JEANS FASHION DEVELOPMENT A STEP BY STEP PROCESS

PRACTICAL TEN STEPS FOR FASHION AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT OF JEANS FOR A BRAND OF YOUR CHOICE


1. DETERMINE IF YOUR PRODUCT IS FOR:
a. men
b. women
c. children

2. DETERMINE THE AGE GROUP
Brands do have different garments and styles for different ages. For example, you can develop
a product for brand X with a product that is suitable for an age group of 4 to 6 years old. Find out what age group your targeted brand is involved with and then offer your product accordingly.
Ages groups can be broad and vague from brand to brand. So for example, you can have age groups from baby to 50 years old. In between there is a whole range of ages and styles that a brand can choose from.

3. HAVE YOUR OWN DESIGNING TEAM OR OUTSOURCING THEM.
Good denim designers are hard to find because the best one´s are already working in top brands. Good denim designers are people that can always move a step forward ahead of time. Their knowleadge is constantly changing and their working speed is tied to the speed of trends. Men and women are designers in many instances but recently we noticed that women are heading towards top designing teams.

4. MUST HAVE A BROAD DATABASE OF DENIM FABRIC PRODUCTS
Denim producers constantly develop new fabrics for their seasonal customers. It is a key factor that you keep an extensive library of different types of denim fabrics. Denim trends and looks are changing constantly today. Fabric makers are a good partner for your company and your product line. A fabric storage show room and library database is required.

5. MUST HAVE A BROAD OF SUPPLY OF TRIMS & ACCESORY SUPPLIERS
Many accesory suppliers available in China or elsewhere these days. Brands can recommend their own approved ones but many more are available in the market.

6. MUST HAVE A BROAD SUPPLY OF GARMENT MAKERS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES TO CHOOSE FROM

This is a lengthy process that is crucial for your success as it requires a proper knowleadge of strengths and weaknesses of each manufacturer in every country.

7. DETERMINE YOUR PRODUCT PRICE STRATEGY
Brands do have a broad range of prices for different products. You must keep in mind that basic, more economical products do offer lower margings but higher sales turnover. Expensive styles do offer higher margins but lower sales turnover. Keep this is in mind when you decide your price policy.
The net % will vary from brand to brand and their customer base. For example, a well known company like Wall Mart can buy huge amounts of garments but your margin can be considerably lower if you supply to a company like Diesel, for example. You must be realistically aware of you can really do for your customer before starting your product line. Keep in mind that you will have to compete with many other suppliers.
Price is definetely very important but not less is flexibility and speed for product development and deliveries.

8. DETERMINE YOUR PRODUCT TIMINGS
Garment business is a seasonal business. This means that brands have a limited amount of time to sell their products in the shops. Therefore, product development and delivery times must be carefully studied for each brand. There are brands that planning is done ahead of time when they prepare their own collections. Your products can be introduced in same cycles, therefore planning can be done properly and due timing. On the contrary, there are companies that constantly change their show room in the shops, in some cases to the extreme of every week. It is well known the strategy of ZARA brand. This brand constantly changes their styles in their shops meaning that their suppliers must be very quick as well in their deliveries. You must be aware when you take a decission to target one brand or another by knowing your real capabilities. a delivery time can be as slow as 20 days and as high as 120 days or more, depending on the brand you work for.
Lead times needs will also influence where you will produce your garment. If you are EU based, you can either produce in nearby countries in North Africa like Morroco, Tunisia, Egypt, Asian countries or even Latin American countries. Lead time requirements for a specific brand will influence where to produce. Generally speaking, big volumen simple basic  styles which can be used for a whole season are produced in cheap labor countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, China where ocean transit time alone can take over 35 days. On the contrary, more sophisticated or more expensive styles can be manufactured in nearby markets such as Turkey, Morroco,etc.

9. DEVELOP A SMALL LAB OR OUTSOURCE YOUR LAB INSIDE YOUR COMPANY
Washing and dry process in denim is the key factor these days in order to succeed. What is "cooked" in the lab first, it is the very first taste of the product which your customer will have. Therefore, you need to partner with a lab washing speacialist that can assist you. Washing techniques and processes are an ocean of knowleadge that takes time to develop. It is important that you are aware that good development lab speacialist are scare but there are companies which can offer you these services. Specialized servicing companies, denim fabric suppliers or chemical suppliers can assist in developing your fashion ideas in the laundry. They may charge a fee depending on your requirements or they can ask you to use their products in case a style will finally be in the market. The lab involves wet process, dry process and also fabric analysis.

10. HAVE YOUR OWN MARKETER RESEARCHER OF TRENDS
This is the person that is "out there". A person that constantly is on the move, from shop to shop, from exhibition to exhibition. This person is very important and must feed constantly with new ideas, trends or comments from customers to designers. This job in many cases is done by designers themselves or even brand buyers. Therefore, if you are knowleadgeable of trends coming and going, your chances for success are improved.

If any questions, contact us.


CHECK THE FOLLOWING VIDEO TO GET AN UNDERSTANDING HOW THE JEANS ARE MADE