6 Strategic Tips to Prepare for Production
As you prepare for production, you’re likely feeling excited and relieved to have made it to that point. You’ve put in many hours taking your concept from a pattern to a sample run to a fine-tuned design ready for manufacture. But even if you followed all the steps to prepare for manufacture, issues can still arise in production due to complexity.
I’m sharing six tips that can help you simplify your design to make production less stressful and more manageable. Making strategic decisions early can help you save time and money, rather than feeling pressured to make changes at the last minute when production costs go over budget.
#1 Narrow Your Product Options
Product designers are creative by nature, but sometimes, that creativity needs to be reined in. New designers often feel a need to fill their website with product options. The reality is the more designs you plan to produce, the higher your costs will be and the more inventory items you’ll need to manage. When you’re new to product development or your brand is new to the market, you won’t have much data—if any— to tell you how popular your design will be or which sizes and colors will be in demand.
The strategic route is to start with fewer designs in limited colors until you can gather proof of which ones your customers love most. From there, you can consult your customers on their preferred colors and gradually add more options. The next two tips will discuss how to gather customer feedback for your initial production run and any future launches.
#2 Gather Feedback from Social Media
Social media is a wonderful place to validate your design ideas. Start by sharing design options in your stories or posts, and ask your followers to vote or comment with their feedback. Not only does this help you strengthen your social media presence and brand awareness, but it also encourages engagement, which gives you data. Activity on social media is especially beneficial for new brands with smaller followings. And if you haven’t created social media accounts for your brand, this is a great time and place to start!
#3 Set-Up Presales
In addition to social media, having a landing page ready or a website that accepts presales is another great collection source for data. Knowing which sizes and colors your customers prefer will help determine the quantity you’ll need to order. While you may be tempted to have multiple color options, keeping your initial choices low will help simplify production. Every time you add a colorway, you’re exponentially increasing your inventory. Staying focused on limited colors for your first production run helps minimize your risk while maximizing profitability.
#4 Keep Fabric Decisions Simple
Choosing fabric for your design is a fun part of the process. Still, it can quickly become overwhelming and expensive if you let it. No one expects you to be the expert on everything fabrics. As a business owner and designer, you should be informed when you speak with your pattern maker and manufacturer.
Reading our blog post, Fabric 101: A Crash Course in Choosing the Right Fabric is a great place to begin. Once you have a basic understanding of fabric types and when to use them, you can choose the right materials for your product.
#5 Keep Branding Basic
Adding your brand to your garments can be appealing, but it’s best to keep it simple. The easiest way to add a branded touch to your garments is with a custom label that is sewn into each piece. Using branded labels only adds an additional item to your Bill of Materials list. It does not add additional production steps.
Labels are far less expensive than requesting your logo be embroidered or heat-pressed onto the fabric. As your brand grows and you succeed with your products, you can add other customizations later.
#6 Final Analysis for Complexity
Before you contact manufacturers, take a final analysis of your product design. Have you kept it as simple as you can without losing your vision? Reducing complex details in your design shortens the time it takes to make the product, which results in lower manufacturing costs.
The following examples are just a few ways you can keep your design simple:
Don’t use colorful or decorative topstitching
Reduce the number of pockets
Avoid color blocking
Be flexible with how prints line up in the design
Use fewer buttons or zippers when possible
Prepare for Production with a Professional Review
At MADE Apparel Services, we help new and small brands simplify their manufacturing process to save time and money.
Still not sure if you’re ready for manufacture? Have a professional sewn product consultant review your tech pack and pattern to ensure you have everything you need before you invest in production.
