tell -oh let's just say ten other people- don't be dismayed if this is the first and last year this show is held. If you don't tell ten other people, I never want to hear you complain there aren't any shows for small designers. You should promote this show even if you don't live in NY or plan to attend! If this show doesn't succeed, the vendors will not be convinced to do it anywhere else. Meaning, if you want a show like this to open in a location more convenient to you, the best way to make it happen is to do what you can to make a show you're not even going to, a rousing success. Make sense?]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/new-wholesale-fabric-show-low-minimums-ny/feed/ 118 Using interns or consultants for sourcing. Or, the blind leading the blinder http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/using-interns-or-consultants-for-sourcing-or-the-blind-leading-the-blinder/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/using-interns-or-consultants-for-sourcing-or-the-blind-leading-the-blinder/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:15:49 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=10507
  • Leaves the impression that the owner has more "important" things to do.
  • The assumption that interns (and often consultants) are qualified to assess skills.
  • A failure in understanding the product development process.
  • Leaves the impression the owner thinks service providers are an interchangeable commodity.
  • Miscommunication in work assignment.
  • And to service providers I direct the last -getting paid can be a problem.
    • 1. That the owner has more "important" things to do: As the Wall Street Journal said (paraphrased) once management decisions are made, the pattern maker is the single most important person in the factory with the greatest impact on costs and quality outcome. The matter of product development is so pivotal that the owner of a start up should make the time to do the research even if they're not qualified to assess the skills of those they'd hire. It is in the search process that one learns to discriminate and acquire critical lessons that will affect every facet of their profitability. Books and internet searches are useful to learn assessment skills. Better yet, you could just read this and this. There is nothing wrong with getting help in locating services but the person who does the hiring should make the first approach.]]>     http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/using-interns-or-consultants-for-sourcing-or-the-blind-leading-the-blinder/feed/ 5     Wholesale fabric shows: Premiere Vision or Texworld? http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/wholesale-fabric-shows-premiere-vision-or-texworld/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/wholesale-fabric-shows-premiere-vision-or-texworld/#comments Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:49:09 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=9679 Premiere Vision (July 13-14) and Texworld (July 19-21). One show isn't better than the other, each represents different value. Here's what I can tell you. I went to the Premiere Vision show in Paris (two years ago) but have never been to the PV New York show. I would imagine the NY show isn't quite as good as the Paris show (you'd be surprised how many people can't get visas or don't want a piece of the US market) but few would argue that PV NY is not the top tier designer fabric show in the US. Let me qualify that. Premiere Vision is a better choice if you have a fashion forward bridge or contemporary line with high price points, and have or aspire to have a presence in the EU or Asia. I liked the Paris show very much. See the review I wrote of it (do that enough times and you'd never need to buy a sourcing directory). The ambiance is professional and muted, very conducive to business (as is Texworld)]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/wholesale-fabric-shows-premiere-vision-or-texworld/feed/ 10 Wholesale Fabric Show -Chicago May 26-27 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/wholesale-fabric-show-chicago-may-26-27/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/wholesale-fabric-show-chicago-may-26-27/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 22:26:49 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=9435 Chicago Fabric & Trim Show which takes place next week, May 26 & 27th. Mostly targeted at independent designers, most vendors offer low or no minimums! This is an excellent opportunity for folks in the Midwest to shop for fabrics, trims and guts. A partial listing of the 100+ vendors can be found on the AIBI site. If you're a member of the F-I forum, check this thread to meet other members who are going and to get the details of Jay's open house the day before. If you can't make the open house on the 25th, there will be a meet up on the 26th. Jay is a wonderful host; rumor has it that he buys the first round.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/wholesale-fabric-show-chicago-may-26-27/feed/ 3 Designers must know: textile performance http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/designers-must-know-textile-performance/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/designers-must-know-textile-performance/#comments Tue, 08 Mar 2011 00:00:17 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=8834 Things you must know if you have a clothing line) but didn't know what to call it. I think I will call it "Designers must know:...". Theresa and Sarah suggested names similar to it so they get the credit. There are earlier entries in this series that I can't rename but I will retag them and include those links at close. Today's entry is about understanding textile performance. If there were ever an area for which meta-cognition were invaluable, it would be in textiles which is why I wrote that pre-entry last Friday. As I said then
    ...specifications, protos and sketches are useful devices to create understanding. However, there are some situations in which it is nearly impossible to have meta-cognition no matter what you do. More specifically, it is almost impossible to have meta-cognition about textile performance... The worst part about it is that the other party doesn’t know you don’t know and since they can’t know you don’t know, they can’t help you with it. That is why designers are expected to know textile performance.
    Textiles are tricky on several levels. First is design and then is performance. There are costs and risks associated for each. Because misunderstandings are inevitable, I will tell you some things to watch out for as well as how to try to get around the lack of meta-cognition between you and another party.]]>     http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/designers-must-know-textile-performance/feed/ 5     PSA: Don’t go to Magic to buy fabric http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/psa-dont-go-to-magic-to-buy-fabric/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/psa-dont-go-to-magic-to-buy-fabric/#comments Wed, 12 Jan 2011 00:47:00 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=8351 PSA because five weeks from now, I'm going to hear a lot of complaints from people who went to Magic to source fabric. It is the same every year. It doesn't seem to matter how many times I say this, do not go to Magic for the purpose of buying fabric. Don't get me wrong, Magic is a great show. I think everyone should go to Mecca at least once in their lives but you don't go to Magic to buy fabric. The primary intent of Magic and its satellite shows is for retail buyers. Designers and manufacturers lease space there to have the opportunity to sell wholesale clothes, accessories etc to stores. Any designer who thinks that Magic is like a Super-Store that should serve their needs from soup to nuts is missing the point. Yes, Magic is a soup to nuts solution but it is soup to nuts for wholesale buyers of clothes not wholesale sellers of clothes.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/psa-dont-go-to-magic-to-buy-fabric/feed/ 11 Paying commissions for referrals pt.2 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/paying-commissions-for-referrals-pt-2/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/paying-commissions-for-referrals-pt-2/#comments Thu, 02 Dec 2010 19:33:05 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=8132 previous entry was a topic of great debate. Before we can sort through it, it is important to separate commissions generated via recognized sales functions from relationship referrals. For example, any agent is clearly off the table. Of course agents get referral fees or commissions, how else could one presume they are paid? Indirectly, this most clearly indicates that transparency is central to the debate. For his research in The Market for Lemons, George Akerlof won a Nobel Prize in Economics for describing how in the used car market, lemons reduce the price of good used cars because a seller is strongly motivated to sell all cars as good ones to make the most money. As a buyer of a used car, you want to pay as little as possible because the car could be a lemon (there is no transparency). For this reason, high quality used cars are difficult to sell at fair value because there is no way to prove they are worth the money (some dealers now offer warranties on used cars as a strategy to reduce uncertainty). This indirectly explains why you should offer warranties on your sewn products because consumers have no way of knowing whether your stuff is any better than anyone else's in the marketplace. That the bad stuff can push out the good (Gresham's law) is due to the mechanisms of asymmetrical information. Asymmetrical information refers to a power imbalance in a transaction because one party has more or better information (power) than the other. How is that partnering? Returning to the issue of secretive referral fees, the party generating the referral has information the receiver does not because there is no transparency. If the party seeking a referral were to know the first party is accepting fees, the receiver should weigh the risks of being party to the arrangement because there is the likelihood of their buying a lemon. If transparency is the key then there is no problem whatsoever if one party refers another to a preferred partner as long as the first party has disclosed their arrangement prior to making a referral. The second party is then free to take it or leave it. There is nothing wrong with this. However, if the first party does not routinely disclose their financial interests in the matter, they've said more than words ever could that their business arrangements aren't above board. If they truly believe there is nothing wrong with it, then why would they need to keep it a secret? ]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/paying-commissions-for-referrals-pt-2/feed/ 2 Paying commissions for referrals? http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/paying-commissions-for-referrals/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/paying-commissions-for-referrals/#comments Wed, 24 Nov 2010 23:58:58 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=8095 a conversation we're having in the forum. For context, Xochil is a pattern maker who has been asked to pay commissions by another party for work he sends to her. She asks (edited):
    I am curious to see how others feel about either accepting or even requesting a commission or "finder's fee" on making referrals to other businesses. For example, a pattern maker who refers their client to a sewing contractor and then gets a kick-back from the sewing contractor for the services rendered for that referral client. Do you do this, why or why not? What about a situation in which a client is referred them to Contractor A (who does pay commissions) even though Contractor B (who doesn't) may be more suited to that type of product? What if the referral were bad; from either the contractor's perspective or the client/designer's perspective? How would you handle this? How would the client feel if they knew you received the commission? I imagine people would not trust your referrals if they knew you got something in exchange.
    ]]>     http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/paying-commissions-for-referrals/feed/ 25     Value Circularity: cotton, colanders & the specialty store market http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/circularity-cotton-colanders-value-and-the-specialty-store-market/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/circularity-cotton-colanders-value-and-the-specialty-store-market/#comments Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:38:02 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=7929 nearly enough thought. If consumers don't fully understand the mechanism of cost increases, neither do producers. When you send work (money) off shore, those economies become better off. If they're better off, they start buying goods and services they couldn't afford before. If those (local) consumers can buy more stuff, producers who used to work for you will produce stuff for their own markets. And why not? With proximity, their overhead is lower. This also impacts things like cotton prices because they now need the fabric for their increasing consumer market meaning less for you and higher costs for what is available. The summary being, in order to make it profitable to continue making stuff for you, they'll charge you more when you and your customer can least afford it because their increasing consumer base takes up the slack.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/circularity-cotton-colanders-value-and-the-specialty-store-market/feed/ 12