There are multiple ways you can develop custom apparel products for your brand – working directly with a patternmaker or working with a factory on development. Each has its advantages and drawbacks and which is right for you depends on how you like to work and what factors are the most important to you.
You don’t want any unwanted surprises in production and your customer doesn’t want any unwanted surprises the first time they pull the garment out of the clean laundry basket. To know what shrinkage to expect and how to manage it in production and beyond, testing your fabrics for the different types of shrinkage is essential.
High shipping costs, longer freight times, and rising tariffs have made moving production to the USA a competitive option for some brands. With any big logistics shift, the switch can bring some new challenges. If you are considering moving your production to the States, here are four things to prepare for to make the transition.
Finding the right factory for your brand is often not a quick and easy process, so it helps if you are prepared. While each factory has their specialties and ways of working, there are certain things that all cut & sew factories will need from you in order to make your design successfully.
In the fashion industry or not, it seems like the assumption is that plus sizes are harder to fit. But, is it actually true that plus sizes are harder to fit or has our society spent so much of its attention dressing thin people that it has made us wary of dressing larger bodies?
Have you ever heard the term “production pattern” and wondered what that really meant? There are actually clear differences between just any regular pattern and one that is production-ready. Plus, there and reasons why you don’t want to (and sometimes can’t) go into production with just any pattern.
It is pretty obvious that you will get a pattern when you hire a patternmaker – it’s in the name. Working with a patternmaker can benefit your brand in many other ways as well. What you get when you hire a patternmaker is more than just a pattern. Here are some additional things you’ll receive.
When there are fit issues, both of the look and function are compromised in the final garment. There are certain fit issues that I see over and over and there are five I find the most egregious. The good news is that they can all be fixed with a well-fitting pattern!
The goal with development is to arrive at a pattern that fits well on as many people in the target market as possible, but even the best-fitting pattern can’t fit everyone perfectly. Because of this, it is worth considering how your designs might be altered so you can design with ease of alterations in mind.
With Illustrator being so widely used and accessible and traditional patternmaking software being so cost prohibitive, you might wonder if you can just make patterns in Illustrator. The short answer is, yes, you can. However, depending on your goals and how you will be using the patterns in your business, you might not want to.