Steps to Production Series - Timeline
Launching a brand can be overwhelming, where do I start? What steps do I take? In this blog series, Anna breaks it down in a simple step by step process to get your brand off the ground and into the hands of your consumers!
Now that you have put your ideas on to a moodboard by reading my previous weeks blog, it’s time to start designing, right? Not quite yet! There are still a few more things to put in order before you put that pen to paper. They say timing is everything, and it is. It is so important that before you start sketching you have a realistic timeline developed. I can’t tell you the amount of clients that come to me with a collection for Fall and it’s already Summer. You do not want to be stuck in a situation where you miss launch dates so it’s best to either redesign your collection, or push it by until the following year's season. I know, this can be heartbreaking if you have put your heart and soul into these designs only to find out you won’t be able to launch them as you planned. But, I promise it’s better to take a step back here and strategize over trying to push through and missing the season launch altogether.
To note, seasonal restrictions put on designers to come up with an entirely new collection every time a new season hits are being somewhat relieved with ideas like sustainability and recycled fashion. People understand that putting these demands on brands means more waste, higher risk of unsold goods and overall footprint on the planet. This is good for you! This means you won’t have the pressure of staying on top of every season (and there’s a lot of them, Fall 1, Fall 2, Holiday, Spring, Spring/Summer, Resort, to name a few).
But you should align your launch with at least one of these season drops. This means planning backwards. At V.Mora we have a timeline template we’ve created based on industry standards for how long things generally tend to take. I suggest creating your own based off the information I am about to provide or if you would like to use the one we’ve created, just reach out to me for purchasing info at anna@vmora.com
We have created ours in an excel format, but I love spreadsheets! If you don’t, not to worry, creating anything on paper to keep you on schedule will work. I am going to highlight some key launching months to work backwards from below of what you need to consider when creating the timeline.
There are two timelines you will need to consider.
1. Wholesale
2. Direct to Customer
Now, most designers do both or at the very least set themselves up successfully enough to offer both. Hey, the more ways you can sell the better! Eventually, as you are selling you will naturally see the right path for you. Maybe this is strictly online sales, maybe this is only selling to stores, maybe this is out of the trunk of your car, who knows?!? The most important part is the hustle when it comes to selling and seeing what works.
For the wholesale launch, you’ll need to have your samples ready for the sales windows of each season and fashion week. This means having your samples not only completed, but shot for your linesheets and lookbooks.
February - April - is the Fall wholesale selling window. The selling window starts in February with fashion week and tradeshow markets, with the window closing April 15th. This then gives you some time to prepare your production for delivery to the store in August after orders are placed between February and April.
September - Fall drops direct to customers.. When fall starts hitting the stores and you’ll launch your online sales. I know, September still can feel like summer! But somehow we have all become accustomed to seeing new fall drops starting in August.
September - November - Spring wholesale selling window. For Spring the sales window starts in September, again with Fashion week and markets, with the window closing November 15th
March -Spring drops direct to customer and your shipments should be delivered to your stores.
I’ve chosen to highlight the main seasons here, Spring and Fall. So, you see, in order to launch directly to customers on your website, your production needs to be ready in February for Spring and August for Fall if you want to be ahead of the game.
This means, working backwards from this drop date. Normally that means having samples ready by the time you’d be selling wholesale anyway, so you might as well try both! You don’t always save yourself time by saying “I am only doing Direct to Customer” as you should be prepared with samples a few months before.
How do I know how long the rest of the process takes, you ask? Well, normally you want to spend 3 months sourcing your materials and 3 months developing your styles and 3 months for production. Seems long, right? Well, let me break it down a little bit more….
Three Months of Sourcing
If you are new to the game you will have to find these vendors to work with so you want to give yourself enough time to do so. And don;t forget about zippers, buttons, interfacing and trims! It’s not just the fabric we are talking about here. The process here goes like this:
Order swatch cards or headers of fabric you like
Repeat step one if you are unable to find what you are looking for
Order sample yardage
Test sample yardage (more on this later in the fabric sourcing blog)
Make prototypes
Three Months Development
I will also be doing more in depth posts about this process but for now know you need to prepare to do the following steps:
Pattern Development
Proto Fitting (hiring the right fit model)
Pattern alterations
Repeat 1-3 until it is right!
Final Sample Fitting
Digitize and Grade your patterns
Size check run
Three months Production
This can vary depending on where you are doing your production and how many units you are producing. If you plan to go off shore this can change the turn around drastically (up to 9-12months) but if you are doing a smaller collection locally, you’ll need enough time to have all your materials ordered and arrived at the factory. The factory won’t start your production until they have everything they need in order to complete the project. So, if they tell you production takes 6 weeks, that timeline doesn’t start until all the materials, trims and even labels arrive to them.
Seems like a lot! But if you take the time to sit down and plan your timeline you will be on your way to a successful launch! Stay tuned as I get into the fun stuff, it’s almost time to start sketching and finalizing your designs and looking for fabrics!
