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Range Planning

From a developer’s perspective, the basis for any fashion collection is the range plan. It is a table of information listing the quantity and type of garment styles to be planned and designed for the collection of a specific season. The merchandise team and development team create it jointly, and its construction is guided by the previous season’s sales.

In smaller companies there may be only a single person making the range plan, but in larger companies the designer, the fashion buyer or financial people can have input too. Each person contributing to the range plan approaches it with a different objective. The merchandise team looks to the financial side, the developer to the technical aspects of the garments, and if there is a separate designer involved, he will look at the conceptual side of the plan.

WHAT DOES A RANGE PLAN LOOK LIKE?

In most companies, a range plan is a chart laid out in a grid with columns and rows. Often the range plan is created in MS Excel, but there is plenty of software designed especially for range planning. Pen and paper can be used as well, but you should be able to keep updating the document, so it is better to use an electronic format. There is a list of tips for relevant software in the back of this book. In some companies the range plan is also displayed on the wall of an office making it easier to physically move the sketches around the board as the fabric is selected for them until the final decisions have been made. Providing you have the physical space, this is a great way to visualize the range as it evolves and bring the Excel range plan to life. If you don’t have the space for a wall plan, a miniature version can be created in MS Excel, which is called a merchandise plan. This holds the same information as the range plan, but has small sketches instead of X-s to illustrate the styles.

COMPONENTS

Below I will list the components in order of importance.

PRODUCT GROUPS

In the image on the left page you see the product groups listed from top to bottom: denim, leathers, light weight jersey and sweater knits. These product groups can be either groups of garments that have the same features and fulfill the same clothing need of the customer (outerwear; pants), or they can be groups of items made of the same material (leather; denim). If the product group is a material type (like denim or leather), it should be subdivided further into garment types.

> Outerwear

(jackets, coats, blazers.)

> Suits

(matching jacket, pants, skirts – can be soft, like floaty light fabric or structured formal suit.)

> Dresses

(day dress or ball gown.)

> Woven bottoms

(trousers, shorts, denim, non-denim, skirts.)

> Woven tops

(blouses, shirts, fashion tops.)

> Sweater knits

(sweaters made from wool, cashmere or cotton, but generally, knitted either by hand or by machine.)

> Sweats

(sweatshirts)

> Jersey

(T-shirts, draped jersey tops, rib vests.)

> Accessories

(hats, scarves, gloves, bags, ties, shoes, belts.)

GARMENT TYPES

The garment types making up the product groups are listed in the left hand column shown in bold type. For example, the product group denim consists of pants, skirts and dresses. Some product groups are self-explanatory and do not need to be divided further (i.e. sweater knits).

STYLES

Below the garment types in the left column, each type is divided further into individual pieces of clothing, called styles. These styles sometimes convey information about material (short wool coat) or sometimes they indicate a certain fit (skinny denim, wide leg denim).

SELLING PRICES

Moving on to the second to the sixth column, you will see the selling prices of the product groups. I will explain later on how these prices come into existence, but for now, note that prices within a range are determined right from the start of the development process. Usually, the designs are made accordingly. The crosses in the cells defined by the garment styles (rows) and the prices (columns) show exactly how many different styles in each garment will be for sale at what price.

WHEN IS THE RANGE PLAN CREATED

The key dates calendar shows that the range plan is created right after the concept for the collection has been established, very much at beginning of the process. It is important to remember that the development of a collection is a continuing process and that the range planning for one season overlaps with the later stages of the production process of the previous season’s collection. So, the feedback the sales teams give from the previous seasons influences the development of the new range plan. From here on, the range plan dictates what the new range is going to look like.

BASIC, MID AND TOP STYLES

Within the list of styles on the left you will also see the words basic, mid and top mentioned. Within their product group, garments are either a basic, mid or top style. The styles of a garment reflect directly their cost price, selling price and use of material.

In this instance let’s look at a range of socks from basic to top layer. Think of a product group as a pyramid with three layers. The lowest layer is the base of the collection. This has all the safe styles that are sold month on month, year on year. They provide the regular income for the company and could be, in this case, the plain black sock or the plain white sport sock. Nothing fancy about it, but always reliable and needed all year round.

The next layer is something a little more expensive, and would be styles that are more colourful, maybe with stripes or a fancy pattern. Thinking about the customer, maybe the same guy who buys the sport socks every few months would buy something striped or spotty for a weekend. This second layer adds interest to the range without being too crazy in design or too expensive. This layer can be updated regularly to keep the range in the shops interesting.

The top layer is really the aspirational style in the range. It is the sock that is made from cashmere or silk, has a crazy colour or pattern, and is understandably, more expensive. We call this aspirational because the customer who buys the regular black sock ‘aspires’ to the concept of wearing the cashmere sock all the time, but in reality his budget and lifestyle may not allow it. It is crucial for the range to have this top layer, as season on season this top layer will slowly move down the pyramid to the middle layer and will be replaced with a new aspirational design.

The style of the garment dictates the cost price, selling price and materials used. Since there are three levels of quality of the socks, there should also be a clear price difference between them. The basic sport sock is the lowest price point, followed by the striped sock and ending in the cashmere sock. The quantities produced would follow this pyramid model: more at the basic level or entry point and fewer at the top.

FACTORS

Most small companies will determine the quantity, colour, fit and price of the range without looking at a more detailed analysis, while large brands look at trend forecasting, financial history, local market feedback, target revenue requirements and brand heritage. As a company grows in size, the variety of input into the range plan will grow too. Here’s a more detailed look at the factors that determine the content of the range plan.

SALES HISTORY

The history of sales relates to the previous season’s best and worst sellers. Most ranges have best sellers every season, and at the start of planning, the merchandise team refers back to the previous season’s sales figures. In order to capitalise on sales, the best sellers are recoloured or refabricated to make them look newer. These are added to the range plan by the merchandise team, and are placed as a ‘basic’ or ‘mid style’ in each of the product groups. These are usually at the lowest or the middle price for the brand, and are a platform to which the more fashionable and higher priced styles are added. To the customer it looks like a new style, as it is in a different colour or fabric, but to the brand it is an easy sale and one upon which a range can be built.

Some brands are well known for their classic heritage styles that recur in their collection year on year. During the range planning, the merchandiser would look at the brand history to plan in a quantity of these classic heritage styles. Have you ever seen a Burberry collection without trench coats? Probably not, and it is because the merchandiser made sure to include them.

PRICE

By looking into the sales history of the previous season you can also get an understanding of the effective and less effective price points. If you have a selection of T-shirts that are for sale, and the prices are at 49€, 59€, 69€ and 129€, you have three price points close to each other in value and then a gap before the next one. If you compare this to our pyramid structure, it would be hard to make three tiers out of these prices, as three are too close to each other and the last one is too high in comparison. When analyzing the sales, the merchandise team may see that price points 49€, 69€ and 129€ are effective for the consumer, but at 59€ nothing sells. In this case they would, for the next season, keep the 49€ for the basic style, change the 69€ to 79€ for the mid price style and keep the 129€ as the top price, so that there was a more logically spaced set of prices. The merchandiser would reanalyse the prices the following season to see the effect of the change, and this in turn would affect the next season’s prices.

SHAPE

The analysis of garment shapes from previous seasons should affect the key shapes that the designer uses. For instance, the merchandiser has seen that in the spring collection there was a women’s short trench coat that had a great sales order, and they think that it is also a style that can be carried over to the winter season just by changing the fabric to a heavier weight. The merchandiser adds this into the range plan as a ‘carry over’ style, and the designer researches fabrics for this updated style. By recognizing the strength of a shape, the brand can capitalize on previous seasons styles and the customer who loved the coat in the spring, can also buy a version for the winter as the fabric is warmer.

COLOUR

Colour analysis is vital each season and helps the designers determine its use in the collection. The merchandiser and designer work closely to determine the end use of all the colours in the concept. The colours the designer adds to his concept need to work not only for the fabrics, but also for the prints, embroideries and trims of the collection. Fluorescent pink maybe a ‘hot’ colour for the season, as predicted by the trend forecasters, but sales analysis by the merchandiser has shown that for a men’s range the pink doesn’t work in a fabric, but only in a print or embroidery.

FINANCIAL TARGETS

The merchandise team is in charge of the prices and the financial side of the range plan, so at the start of the season they have a total figure of what the brand needs to make in profit for the season. By looking at the previous season’s sales they know that in order to make this profit they need to have ten coat styles selling at 200€ and seven jacket styles at 150€, etc. With this information the merchandise and development teams break down the range plan by product group and selling price, so that the designer knows precisely what needs to be designed. The developer works closely with the designer at this stage to calculate target cost prices for the factory and to align the sketches to the range plan, making sure that it is technically possible to make the coat for the required selling price.

LOCAL MARKET FEEDBACK

Merchandisers would look to their sales agents to obtain locally based feedback on their best and worst sellers, as well as relevant local trends. Think of local trends, the climate, cultural influences and styling, and you can understand the need for market relevance.

Be aware that there is a fine line between taking on board local market feedback and being true to your brand’s identity. Ignoring a market request can kill sales and collaboration, but being a slave to the market dilutes the brand identity and causes confusion for the customer. A possible solution for this is to create market-specific packages of styles that sit alongside the regular collection; this way sales are maximised, the brand has a clear message and it stays focused and relevant while serving local customers.

If you are building a brand identity, stay true to what the identity is. Take into consideration what the market is asking, and if you can make the request without straying from your identity do it, but don’t sell out and try to be all things to all people.

TRUE STORY

I once worked for a brand that had a black and white colour palette. At the launch of the first collection (which was a very small range), one of our sales team, who was based in a warm sunny country, requested one of the T-shirts to be produced in pink, as this is what her customers would buy (based on the colours of other successful brands). She built a strong case for the added colour, but in the end we said no, and the T-shirt remained in black and white. Why? Simple. We were building a brand identity, the colour scheme was monochrome, it was a small range and the addition of the pink T-shirt would a) look strange and b) confuse the customer. We were not in a position to add the colour just for this market, as we would have had production minimum issues.

COMPILING A RANGE PLAN

Now that you know what a range plan generally looks like, let’s see how you can compile one yourself for either your own company or collection or the brand you are working for. In this ‘how-to’ I will assume you are working with an Excel file, but if you rather work with pen and paper for now, that’s also OK.

If I were to create a range plan I would start with a sheet of paper and would write across the top the type of garment, for instance, coats. You can use any product group you want.

Under that, write horizontally across the page the required/proposed selling prices. The merchandiser will give you these prices from the previous season’s sales history. Let’s fill in six selling prices for the coats: 159€ / 199€ / 249€ / 299€ / 349€ and 399€. Sometimes there are more selling prices and sometimes fewer, it is company and product group specific.

Once you have written out the type of garment (coats) and the prices, you need to decide how many styles are actually needed. The merchandiser can give you this number based on the financial targets of the company. They would calculate that, for instance, the company would need nine coat styles distributed between six different prices to make enough money for the season. Write down on the left hand side of the sheet, coat 1, coat 2, etc. until you have nine lines down the page.

Using sales analysis and local market feedback, the merchandiser can now tell you that out of the nine coat styles, there need to be four simple looking styles, three need to be a little more fancy and the rest should be super fashionable crazy designs that will get pr attention.

The merchandiser could also tell you that, since your top sales markets are Sweden and Spain, you need to make sure some of the coats have a hood for Sweden, as it gets cold there, while some of the others should have ¾ sleeves, as this is a great feature in Spain. At least one of the styles could be the same as last season with a different fabric, but the rest of them should be new styles. Under no circumstances can the coat be in a velvet fabric, as this would never sell for the brand.

Now that all the blanks are filled in, you can go to the designer to tell him that he needs to design nine coats, four of which are more simple styles, three have more detail and two that are very detailed. They need to include a best seller from last season, and some of the styles must have a hood.

If the designer will ‘reuse’ or ‘carry over’ a trench coat from last season that sold for 199€; you can already add this style into the range plan by writing Coat 1 – Trench coat, and putting an X under the price point of 199€. One style is now taken.

Continue filling up the plan for coats until you have detailed coat descriptions and fit information down the left of the page from the designer with X-s under all the price points. Move onto the next type of garment until your plan is complete.