Renaud is joined by another special guest, Belinda Jacobs founder of Techpacks.co, a company that has been helping soft goods designers and brands improve production & decrease waste, through tech packs since 2016.
This is a great episode for designers of apparel (or other kinds of soft goods like bags, accessories, textiles, etc) who are new to bringing their creations to market because Belinda and Renaud explain what an effective development & production process is, what tech packs are and why they’re such an important document for keeping everything on track, and provide some tips and warnings.
Thanks for listening and also our thanks to Belinda for coming on!
Listen here!
Listen: How To Develop New Apparel (Feat. Belinda Jacobs from Techpacks.co)
Watch: on Youtube
Episode sections
- 00:00 – Greetings & Introduction to today’s topic.
- 01:07 – Belinda’s background and business, Techpacks.co
- 02:58 – What are tech packs?
- 05:51 – Do apparel manufacturers have the tendency to skip a lot of pre-production steps and rush straight into mass production unless they’re told very clearly what actions to take beforehand by the customer?
- 08:42 – Initial design.
- 09:53 – Why using another brand’s garment as a basis for yours is dangerous.
- 12:52 – What comes first? Sizing, or an initial sample from the supplier for you to check the look of the garment?
- 14:18 – After your preliminary plan, the importer asks the manufacturer to prepare some elements. What are they?
- 17:18 – How do designers communicate their ideas for colors to the manufacturer, and what do they give you for approval?
- 20:08 – The manufacturer has produced a sample in the right style, color, and fit, what’s the next step?
- 21:44 – Full size set samples. Needed, or not?
- 24:02 – When do labelling and packing need to be documented and confirmed?
- 27:26 – What’s the best way to communicate with suppliers once you start working with them?
- 29:34 – At what point will importers feel confident to pay the downpayment and start mass production?
- 33:07 – What are ‘TOP samples?’
- 36:01 – Summary: The garment development process that designers need to keep in mind
- 39:53 – Wrapping up and how to contact Belinda and Techpacks.co
Related content…
We’ve created some great resources on this topic – read them and get help here:
- What does CMT (Cut, Make & Trim) mean?
- Some Problems Can’t Be Detected During Apparel QC Inspections
- Auditing Cut & Sew Processes for Garment Manufacturing
- How The Gap Increases Speed in their Apparel Supply Chain
- 3 Basic Guidelines for Garment Quality Assurance in China
- Implement a Production Monitoring Program for Apparel in China, India, & Vietnam from Sofeast where our experts handle the development and production steps described in this episode locally.
- Get help from Sofeast to assure your apparel production starts with lower risks with a Pre-Production Meeting.
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