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The Workings of the Fashion Industry

This book is written specifically to deal with the functions and responsibilities of the developer and the production coordinator. It is aimed at anyone who wants to break in to the industry in these roles, but also for those currently working for a brand, whether alone or in a team. The roles of the developer and the production coordinator are fundamental to the creation of any collection as they work closely alongside every team in the brand, ensuring that the collection is created, priced, constructed and delivered at the right time and to the right place.

THE ROLE OF THE DEVELOPER/PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

If you are a developer or a production coordinator you usually need to anticipate problems and have the solutions ready before they arise, and to be that problem solver, you need you need to be analytical and organized.

You don’t have to be a total number cruncher to succeed, but you do need to be comfortable with numbers, understand their relevance and how to use them. With so much information changing through every stage of the creation, you must have an organized mind to cope. Make plenty of lists, spreadsheets and tables with filters to keep on top of everything. Working with creative teams and factories can be exciting as well as infuriating. Learning how to negotiate with people as well as prices is an asset. Negotiating with a designer to keep the cost price of a style low whilst maintaining his vision is hard but rewarding. Colours, garments and fabrics change almost every day during development, so be flexible about change and open to new ideas and ways of working.

Last but not least, have an eye for detail. In both development and production, looking at every small detail of garments, prints and fabrics is key. It is your job to notice the flaw in the fabric, the shade difference in a colour, or the fact that on a sample one sleeve is longer than the other.

OTHER ROLES IN THE TEAM

Every fashion company is different when it comes to job titles, but there are certain key roles in every company that are needed to develop a fashion collection.

In general, a brand is made up of four areas of expertise:

> design,

> development,

> production and

> merchandising.

In short, the designer designs the collection, the developer is the link between the designer and the factory, the production coordinator makes sure the collection is made and delivered, and the merchandiser is in charge of the financial part of the business.

In order to understand in detail the parts played by all these in the creation of a collection and how their roles relate to each other, here is a short overview of their interrelationships.

DESIGN

The designer designs the garments, prints and embroideries for the collection. Together with the developer, he will also select the colours and fabrics for the garments and he is involved in the sample reviews. Once the collection has been made, the designer assists in creating the selling tools to help the sales team sell the clothes. The various job titles in different brands that deal with these tasks are: design director, design manager, junior designer, graphic designer, print designer and design assistant.

Some companies have dedicated concept designers whose job it is to define the design direction most suitable for the range, brand or company. Their specific job is to research the brand to form a new direction for the new season’s collection. This means following trend forecasters, fabric mills, music trends, lifestyle trends, previous catwalk shows and current street fashion. If it isn’t financially viable to have a specific concept designer, the designer can define the concept.

DEVELOPMENT

The developer in a fashion company is the link between the designer and the factories that will mass-produce the garments. From the start of the season he helps the designer in selecting fabrics and colours, while also keeping an eye on the financial side of things with the merchandiser. When the designs are ready, the developer conveys the designer’s wishes to the factory so they can make a sample. The developer and the others in the brand review this sample and give their feedback. The factory can now adjust and improve the sample until the developer and designer are happy with the end result. When all samples for the collection are finalized, the developer’s job ends with helping to organise a launch, where the samples are presented to sales teams.

Within the area of development functions the various job titles in different brands can be: development director, product development manager, product developers, development assistant, fabric manager, senior product manager, product manager and category manager.

PRODUCTION

The production coordinator works closely with the developer to take the collection from launch through production to when the garments leave the factory. She arranges production fittings and production planning and manages the final pricing, order quantities and bulk lead times with the factory. During production she will travel to the factory to check the quality of the garments and packaging. Functions that deal with the production of a fashion collection are production director, production / sourcing manager, production coordinator and quality control assistant.

MERCHANDISING

The merchandiser is in charge of the financial part of the business and works together with both the developer and the production coordinator. He sets the pricing structure for the collection, makes sure the brand makes a profit, and makes adjustments to the collection according to feedback from the sales teams. When the samples are approved, he works with the production coordinator and the factories to finalise the prices and delivery dates of the garments and then issues the purchase order. The various job titles with this responsibility are: merchandise director, merchandise manager, merchandise and buy manager, merchandise and buy planner, merchandise assistant.

Three other roles you might encounter in the industry are the pattern maker, the members of the sales team and the branding manager.

PATTERN MAKER

Pattern makers are technically trained designers who create paper patterns from sketches. Their job is to translate the sketch of the designer into an actual garment by applying the base measurements and calculations. Throughout the stages of development and production they also work alongside the factory, development and production team with the garment fittings. Pattern makers can also be called fit technicians.

SALES TEAM

The members of the sales team sell the finished collection to their customers, who can be international buyers, large department stores or small boutiques. Since they are connected to the stores and the buying public, the sales teams can inform the merchandiser about seasonal shifts in local sales trends so they can action adjustments in production if necessary. People who are selling a range can be called a sales manager or sales agent.

BRANDING MANAGER

The branding manager works for a branding or trims company, and develops new labels, buttons and badges for the brand to use on their garments. When dealing with branding, you will most certainly work with account managers.

SEASONS AND BUSINESS MODELS

In the past fashion companies presented new collections twice a year, in Autumn/Winter (Fall) and Spring/Summer. Nowadays new collections are launched every few months with Pre Fall, Holiday, Pre Spring and Summer, providing smaller collections to keep the customers shopping. All of these collections follow the same sequence of design, development, merchandising, sales and production, which means that all the teams are working every week, often juggling more than one ‘season’ at a time, to bring new fashion to the stores.

In some cases business models in the industry follow the same timelines on, structure and procedure, but in other cases they are vastly different. Let’s have a look at the two main business models, wholesale lines and retail lines to see how they differ.

WHOLESALE LINES

A wholesale line is bought by department stores or small independent shops throughout the year who sell it to the general public. This line can have between two and six collections a year (Pre Fall, Fall, Holiday, Pre Spring, Spring and Summer). Generally, with wholesale, the brand will design and make the collection at scheduled times of the year and then they will sell it to a department store, who will stock it in their stores with other wholesale brands.

RETAIL LINES

A retail line is for retail outlets only. This could, for example, be a high street chain, or maybe a brand that has its own stores. A retail line also launches between two and six and collections a year, but the chain stores or brands add new styles and stock into the stores every month. With retail, the development process can be shorter and more reactive to the shop customer. If a style is selling well in stores, the retail brand can decide to expand the style with more colours and fabrics.

In this book I explain the stages from the start of development to the end of production of one season. All these stages are relevant to both the retail and wholesale business models mentioned above, but in the discussion of timings in the text it is closer to the wholesale model than to the retail, where the timing of the various stages can vary enormously.

At the back of the book you can find a key dates calendar that gives you a simplified overview of when things happen and who does them. You can use it as a reference when reading this book, but also in your job in fashion.

Let me first explain in detail what will be discussed in this book.

FROM CONCEPT TO PRODUCTION

The starting point for any fashion collection has to be the concept. It is the foundation upon which a collection is created and it is an important reference point for the stages of development and production. A design team or concept designer can spend anything from 2 to 6 weeks creating the concept, looking for fabrics, selecting colours, finding photographic images that reflect a mood, and collecting ideas for the shape of garments. Chapter 2 is about this stage of concept creation and looks at how it can be constructed and what way it develops into a fashion collection. I will also briefly discuss what happens with the concept during the subsequent design stage.

At the same time as the concept is created, the merchandiser and developer construct the range plan. The range plan is a document listing all garments the collection will need to include in order to make a profit for the brand. If the concept is the backbone to the design, then the range plan is the backbone to merchandising and, like the concept, it is referred to regularly throughout the season. Chapter 3 describes the creation of a range plan and how it can be adjusted when changes to the collection occur during the development stage.

Once the range plan has been created, the designers, armed with their concept and range plan, start to design the collection, making sketches available for the developer. Working closely together now, the designer and developer also begin selecting fabrics and colours that work commercially for the garments. Chapter 4 deals both with fabric and colour selections and discusses how developers and designers at this stage often have to compromise to meet each other’s goals. Fabrics and their characteristics are discussed in detail.

The information flow from the start of the development process to the end of production is a crucial element for the successful internal workings of the brand, and this is the subject of chapter 5. At the start of the design process the developer starts making the development matrix. This is the working document that is used to manage the development process from start to finish. It catalogues all the information relevant to the garments, such as the unique reference code, colour, fabric and style name. It is created and managed by one person and is updated daily, sometimes more often, to ensure that the development information is as complete and current as possible. Around 10 weeks into the process, the developer can start putting technical packs together. The technical packs are detailed documents that tell the factory exactly what the garments should look like. They contain a sketch, info about fabric and colour, a measurement chart, and details of the buttons, labels and threads for each of the garments designed.

The technical packs are handed over to the factories so they can make prototypes of the garments. The chapter on development and production information flow will discuss both information tools, but also production planning, and will explain when and how the development matrix eventually turns into the line list.

When the creation of the garments is in progress, the designer and the developer can start to have a look at the branding of the collection. Branding is a collective term for buttons, labels, hangtags, print artworks and embroidery designs, in fact anything that will carry the name of the brand inside or outside the garment. As with a garment, these take time to develop, so it is important to add them into the development process early. In chapter 6 I will discuss what constitutes branding, and how it is developed alongside (or just after) the garments.

When making a collection it is essential to have a reputable group of factories to make the garments. Some factories specialize in one or two types of products, while others can manage all types. In chapter 7 we will look at factories in all their forms. What factory types should you use? What relationships are there? How should you select the factories you want to work with? And most important of all, how do you get them to make the garment you want?

Based on their initial interpretation of the technical packs, the factories will supply you with prototypes of the garments. It is the developer’s job to have the whole team review these prototypes and give feedback to the factories. According to the outcome of the review, the factory can either make a second prototype or go on to develop more detailed ‘salesman’ or production samples. These samples also need reviewing and the developer will once more pass on the result to the factory. The ins and outs of the reviewing stages are the subject of chapter 8. I will not only look at the implications of the different reviews, but will also offer advice on how to review effectively.

From the development, design and merchandising side, the launch of the collection is the goal towards which they have all been working. From this point on the sales teams of the brand start selling the range to different outlets and the success of the collection will become clear. The launch and the subsequent selling period are the subject of chapter 9. I will explain selling tools, like the line book and look book, and will also look at what happens with the feedback the sales teams get from their customers.

Finally, in chapter 10, I will take a brief look at themes you come across more and more: corporate social responsibility and sustainability.