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This post was written by one of your How to start a clothing line from scratch forum members and has great insight and she apparently has been updating it daily. Please take the time to soak up some of the knowledge she is dropping.

( Arlene if your reading this post we would love to have you onboard as one of our regular bloggers! :))

Fashion Industry Ceo

“1. If you are not dealing with a representative/agent here in the US and are planning to import make sure the person who you are talking to is actually a MANUFACTURER not a buying house. (Why because this means that your clothing will be made from existing clothing) ( If you want this then its ok if you want something different make sure you tell that person you want all FRESH GARMENTS)

2. When you order fresh you know that your zippers all fabrics should be in tact.

3. Order samples of your product before making a huge commitment, this gives you time to talk directly and work with manufacturer to perfect your item… Expect a delay noone is perfect and if they are working hard to make your item perfect its possible there will be a delay.

4. Understand a manufacturers lingo cause if you dont and not familiar or dont have a relationship with a manufacturer or buying house high possibility you will be taken advantage of.

Lingo

GSM= Grams per square meter you are usually asked this question when order tees, polo you find GSM by taking the oz of a shirt and multiply 28

In the English language we speak very indirect and we assume things a lot because we are used to, that’s the way we talk… This is different when talking to a manufacturer they do not assume anything for the most part because it is a very precise and detail business if you fail to be precise and detailed you will get what is asked for no one will assume anything other than what is in writing.

So if you want a red shirt who know what red you are thinking about there are so many shades you need to be very particular about the one you want. So its best to get a pantone chart or look up the CMYK % for the color that you want.

5. Ask for pics updates and or video of their manufacturer if you are planning to go big major chain stores do not buy from anyone who manufactures through sweatshops.

6. KNOW HOW TO DO YOUR OWN SPECIFICATIONS— do not assume that their is a standard US chart there is but there are also 3 that has different measurements. Especially for you all that have urban lines and you all who are planning to do women clothing DO YOUR OWN SPECIFICATIONS. IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT BEING A DESIGNER THIS IS A MUST. If you don’t know what specs are they are basically the measurements from the garments every place where there is a pc. of thread or cut on a garment there is a spec measurement for it. What you may call an XL I may call a 2XL so always be precise. Most manufacturers should know how to grade up or down from just on complete garment spec.

7. Always be precise in your contract that you do not want your OVERRUNS SOLD TAGS SOLD BUTTONS OR OTHER EXCESS SOLD. REMEMBER DON’T THINK ANYONE DO THINGS ON GOODWILL “don’t think why would they do that thats not right” they have no use for it so whoever buys they will sell. I don’t know of any manufacturer that just produce what is in contract because everything has to go through quality control and there will always be some items that do not make it through. This is why everything is over produced so.. that company who is manufacturing buys their own over runs sometimes and sell them to jobbers/vendors and they sell to stores like TJMaxx Burlington so on… Or you specify what you want done to your left over merchandise…. Believe me you will have already paid for it even if that’s not the amount of pcs you wanted. because even if you wanted 50 hang tags their is a possibility that their were 500 made because its cheaper to print 500 than to print 50.

Their are so many things to think of I will place more here as they come.

8. For those who are printers, and have t- shirt lines. Familiarize yourself with ALL the different kinds of prints their are available. THERE ARE MORE THAN the usual you see nowadays. Besides, the heat press, silk screen,foils. You have water prints, sublimations (mostly seen on hoodies now the print you can feel), oils, flocking ( feels somewhat like velvet) the best thing i can say if you are working with a manufacturer don’t do the norm you have the ability to be much more creative so be it.

9. MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL: DO NOT CONFUSE WHAT QUALITY MEANS: Americans for the most part love the thought of high quality it is a must for us. We confuse quality with how things feel sometimes most popular “pima cotton” when you hear this people think because RL Lacoste uses this and the price tag is HIGH that it MUST be luxurious …. NO. When you say high quality to a manufacturer they think WEIGHT then durability the higher the weight the higher the quality then durability. For anyone who has owns a t shirt or prints on t shirt you can easily tell the difference. 6.7 oz tee isnt as durable and long lasting as an 8 oz tee. combed cotton feels much more soft. 14 oz denim is consider high quality. Don’t think because a brand sells their clothing for X amount of dollars they are automatically high quality. Or they are using X fabric that it is high quality.

10. Dyes example: you want a multi color stripe polo: Do not assume that the manufacturer are going to do a dye process. Do not assume that every manufacturer will give you a dye. In your mind of course its common sense but most manufacturers if they are out to get whatever they want they will do a print….. Prints and low quality dyes will eventually began to have an ashy look. If you ever had a shirt of any kind and after washing it a few times and the color looks like their is a film over it. It means their is a print or low quality dye. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but i think the proper term if you want a high quality dye is REACTIVE. You can tell the difference especially in black shirts. You may have a couple black shirts where one looks much much more darker that is the one with high quality dyes… (do not worry with pricing because depending how many pcs you do it costs no more than about $0.15 more.)”

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