If you're planning on dropping a SS 2024 clothing range, now is the time to get designing!
Making sure your garments are season-appropriate and drop at the right time is key to your brand's success, and that's why it's important to understand the timing and lead times involved in your clothing range's production.
Hello everyone, my name's Bethany and I'm a new designer here at HookandeyeUK - I'm super excited to get involved in bringing your collections to life!
Today I'm going to talk to you about the importance of timing, and why now is the time to be designing your Spring/Summer 2024 range.
Planning ahead is absolutely vital, and it's important to understand the different stages involved in the clothing production process so that you have a realistic expectation of when your lovely garments will arrive.
From Concept to Customer: Understanding your Lead Times
So, you've designed your fabulous new clothing range, and you just can't wait to get it out there to the world! But there's a systematic development process that has to take place before your finished collection can be ready for sale, and this takes time.
The fashion industry often works between 4 and 5 seasons ahead (that's just over a year) to accommodate the whole supply chain process from initial design through to sampling, development and bulk production.
Believe it or not, I've just recently been designing accessories for a UK Licensed fashion company, for Christmas gifting NEXT year (2024)!
There are various steps in the process, and they all take time. So having a clear idea of how long each step takes is key.
Here's a breakdown of lead times in fashion:
1) Tech pack and Design Session - You'll need to book your Tech Pack and Design Session at least 1-2 weeks in advance, as the best designers get very busy. After the design session, you'll then receive a quote for Sample and Bulk Production pricing for your clothing range within 1-2 weeks.
2) Sample Production - Sampling is a crucial step in order to see what your designs would look like on a physical clothing sample. Once you've decided to get sample garments made, you'll typically get your samples back within 4-8 weeks (depending on how busy your manufacturer's schedule is).
3) Development Session (free of charge) - This is normally booked around 1 week after you've received your samples.
4) Bulk production - After placing your order for bulk clothing production, your clothing collection will typically be manufactured within 4-8 weeks (again, depending on how busy your manufacturer's schedule is).
5) Shipping - You'll then need to factor in timings for your chosen shipping method. Typically this is around 2 weeks for air freight (faster, but more expensive) or 5/6 weeks for sea freight (more economical and more environmentally-friendly).
You can see from the above timeline that you can go through the processes fairly quickly, but at Hookandeyeuk our suggested lead time is 6 months (this allows proper time for all processes).
So, if you sign off on your garment designs this month, you can expect your bulk production to be delivered at the end of June 2024. These timelines allows for proper development of your designs, and for longer but more cost-effective and more eco-friendly shipping methods.
What Does the Clothing Design and Manufacturing Process Involve?
Now that we know the timelines involved, let's look in more detail at what each step in the clothing design and development process involves.
First up is the really fun bit - the tech pack & design session! You will have an in-person or online design session with one of our designers where we create your custom tech packs for each design and select fabrics, colours etc.
Following this is the sampling process. Patterns are created and then sample construction begins. If you're working with Hookandeyeuk for your samples, one of our clothing developers will work closely with our factory to ensure the highest level of accuracy and quality for your samples.
After you've received and reviewed your samples, we then offer a free sample development session to give you the opportunity to fine-tune the designs and make any fit comments or tweaks.
Once sampling is done and your designs are looking perfect, it's time for bulk production.
Bulk production will be completed and the garments shipped to you. If you can, always allow time for the more cost-efficient shipping method which is sea freight. We have an excellent sea freight delivery time due to the high volume we ship (only 5-6 weeks).
The infographic below shows a handy guide to the Critical Path / Lead times for clothing production:
Why Timing Matters: Designing Seasonally
So you might think, "why does it matter when my collection drops? Surely the sooner the better?!".
But actually the season in which your items are going live should be considered when you are designing. It might be below 0°, now and winter warmth layers are very much on your mind, but in 6 months, post-manufacture, it will be a very different summer scene and items such as heavy fleece jackets and beanie hats will fall out of favour.
The fashion industry cycles seasonally, and being aware of this will help drive sales at the right time, and will increase your collection's desirability.
If you don't want to design specifically for Spring/Summer (SS) or Autumn/Winter (AW), a good idea is to favour trans-seasonal items that work all year round.
Trans-seasonal items can be styles that can be worn at any time of year, either individually or layered up. You might include base layers or easy-to-wear essential shapes like t-shirts and leggings (as seen above) or even light weight hoodies and joggers (as seen in the hero image).
IN CONCLUSION: Be aware of seasonality when designing your clothing collections, and make sure you're designing your drops at least 6 months in advance.
Make sure you're clear on the timelines involved in the clothing design and manufacture process! There are several steps to go through, and having a clear idea of when your range will be delivered will ensure your designs are seasonably appropriate and have the most impact (and sales!) when they are released.
If you're looking to launch a SS 24 collection, then we can help. The first step is to Book your Tech Pack and Design Session now to get your Spring/Summer range started!
BOOK A TECH PACK AND DESIGN SESSION
If you'd like some guidance from us on your next clothing collection and you're new to Hookandeyeuk simply fill in our enquiry form here. The form will guide you through steps to see if we can help you and then tell you exactly how to contact us.
Love, Bethany H&E xx