What are you struggling with?

[Suada Nur]

My biggest struggle is getting my vision designed. I lack the technical skill and I’m shopping around for project developers. I was given a quote by one design house that is so high. I’m wondering if I should find individual freelancers for each step and save money or go the design house route and save time. Their services include: design, fabric and factory sourcing, tech pack design and a few other things I’m forgetting at the moment. I was able to find a few designers to make my patterns for a fraction of their price….so am I sacrificing expertise or am I avoiding being taken advantage of because I’m new to this industry.

[Ana]

What you are saying is very common and there are some different ways to tackle this:

1. You can work with like you say a design studio that can help you with everything, you just need to know what you want and how you want it. And you work together with them to make your dream a reality.This is a good alternative (if you can find one that is not so expensive) because they will help you with everything and you will be able to follow the entire process. When you finally have a product sample, then you can chose a manufacturer and can go directly in bulk production. (the manufacturer will of course have to create their own samples and see that they can product the product as you want to have it)

2. Work directly with the manufacturer. Some manufacturers have a full service in house and they can help you with everything from design, pattern making, sampling and bulk production. Again, you need to know exactly what you want and also discuss details with them and let them come with suggestions for solutions.

3. It would be great if you could find someone that can do both design and pattern making. If not – Find individual designer that can put your idea into a tech pack and help out with fabric sourcing suggestions. Plus find a pattern maker. When you have the design you give it to the pattern maker and when the pattern is finished, you send ALL the info to the manufacturer. They can help you with putting the design/pattern into a sample.
To help you clearly state what you want to create, you can put together a document, with pictures and sketches for every product, where you clearly state what you want to have. Like a collage with a product picture or sketch, back and front, plus details. You can also have competitors samples to show fit reference and material reference.

You are UK based right? Here are some sample houses in case you want to get more quotes
https://www.sample-studio.co.uk
https://www.thesamplingstudio.com
http://plussamples.co.uk
https://www.samplinghouse.co.uk
https://www.gradehouseltd.com
https://www.crossspotstudio.co.uk