Factoring For Production & Manufacturing

[asta]

when a designer uses factoring for production, what is the general comission rate to be expected? what is outlandish? does anyone have any tips for one dealing with a factor?

also, do factors cover costs for production samples and test runs or do they only come into play once the production of THE actual garment orders are set in motion.

at what point does one actually go into the grading & marking process? do you pay for the grading/marking process? or does a factor? if you are expected to pay, the rational business side of me says that you would not want to grade every garment in your line before you know that it would be ordered. BUT in order to know your wholesale prices, i would assume that you would need a detailed line sheet including overall grading costs/ marking costs and production costs as well as a second set of samples that are based off a pattern that has been adjusted according to production errors/problems.

in short, would you have a production ready sample before you take orders from buyers or do you make the production ready samples after the orders are placed? is the fashion line expected to pay for the manufacturing of production ready garments/samples? and in comparison to those in high end fashion, at what point does one make the production ready sample?

thanks again! everything about garment production is fascinating!

 

[Lena]

i've never worked with factoring (mainly because of copying fears), and i certainly have no idea about how the American market is working, but i'll try to share my own experience
The less intrigued designs that do not need to be produced directly in my atelier,
i give them out to be produced by small high quality 'ateliers'
In this case i hand over the sample, the pattern, fabric , coordinated threads (i can be very specific and i dont trust just any kind of thread type) and all accessories needed for each and every garment.
This same atelier has a service for making up the pattern for me and the make also the grading for a small fee. Since the type of clothes i make are not very 'mainstream' i prefer to keep both patterns and grading for myself, i simply dont trust people messing up with my lines, but of course i could always afford that staying in small production
-I pay expensive those who manufacture my orders, so i can have the best possible quality. cheap manufacturers cannot be taken seriously, their end quality is usually bad. I dont pay by percentage, small ateliers have fixed prices for garments and for 'special' garments we always set a special flat fee.-

at what point does one actually go into the grading & marking process? do you pay for the grading/marking process?

if you have control of your production, you pay for the grading, the more control you keep (at least at the begining) the better for you. You need to calculate the grading expence in your end wholesale price but you only need to start grading after you finish sampling your collection.

in short, would you have a production ready sample before you take orders from buyers or do you make the production ready samples after the orders are placed? is the fashion line expected to pay for the manufacturing of production ready garments/samples? and in comparison to those in high end fashion, at what point does one make the production ready sample?

of course you need all your samples ready before you meet buyers, or else there will be nothing to show them.. the owners of the company that owns the collection are expected to pay for all sample & production costs, anything else will take a piece of your company away from you, be very careful. I'm not sure what you mean by 'production ready sample' since all samples must be production ready.
Anyway, this is the starting point, next to your scetches. Everybody starts from the samples (which may be soon duplicated so they can be used in showroom, PR, etc etc) and starts from there

 

[asta]

oh wow, lena!

thank you for your wonderful advice.

by production ready samples, i meant the samples/patterns that have actually gone through production at a manufacturer's, so as to ensure that production can duplicate the work of the garment correctly.

i hope that makes sense...

like you, quality and control are of utmost importance to me. it is very hard for me to trust others, but i think i am learning.

 

[Lena]

you are welcome pears,
i see what you mean with those samples.
the only way to secure the quality of those samples,
is to go for the most expensive in the block.
we only get what we pay for..

having a look at the current manufactured products of a factory
could give you a good idea on the level of their work,
but insist you visit the machinists area in order to really check production.
since you are starting up, go for small factories that can reall take good care of
your product. The smaller and the most expensive, the better.
There is a huge difference in a well made garment and people
are more than glad to pay for evident quality.

regardless the design idea, well made clothes are more likely to succeed
in todays -quite poor quality- market.

 

[softgrey]

pears and apples...i hope this doesn't come across the wrong way...but have you been to design school...it seems you could benefit from some courses...i think most of this would be covered there...no?...maybe even just a few courses in the relevant topics...

just a thought...

 

[asta]

thanks softgrey! i appreciate any and all advice!

 

[JJohnson]

Lena I have a question, you say that you own an atelier so I was wondering how much does it take to produce a collection of lets say of 40 different looks? Lets pretend that the clothing is very simple yet good looking

 

[Lena]

hello JJohnson and welcome to tFS..
a 40 pieces collection, depending on the fabrics used could easily cost anything from 6.000 to 9.000 euros or more and that is only for the samples.. (fabrics, patterns and samples)
*sometimes it is clever to produce two lines of prototype samples at once
(so you can always direct one proto-line to commercial and the other to PR/Press showroom)

collection prototypes are quite expensive to make...
actually it's the most expensive part of the production.. and they need to be hmm PERFECT

 

[kathleen fasanel]

corrections on factoring/financing a fashion line

when a designer uses factoring for production, what is the general comission rate to be expected? what is outlandish? does anyone have any tips for one dealing with a factor?

I realize this message was posted eons ago but I found it when I was in the process of writing an article on factoring in the fashion business so I thought I'd address it. Apparently, factoring means something different in other countries judging by Lena's response ("I've never worked with factoring mainly because of copying fears")

First, factors lend money based on your invoices to buyers so copying has nothing to do with anything because you get money based on products you've delivered. I mean, the products are already made so worrying about design theft when you're delivering product to customers is the wrong time in the process to worry . For more on the topic of factoring for a fashion line, read Factoring invoices: Financing a fashion line

also, do factors cover costs for production samples and test runs or do they only come into play once the production of THE actual garment orders are set in motion.

Actually, none of these. Factors only come into the picture once the actual garments are not only made, but have been delivered to your customers. You'd need another kind of financing for prototyping and production.

at what point does one actually go into the grading & marking process?

You do this after you've presented your line to buyers and have accepted orders. You are correct in that it makes no sense to mark and grade a style if you don't have any orders for it. There's tons and tons on this topic on my website (Fashion-Incubator). I even wrote a book about it

in short, would you have a production ready sample before you take orders from buyers

Yes! How can you take orders if the buyers don't know what they're getting?