How does Fashion Designer can Avoid Production Errors through Technical Packs in 2021?

In this article, I’ll describe some of the technical pack-related common issues factories complain about when dealing with stylists at the beginning of the production process. Try to avoid these difficulties and you will have a better chance of building successful relationships with factories that will last for years.

1. Technical pack – Communicate as closely as possible every technical detail of a design so you know how much it costs to make your clothing.

PROBLEM: Fashion designers often fail to provide manufacturers with all of the technical details of a design, resulting in unexpected shutdown costs in manufacturing.

OUR SERVICES: In our G Studio we usually receive emails with vague sketches, often without further details, asking about sampling or garment manufacturing costs based solely on this data. After many meetings, messages and phone calls, we finally find all the technical requirements to be able to provide the designers with a more accurate sample or a more accurate production estimate.

Solution: All of this can be avoided if designers take the time to plan and launch technical packs (or specification sheets) before contacting factories.

Tech pack is hands down the most effective way to communicate fashion design with your samples and your factory. Work is in progress and the technical packs are regularly reviewed and updated. Skilled designers are always asking factories for ways to make production faster and cheaper, and reviewing tech packs with new information. Things like applying a different finish or more appropriate zippers and buttons can have a significant impact on the durability and cost of your clothing. So keep asking your factory manager whether there is a way to simplify production processes for employees and thus reduce costs for you.

2. Fix changes in production as soon as possible to avoid delays in delivery.

PROBLEM: While many designers have a general opinion about the manufacturing process itself, they often underestimate the potential impact of a simple design change on the manufacturing schedule.

MY MAIN SERVICE: In our G Studio company, brands often repeated their best-selling models season after season, revised the models “slightly” or introduced new fabrics and surfaces into the new collection. They, therefore, expected that the factory would not repeat last season’s production processes and would deliver finished products within the same timeframe as last year. Another example is designers who provide new materials not previously seen by the factory to use in garment manufacturing. In doing so, it is forgotten that pattern makers have to spend more time cutting new fabrics, processing has forced the settings of the sewing machine and the workflow has been adapted to adapt to new developments.

Again, the way we would discover all of these changes would be before sampling or production began, and then we would have to renegotiate the terms of that particular production.

Often times, information about such sudden changes was emailed and could be lost while cutting and sewing floors, resulting in errors or even canceling orders.

Solution: What’s the most suitable solution I’ve seen for this? A brand production manager I worked with introduced a triple (!) Reminder system for us and other manufacturers.

With any design / material change they would:

Send a new technical pack to the factory highlighting any changes to the RED BOLD LETTERS.

Send the physical copy of the email or attachment (technical pack or datasheets) with the same date stamp and RED BOLD LETTERS highlighting the changes.

Call us to confirm we have received the latest information and record the call for future reference.

All of this happened because they had wasted so many orders for so many years since this brand was in operation that they didn’t want to take any more chances!

Can technology aid into simplifying these processes?

Nowadays, in addition to email, more and more brands are using messaging apps like WhatsApp to communicate with factories. Hoping that all amendments to designs would get fully noticed and clearly communicated to the factory floor from the person who receives such messages in the office. But ultimately, all that gets improved is the speed at which these messages are received.

Is there a better solution? I believe firstly creating tech packs with the help of G Studio experts, then taking advantage of its Track Changes feature to visually communicate revisions let designers handle both the above mentioned issues rather very simply:

When factories receive tech packs made with the help of our experts, instead of Excel, they get a professional template detailing the images, flats, BOM chart and spec table of the required design. Even the most complicated of ideas are easy to note there with features like drag & drop Images and annotation/ callouts.

Conclusion

Across the industry, many established and new designers still rely on emails and personal meetings to give factories the first idea of their desired product. More technically advanced brands make their technical packs in Excel, but have to resend new versions over to the factories when any changes happen.

Isn’t it time fashion designers started using the most effective way of introducing and informing factories of design elements and changes to them?

Manufacturers will be certainly grateful for clearer communication, and brands avoid delays and errors in production. It’s a win-win for everyone.

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