When it comes to big clothing brands, we often look at their collections and marvel at the creativity and variety in their ranges. But can you do that as a startup?
As a startup fashion brand, you don't have the buying scale of the big brands, so the question is - how can you build a clothing collection that's just as impressive as the big brands, but without breaking the bank?
First-off, it's not easy, but it is certainly achievable if you follow the right process. In this guide, we'll show you how to create clothing collections that are as good as big brands, without overspending.
Now, the challenge is that the big labels are buying in huge volumes, which helps to reduce their pricing, and makes having a varied range much easier.
So, if you're not ready to drop £300k on a huge clothing production, you'll probably have to go through a manufacturer that offers low minimum order quantity manufacturing (low MOQ manufacturing). The issue is, that most low MOQ clothing manufacturers have to cut a few corners and miss out vital processes to get your clothes made at a lower price. Not surprisingly, that can cause can cause big problems for your garments, and for your brand.
So, that's why Hook and Eye UK offers a process that's the same for all brands, regardless of size, making sure that your brand is built on the right foundations, but without breaking the bank!
Let's run through how to do it...
HOW STARTUP BRANDS CAN DEVELOP HIGH-QUALITY CLOTHING RANGES IN THE MOST ECONOMIC WAY.
STEP 1: Get your tech packs done properly from the start
To design and develop a high-quality clothing line on a budget, the process always starts with getting your tech packs done properly, first time round.
Tech packs are essentially a full guide to the item of clothing you want to be sampled / bulk manufactured. Everyone in the clothing manufacturing chain relies on your tech packs for pricing, pattern cutting, sample making/development and bulk manufacture. So it's crucial to get your tech packs right.
The best starting point is to get a tech pack and design session booked with an expert. These sessions are designed to get your ideas put into fully usable & detailed tech packs.
At Hook and Eye UK designers take your ideas and turn them into viable tech packs in front of you either in person in our design studio or online. In the session you will discuss fabric, colour, graphic and garment construction options, our designer guides you in all areas.
Once we have created your tech packs we (or your chosen manufacturer) can provide sampling and bulk production costing.
STEP 2: Leverage your previous collections
In the below image you can see that the first clothing collection (Drop 1) has been developed, and the second clothing collection (Drop 2) utilises the best selling pieces from the first range, just with a few additional items.
This is exactly what happens in the fashion industry. Large commercial brands don't re-build everything from scratch. They look at the metrics to see what sold best previously and re-design, keeping the same shape but using different fabrics/prints/branding, adding a small percentage of new shapes to test the market each time.
This cycle repeats over and over with slight migration on colour and style.
Working in this way leverages the hard work that you have already put in to your previous collections. This will save time and money when producing your new collections. It also ensures that you are developing the items that sold best and are most likely to sell well in your next collection.
STEP 3: Plan Ahead!
To make sure you can manufacture a great clothing range in a cost-effective way, you have to be prepared.
Averagely you need to make sure you're designing at least 2 seasons ahead so that you can utilise cheaper, more environmentally friendly shipping methods. It also means you won't be rushing through the process, which helps you to avoid potentially costly errors and allows you to develop your samples thoroughly.
The most economic shipping is sea freight, this is what is most commonly used in industry. Sea freight has longer shipping times so you can only use it if you've planned ahead properly.
Here's a quick breakdown of shipping timing & pricing indication:
You can see in the image above that sea shipment is the most cost-effective option. This is why being prepared and designing your collections at least 6 months ahead really pays.
Sea freight is also less harmful to the planet than truck or air freight, minimising carbon footprint is something we should all strive for in the fashion industry.
STEP 4: Find an FPP Manufacturer to work with
FFP stands for Full Package Production and in the textile industry that means that the FPP clothing manufacturer takes care of all aspects of garment creation.
That means that they will be able to help you with everything from designing & tech pack creation (check out our tech pack and design sessions!), grading, pattern creation, fabric sourcing, sample production, sample reviews and tweaks for bulk production, bulk garment construction, garment packaging and delivery.
Hook and Eye UK is an FPP manufacturer.
One of the biggest advantages of working with a strong FPP manufacturer is the efficiency it brings. Instead of struggling to communicate with multiple suppliers, you have a single, streamlined point of contact. As FPP manufacturers operate at scale across multiple brands, they can produce smaller collections with the same level of quality typically reserved for much larger labels. On top of that, they’ve already carried out the necessary ethical and sustainability checks, saving you time and ensuring responsible production standards are met.
STEP 5: Use the right design & manufacture process
At Hook and Eye UK, we've worked with hundreds of startup fashion brands, to design, manufacture and launch their clothing collections, and have developed a finely tuned process to ensure quality, speed and cost-effectiveness.
Here's the correct order and process for you to follow for your next clothing line:
1. Tech pack and design session (held between our designer and you).
2. Sample and bulk manufacture costing (generally sent to you 1-2 weeks after your tech pack and design session - unless you have specific fabric requests).
3. Sample payment: digital patterns are made for each design (patterns can be taken from reference samples or manipulated from our pre-developed shapes for fits). Graphics applications are applied to fabrics and then sample construction is commenced.
4. Samples are finished and quality checked, sent to H&E for review and then sent to you.
5. FREE sample development session is held between you and our garment developer to discuss any minor tweaks to samples and finalise tech packs for bulk production.
9. FREE pre-production (PP) samples are made (if required) on commitment to bulk production and sent for bulk production approval.
10. Bulk production is commenced, finished, quality checked and sent to you.
To give an idea of timings, here are the typical estimated lead times:
- Sampling 4-8 weeks + shipping
- Bulk production 4-8 weeks + shipping
- Bulk production shipping: 2 weeks (*£££ express air) / 5-8 weeks (*£ sea).
By following this process, your collection will be designed, sampled and manufactured in an efficient way that prioritises premium quality craftsmanship and ethical working standards.
IN CONCLUSION:
Creating high-quality, clothing collections for your startup brand can be managed! By following these tips and strategies, you can create clothing collections that rival those of big brands:
Get your tech packs done right - Tech Packs are the cornerstone of a good clothing collection. Getting these done properly at the outset will save you so much time, frustration and money further down the line. (Click here to book a Tech Pack & Design Session with us)
Reuse and renew your collections - For each collection ensure you take note of your best selling styles and update them for your future collections by changing fabric colours and graphics.
Prepare - Make sure you're designing at least 2 seasons ahead so you can utilise cheaper, more environmentally friendly shipping methods (and you're not rushing through the process).
Find an FPP manufacturer - Working with a partner that can help you through the entire design & manufacture process will help to save you a lot of time and money.
Follow the right process - There's a right and a wrong way to manufacture your clothing collections. By following the order that we use at Hookandeyeuk, you'll make sure you're doing it right.
If you'd like some guidance from us on your next clothing collection, we'll be happy to help, get in contact here.
I Hope this helps!
H&E Team
P.s. If you'd like to know about how to price your next collection properly - ask us to send you our 'Estimated Pricing Guide'. In this guide we tell you an estimated production price based on brands like Stussy, Palm Angels, Fear of God and Represent along with a RRP and estimated profit level.
