HOW TO GET YOUR CLOTHING LINE MADE | THE PRODUCTION PROCESS | HOW TO FIND A MANUFACTURER

hi i'm natalia i'm a designer welcome to my studio space today i'll be talking about how to start your own clothing line and the production process so i'm going to give you a step-by-step breakdown of what the production process is like speaking of starting a clothing line my friend from fashion school back in new york started a clothing line called ambery and this cardigan is the first piece from the collection drop i'm so excited it's so pretty i'm obsessed it's like this lavender to white ombre it's a little bit of an oversized fit it has

extra long sleeves so it's super cozy i like to roll them up and it's perfect for you know like if you're just at home sewing or you're going on errands meeting up with a friend going on a date it has this like very cute feminine vibe to it and i absolutely love it i love the length i'm so obsessed and it comes in a light pink to white kind of colorway too so if you're interested i have a 10 off code in the link in the description box so we can match and i want to

say thank you again to my friend ambry for sending me this sweater i'm absolutely obsessed with it so on to the video the first step in the production process is having tech packs and flats a flat is a flat technical sketch of your garment it's typically done in adobe illustrator and you need to show the front and back views so i'll give you an example of what a flat looks like these are all examples of flats this is a men's trench coat as you can see all the details are there the buttons the stitching the

belt the pockets everything is there by the way this book is called the spec manual really really informative and really great for tech packs and flats a tech pack is a multi-page document typically done in excel and it has all the details and like the whole blueprint of what the garment how the garment is made the tech pack will include the front and back sketches it will include the spec sheet page it will include any detail pages let's say you have a pocket and it you need a close-up drawing of the pocket it will include

any type of artwork maybe there's like a certain print it'll include different colorways in there and it will also include where your labels are placed and sometimes the tech box will even include how the garment is packed and shipped so you need all of these things and at your tech pack step number two will be ordering sampling fabric and trim for your sample so this should be the correct fabric the correct trims that you want your final garment that will be going into production for example if you're doing a denim jacket you're going to use

the exact item you want the exact buttons you want the exact thread trim labels all of that number three is to develop your pattern a pattern is the actual pieces that you will use and cut out to create your clothes you can hire a pattern maker an independent contractor to do this for you or you can find a factory with a full package service to do this for you later on in the video i'll go more in depth on how to find a factory after you've developed your pattern step number four is to create the

prototype so the prototype is typically done in a substitute fabric like a muslin or in a similar fabric to your final fabric this is to test out the pattern see the design in you know 3d form if there's any issues you can always go back and have the powder maker correct it this will probably be another charge and then remake the prototype once your pattern is completed and you like the prototype then you will create a fit sample so the sample will be made out of your real fabric your real trims for your final final

garment and you'll test it on a fit model and see how the design works if everything is good with the fabric if the fit is good you just want to double check and if there's issues you go back and correct it in the pattern and then you know repeat step number six is selecting your final samples so after you see your samples produced and you have a little collection you can kind of see which pieces work which pieces don't you can remove some that don't really fit with the collection or are too expensive to produce

you are going to estimate the cost of your designs based on the development of the prototypes okay so this is like step six and a half but with your samples you should be creating a lookbook and line sheets if you are looking to get your clothes in a boutique or in a store you're going to need a line sheet and a line sheet is the sales tool for buyers so they can see what is in your collection what is the wholesale price and what is the retail price and it also gives all the description of

the garment what color way it comes in the description of the garment fiber content everything is in there you should start working on that as well and while you're at it you can with your lookbook you can ha take some you know promo photos for marketing purposes so you can garner interest in your brand and your collection drop before it releases number seven is taking pre-orders and getting ready for production this is when you're going to send your lookbooks and your line sheets to different buyers so they can place an order hopefully you can also

send your samples to them as well to different trade shows to different showrooms hopefully they buy something and if you're doing direct to consumer you can start taking pre-orders on your website always a good idea step number eight is pattern grading this is getting your pattern sized up and size down i do have another video specifically on pattern grading that i will link down below in the description box step number nine is creating a pre-production sample this is super important that this sample is perfect it needs to be the sample that has no flaws because

this is the reference that the factory will use to sew all your bulk production sometimes it's called a so by sample step number 10 is you're going to go proceed with bulk production so certain factories have certain minimums i'll talk more about that at the end of the video step number 11 is qc quality control so you're going to have to inspect each garment and make sure that there are no defects in these garments and step 12 you're going to pack and ship your garments so that is the production process now that we've gone over

the entire production process the next step is how to find a manufacturer so how do you do this the cfda the council of fashion designers of america recently put out a list of manufacturers for anyone to see i'll put a link in the description box down below and it's such an amazing resource it shows all the factories in new york and la and you can even filter through all the factories by what you're looking for if you're looking for just pattern makers if you're looking for someone who specializes in denim menswear women's wear children's wear

anything that you're looking for it's there you can filter it by your minimum order quantity which is amazing because not all factories like to work with new designers or designers that only have small runs you can also filter it by budget and you can filter it by minimum order quantity which is a big big deal because not all factories want to work with new designers or designers that only have small production runs i believe you can also filter it by full package service factories so full package means that they do the pattern making the prototype

the sample and the production all in one place so it's a little bit easier with communication it's it's definitely easier than if you hire an independent contractor for a pattern maker an independent contractor for a seamstress and then a separate place who does the cutting it's a little bit more communication so that's up to you another option is sourcing factories overseas the pros of this it's probably cheaper to get thing not probably it is cheaper to get things produced overseas just to give you a reference point getting a pattern made in the us at least

in new york and in la it's hundreds of dollars it's hundreds of dollars to get a pattern made and it's hundreds of dollars to get the sample sewn and if you're doing a small production run you're ordering only ordering for example 10 pants it's gonna be expensive versus if you're ordering um a hundred or five hundred or a thousand pants for production so keep that in mind so that is all of my advice start a clothing brand oh and i just want to recommend like two books that i think are essential for starting brand and

for this whole entire production process the spec manual i mentioned it earlier this shows you how to do flats and spec sheets and all that you're going to need this for your tech packs and another amazing book is the fashion business manual this goes over everything from branding the production process marketing accounting everything so highly recommend those two books again thank you so much for watching this video don't forget um the link to this sweater and the 10 off code is in the description box below i appreciate you watching thanks bye until next time