– How does one assess the sustainability of a fabric?
– How can businesses strike a balance between sourcing sustainable fabrics and managing their budget effectively?
– What are some effective ways for individuals or small businesses to find and purchase sustainable fabrics?
– Exciting technological advancements or innovations in the field of sustainable fabric production
– Why no fabric is sustainable if we aren’t respecting our resources
Ruth is an accomplished materials expert, entrepreneur, and innovator with more than 30 years of global success spanning brands, manufacturing, global supply chain, media, and higher education. Through her consulting and advisory work she supports businesses (ranging from start-ups to global brands) achieve their material goals, whilst pursuing her love of learning, research and connecting others.
She has experience with multiple products / fabric types, and living and traveling across the world has provided Ruth with an international network of connections. With practical in-depth knowledge of the fabric development, sourcing, validation, and production processes from fiber to garment, she makes ideas come alive.
Ruth has a Bachelor of Sciences Degree in Textile Technology from the University of Manchester, Institute of Science and Technology, UK, and holds her designation as an Associate of the Textile Institute (ATI).
In today’s episode, we’ll be diving into a crucial aspect of online marketing – building an email list for your fashion e-commerce brand. So, whether you’re just starting out or looking to grow your existing business, this episode is packed with valuable tips to help you succeed.
Here are 9 benefits to having an email list:
1. Building a Direct Line of Communication
Unlike social media, emails land directly in your subscribers’ inboxes, ensuring your message gets through. This direct connection fosters a stronger bond with your audience.
2. Building Brand Loyalty and Trust
Consistent, valuable content builds trust and loyalty over time. Trust leads to repeat purchases and enthusiastic brand advocates.
3. Driving Repeat Business and Customer Retention
Keep subscribers in the loop about new collections and offers to encourage regular visits. Re-engage past customers with enticing incentives.
4. High Conversion Rates and ROI
Email marketing boasts impressive conversion rates and ROI. Engaged subscribers are more likely to become paying customers.
5. Data-driven Insights and Market Research
Your email list offers invaluable insights into customer behavior. Analyze metrics for informed decisions and better results.
6. Less Reliance on External Platforms
Reduce dependence on unpredictable platforms by owning your communication channels.
7. Personalized Marketing Campaigns
Segment your list for targeted content. Personalization elevates the customer experience and drives conversions.
8. Promoting New Product Launches and Exclusive Offers
Make subscribers feel special with exclusive access to product launches and deals.
9. Adapting to Evolving Marketing Trends
Email marketing remains adaptable. Utilize automation, segmentation, and responsive design to stay current.
In conclusion, building an email list is a cornerstone of your fashion e-commerce brand’s marketing strategy. Join us in the next episode, where we’ll dive into strategies for attracting subscribers. See you there!
In this episode, we’ll be discussing five essential strategies to boost your fashion e-commerce store’s growth and success. From optimizing your website to analyzing sales data, these actionable tips will help you elevate your online presence and increase sales.
1. Optimize Your Website
– Ensure user-friendliness, easy navigation, and SEO optimization.
– Use high-quality images and detailed product descriptions.
– Verify mobile-friendliness and speed using Google’s tools.
Why it matters:
Optimizing your website boosts visibility on search engine results, driving more traffic and potential sales. It also builds trust and credibility with customers.
Analyzing sales data helps you make data-driven decisions to improve your e-commerce business continuously.
By implementing these five strategies will help you elevate your fashion e-commerce store’s performance and drive growth. Remember, success in e-commerce is an ongoing journey of refinement and adaptation.
Thank you for tuning in to today’s episode on 5 Ways to Grow Your Fashion E-Commerce Store. If you found this information valuable, please consider subscribing and leaving a review. Stay tuned for more tips and insights to help you succeed in the world of online fashion retail.
Learn how writing high-quality blogs and incorporating SEO increases conversions and brings traffic to your e-commerce website
Too many blogs are missing the mark
You’ve probably come across blogs that look enticing to read. They have catchy titles that make you think, “Maybe I’ll learn something.” So you click the link. But—cue the sad trombone music—you get zero value from the article. Many e-commerce businesses publish blogs but they don’t always understand the potential and value of investing their efforts into making them good! Instead they rush to churn out new content for the sake of content. Not only is it a waste of time for the business and the reader, it takes away the brand’s credibility.
You can feel and taste the difference
If blogs were food, then bad blogs are stale (say nothing new), bland (language is dull and boring), and contain no substance (don’t benefit the reader). It’s like having eaten an entire loaf of processed white bread. After you’ve read a weak blog article, you feel bloated, but not satisfied.
Good blogs, on the other hand, are fresh, have a distinct on-brand flavor, and contain value rich information served up in ways that stimulate and delight. A good blog satisfies your hunger to achieve a goal or learn more about a topic, while satisfying your craving for entertainment and novelty. And after you’ve read a good blog, you want to share it to your network—to give your friends a taste of that good stuff too!
Creating quality blogs requires research, strong writing and editing skills, and creativity—but it’s an investment into your sales funnel. Blogs have the power to nurture your existing customers and build brand awareness—attracting new eyes to take notice of your brand in a “non-salesy” way.
As an e-commerce business your objective is to bring people into your website, to get people browsing and eventually buying, right? Putting in the work to create value rich blogs will make your marketing more efficient in the long-term.
Do you get stuck on email marketing? What should you write to recipients on your weekly or monthly newsletters? Providing links to new blog articles is a great way to attract your subscribers to visit your website.
Do you want to expand your reach to bring awareness of your brand to new groups of people? Instead of only relying on paid advertising such as Google Ads, blogs help increase organic traffic to your website—when they show up on search engine results because they contain topics and keywords that are relevant to the interests of your target audience.
Speaking of increasing your reach, ensuring your blogs have relevance and value is also a must for yourlink building strategy—popular and credible websites will link to your blog and funnel their audiences into your brand’s website.
If you want to stand out in an overcrowded marketplace, stay on-brand and help your target audience get to know, like and trust your brand in order to drive conversions—then stick around—because this blog about blogs is written just for you!
Every blog post your business publishes serves as a marketing piece. A quality blog can help your business drive conversions. Each is a touch point where you can gain loyalty from existing customers and influence purchases from new customers.
Blogs build and maintain relationships with your target customers
You know that friend who keeps an online journal about their deep existential ponderings or gripes about society? Sure, while those posts are considered blogs—blog articles within the e-commerce world are definitely not those! A company’s blog posts aren’t musings, they’re powerful pieces of MARKETING. Take it from our friend Allison Bran, Founder and CEO ofREX Marketing + Design Inc.. In arecent interview about brand strategy, Allison explained that “Brand is like a third entity that exists between the business and its customers. It’s the relationship between the company and the customer.”
Marketing is one component of the overall brand strategy that involves the mechanics of getting your brand narrative across to your target audience. This includes content marketing activities such as newsletter to existing and potential customers on your email list, advertisements, social media posts, and of course—blog writing.
Valuable blog content can lead to more sales
Let’s state the obvious, as a business owner, you want your marketing efforts to go toward generating revenue—because in business, you’re here to make money!
Therefore, is blogging for your business really worth it? Consider thissurvey by Hubspot:
“When we surveyed 300 consumers via Lucid and asked, ‘Have you ever purchased something from a company after reading a blog post?’ a whopping 56% said, ‘Yes.’ Furthermore, according to our trends report, blog posts are among the media formats with the highest ROI, along with videos, images, and podcasts.”
Blog articles are vehicles that take readers on a journey to know, like, and trust your brand—and ultimately make a purchase, tell their friends, and keep coming back for more!
High-quality blogs, when planned, researched, and written properly will build loyalty from existing customers while also influencing new audiences to become customers.
What should my brand start blogging about?
Now that we’ve seen data to support that blogs can convert leads to make purchases, it’s time to start hammering out 1500 word posts to brag about your brand and show how life-changing your products are, right? Wrong! Many fashion brand founders often fall into “sales mode” when writing their own blogs—accidentally morphing them into long winded sales pages. Don’t make this mistake with your blogs.
Why do people read blogs?
In aHubspot Survey that asked consumers why they read blogs, one-third of respondents read blog posts to “learn something new” and about 20% for entertainment. In contrast, only four percent of consumers said they read blogs to learn about brands or products. Therefore, according to this data:
“To win over blog readers, you’ll need to create content that provides some type of informative value or entertainment, rather than purely using your blog to discuss your brand or product.”
This is where the fun and creativity begins! First, let’s take a look at 3 great examples of how different brands cater to their respective audiences. All of these businesses incorporate articles in their blog sections that serve as guides or educational information that help the reader accomplish goals, solve problems, and make decisions. But they don’t look the same.
Even from a quick glance, you get an idea of who each company’s target customer is. A well-planned blog section with relevant content categories acts like a mirror in front of your website visitors. The menu of topics reflect who they are, what they need and what they care about.
What blog topics are best for my brand’s audience?
Without us taking a deep dive into yourmarket research and insights into your customer base, WE can’t tell you what to write.
But for you to do this yourself, our advice is to start with your customer persona. Then continue to do a little more digging.
Every brand should have their own customer persona (or customer avatar). Your brand’s customer persona is the ideal person for whom you have been designing your products. And just like how your apparel exists to solve your ideal customer’s problems, express their aesthetic preferences, and support their lifestyle and values—your blog articles should do the same.
Ways to learn about what your target audience wants to read about:
Check your customer persona, but don’t stop there because your customer base might have evolved overtime
Ask your followers, email subscribers, and customers about what they want to learn more about—create surveys, questionnaires, polls, and invite them to leave comments
Check their social media to see what they post about, who they follow, and what they like
Observe what customers are telling you about their needs and lifestyles during your interactions
Review customer feedback and product ratings
How can I spice up my blogs to make them one-of-a-kind, build trust and keep readers engaged?
Remember in the beginning of this article when we compared blogs to plates of food?
Once you have decided on what valuable content will benefit your audience, your format and writing techniques will give your blogs distinct flavor—that will make your business stand out amongst competitors who might blog about similar topics.
Format
To illustrate creative ways to format content, let’s take a look at some article topics for hypothetical brands:
Example Topic 1:
A brand that makes casual children’s wear for day to day activities such as playtime and school wants to write a blog to help parents prepare or choose healthy snacks for recess break and family outings.
Format ideas:
Interview a credible dietician for tips on healthy eating and ask them to contribute a recipe that parents and kids can prepare together
Connect with a healthy kid-friendly snack company to do a behind-the-scenes article that shows how the snacks are made
Example Topic 2:
A brand that sells natural plant-dyed dresses wants to write a blog to educate readers about natural dyes.
Format ideas:
Invite an environmental scientist to write about the effects of synthetic dyes versus natural plant-based dyes on the environment
Write about the brand’s plant-dye process and show photos of the actual ingredients and process from beginning to end product
Hook
When you walk past a restaurant and you smell something delicious, you can’t help but stop and look to see what’s cooking. You might peruse the menu displayed on their window, and even step inside for a bite!
Good hooks throughout your article will attract the reader’s attention and keep them engaged to read all the way to the end.
Try these types of hooks to make your message more relatable and memorable:
“You’d think that by then, Lexi would be curled up in the fetal position on a pile of her leggings that could no longer be sold in-person—but NO! Lexi took control of what she could, re-focusing on selling her products online.”
Insight
Beyond including facts or data, you can give your article more substance and create resonance by including thoughtful insights.
“Eighty percent of the female population does not have the ‘ideal hourglass figure’. But who designs for them? It’s not a secret that in America, the average size is a size sixteen. The ‘cool’ brands on the market offer anywhere from a size zero to a size twelve, sometimes up to size fourteen. So where does it leave the average American woman? She’s being told, ‘You have to shop plus-size.’ But who on earth wants to go shop in the plus-size department? To me that is still associated with body shaming and there’s a stigma attached to it.”
Call To Action
Congratulations! If your reader stuck with you all the way to the end of your blog article—your brand has likely made a good impression on them so far. You’re in! So now is your chance to inspire action to keep the relationship alive between your brand and your target customer.
Your “Call To Action” CTA can direct your reader to do a variety of things. Don’t forget to include links! For example:
Try out the tips and advice you provided
Shop your product pages
Sign up for your newsletter
Browse related articles
Leave a comment and share with a friend
Follow on social media
How can I incorporate SEO into my blogs to increase visibility and more traffic to my website?
One of the benefits of blogs is that it serves as a long-term method to bring traffic to your fashion e-commerce site. Once you have a well-written blog that caters to what your target customers need and want, then you can start working on optimizing your blog for search engine results.
Hold on—why am I not advising you to start with a list of popular keywords first, and then write your blog around those keywords? That is because starting with a long list of popular keywords can often feel restrictive for the writer, producing a written product that sounds unnatural. As an SEO Consultant, I always tell my clients towrite for humans first, then optimize it for the search engine bots.
Oh, and speaking of bots, what’s my opinion on the use of AI?
While AI tools such as ChatGPT are handy for certain scenarios—for example, doing basic research more efficiently by quickly gathering information, summarizing long pieces of content, etc.—you have to keep in mind that it’s not actually coming up with “original” ideas. AI tools like ChatGPT are limited to working with information that already exists or is given. So, I’m not saying don’t use AI tools, just keep its limitations in mind when you aim to create content that is refreshing and flavorful for your audience.
Google Search Engine’s Helpful Content System rewards authentic, people-first content
Writing authentically and providing value for your human readers is the right thing to do if you want to create positive feelings around your brand. It’s also something that Google Search Engine is rewarding in their Helpful Content System.
First off, how does the Helpful Content System work? According to the information provided on Google Search Central, “The helpful content system aims to better reward content where visitors feel they’ve had a satisfying experience, while content that doesn’t meet a visitor’s expectations won’t perform as well.”
The helpful content system has an impact on the visibility of your web pages in Google Search Results. The automated ranking system acts as a filter, ensuring users see useful content in search results.
How will the Google Helpful Content Update (HCU) impact your blogs’ visibility?
Continuing in their efforts to connect search engine users to the most relevant content on the web, Google updated its Helpful Content System in September 2023. The aim of the update is to “better ensure people see original, helpful content created for people in search results.”
This Helpful Content Update (HCU) was a major update —and every marketing team should know about it, because the changes affect how Google is now ranking content on search results.
If you are already creating valuable content, you don’t need to worry. Keep doing what you’re doing as this system is specifically designed to recognize and reward helpful content. On the other hand, if your website is full of fluff—containing lots of unhelpful content, you may experience reduced visibility in search results.
How can you turn things around? You can check out Google’s content self-assessment checklist. Then start removing your unhelpful content and start creating helpful, reliable, people-first content—such as blogs that provide rich and engaging information that serve your target audience. And of course, continue reading the next section of this blog to learn my 9 steps for writing SEO-friendly content.
Here are 9 steps for writing SEO-friendly content to optimize your blogs and rank higher on Google:
Start with keyword research: A piece of content should target one primary keyword and 5-10 additional keywords. To identify your primary keyword, ask yourself
What is my audience looking for?
What questions do they ask online?
Determine search intent: Identify keyword search intent by analyzing the SERP features. There are four main categories of search intent queries:
Create a well optimized Title Tag: The title tag must be unique, corresponds to search intent, contains keywords you are trying to rank for, has a maximum of 60 characters, and may include a call to action.
Create a catchy H1 Heading: You can include keywords in your headings. The initial heading (<H1>) should include your best keywords. Use only one H1 heading per page to strengthen your SEO.
Optimize the Meta Description: This is the text under a title tag in a search result. The meta description encourages a user to click on the link on SERPs (search engine results pages). Keep your meta description under 150 characters. Ensure it clearly describes the page and also include keywords but don’t over optimize. Each page’s meta description should be unique.
Structure your content and make it readable: Highlight main ideas in bold, italics, or change font size and style. Use H2 + H3 heading tags. Stick to one paragraph for one idea and break up long sentences. Add bullets and numbered lists. Focus on long form content of 1500 words—if you can write more, you should, but make sure to shoot for quality content over quantity.
Optimize your images for image search: Visual content such as infographics, checklists, videos and photos deliver value to your audience faster and in a more appealing way. Ensure your images have descriptive ALT tags (make them unique, describe what the image shows) and optimize image file names (never leave it with the default file name like image123.jpg).
Include a keyword in your page URL: URLs help users understand what’s inside the page. Use hyphens (-) instead of underscores (_) between words. Words should be lowercase.
Create topic clusters: A topic cluster consists of a group of web pages that focuses around a main topic idea and linked to cluster pages of subtopics. By creating a topic cluster you build an internal linking system that strengthens your web pages ability to rank. This helps build and position you as a trustworthy subject matter expert with your audience. This is important because Google wants to rank sites that demonstrate Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T).
Tools for Blog SEO
There are various products on the market to help with SEO. In my practice, I use Semrush and Neuron Writer to optimize my client’s blogs and webpages.
If you have an internal team to handle your content marketing strategy, and intend to do much of your SEO work in-house, then you could consider investing in paid subscriptions for those tools. Since the subscriptions can get pretty pricey, you should weigh the costs and benefits of in-house versus outsourcing your SEO efforts.
Start blogging for your business
I hope today’s article hasn’t left you feeling bloated or sleepy. After you’ve had some time to digest the benefits of blogs for your business, give the blog writing tips go to begin creating high-quality blogs that your target customers deserve and crave!
Hungry for more blogs about blogs?
If you want to continue learning more about how to craft better blogs and how to use them to make your marketing more efficient, then stay connected so you don’t miss my future articles about content creation, digital content and SEO. To continue learning how to make your marketing more efficient. Sign up for my weekly e-letter for new articles and resources delivered straight to your inbox.
If you want to know how to get targeted quality traffic from customers who are looking for your product, take my FREE SEO training series. Learn how to use SEO to get consistent traffic and sales for your brand.
Too busy to work on your content or SEO?
If you need help with putting together a content strategy, content creation or a professional copywriter to help with producing high-quality, high converting blogs, then Book a Call with our SEO Specialist to get started on creating consistent website content today!
The Expert’s Guide to Fashion Design Industry Terminology
Launching a new fashion clothing line can be exciting and overwhelming at the same time. In the beginning, you may be the one doing most of the work yourself. If you have some formal training in the fashion industry, that could make the process go a bit smoother when it comes to getting your line developed and produced. However, running a fashion business involves more than just designing and producing products. It involves, planning, budgeting, marketing and distributing your products. To help you navigate the complex world of running a fashion business, I put together an in-depth list of common fashion industry terminology to help you act and feel like a pro.
Fashion Design Industry Terms
Fashion Designer is a professional who creates new clothing styles, accessories, or footwear designs based on consumer demand or artistic inspiration. Fashion designers use a combination of creativity, technical skills, and business acumen to develop and produce their collections, which may be sold through various channels such as retail stores, e-commerce, or runway shows.
Haute couture is a French term that refers to high-end fashion design and creation of custom-made clothing, typically using expensive and high-quality materials. The term “haute couture” is legally protected and only certain fashion houses are allowed to use it.
Ready-to-wear is a term used to describe clothing that is mass-produced and available in standard sizes, typically sold in retail stores. Ready-to-wear clothing is designed to be more affordable and accessible than haute couture.
Fashion week is a biannual event held in major fashion capitals around the world where fashion designers showcase their collections for the upcoming season. Fashion week typically includes runway shows, presentations, and other events.
Capsule collection is a small collection of clothing items, typically 10-15 pieces, that is designed to be versatile and cohesive. Capsule collections are often released as a limited edition and are meant to be mixed and matched to create multiple outfits.
Runway show is a fashion event where models showcase designer clothing on a runway or catwalk. Runway shows are typically held during fashion week or other fashion events.
Textile design is the process of creating patterns and designs for fabrics. Textile designers use a variety of techniques, including drawing, painting, and digital design software.
Fashion sketching is the art of drawing fashion designs by hand. Fashion sketches are used by designers to communicate their ideas and vision for a particular garment or collection.
Mood board is a collage of images, fabrics, and other visual elements that are used to create a particular mood or aesthetic. Mood boards are often used by designers to develop their ideas and to communicate their vision to others.
Fashion forecasting is the process of predicting upcoming fashion trends and styles. Fashion forecasting involves analyzing consumer behavior, market trends, and other factors that may influence fashion trends.
Some popular fashion forecasting services include:
WGSN: A trend forecasting company that forecasts consumer, lifestyle and product design trends.
Fashion Snoops: A trend forecasting company that offers insights on fashion, accessories, beauty, and home décor trends.
Trendstop: A trend forecasting company that provides analysis on fashion, beauty, lifestyle, and retail trends.
Edited: A data-driven fashion forecasting company that offers insights on product trends, pricing strategies, and assortment planning.
The Doneger Group: A fashion trend forecasting company that offers insights on color, fabric, and style trends.
Trend analysis is the process of analyzing fashion trends to identify patterns and predict future trends. Trend analysis involves studying fashion history, consumer behavior, and other factors that may influence fashion trends.
Fabric swatches are small pieces of fabric used for sampling or testing to evaluate color, texture, quality, and other attributes. Fabric swatches are often provided by textile manufacturers, suppliers, or designers to aid in the selection and design process.
Fabric manipulation is the process of manipulating fabrics to create unique textures, shapes, and patterns. Fabric manipulation techniques may include pleating, gathering, smocking, and embroidery.
Drape is the way that fabric falls and hangs on the body. Drape is an important consideration in garment design, as it can greatly affect the overall look and fit of the garment.
Fit is the way that a garment conforms to the body. Good fit is essential in clothing design, as it can greatly affect the comfort and appearance of the garment.
Seamstress is a person who sews garments and other textile products. Seamstresses may work in a variety of settings, including factories, tailoring shops, and costume design studios.
Fashion Business Terms
Fashion buyer is a person who is responsible for selecting and purchasing clothing and accessories for a retail store or fashion brand. Fashion buyers must have a keen eye for fashion trends and be skilled negotiators.
Merchandising is the process of promoting and selling fashion products. Merchandising involves a variety of activities, including product selection, pricing, and promotion.
Branding is the process of creating a unique name, symbol, design, or image that represents a company, product, or service in the market. The purpose of branding is to differentiate a business from its competitors and create a memorable and recognizable identity for consumers.
Fashion marketing is the process of promoting and selling clothing, accessories, and other fashion products to target customers. It involves understanding consumer preferences and trends, creating marketing campaigns that resonate with them, and using various marketing channels to reach them.
Public relations, often shortened to PR, is the practice of building and maintaining relationships between an organization and its stakeholders, including customers, investors, employees, and the general public. PR involves developing and disseminating messages that shape public opinion and perception of the organization.
Bootstrapping refers to the process of starting and growing a business with little or no outside funding. Bootstrapping entrepreneurs rely on their own resources, including personal savings, revenue generated from the business, and sweat equity, to launch and grow their ventures.
Styling is the process of creating an outfit or look by selecting and coordinating clothing, accessories, and other fashion items. Stylists use their creativity and knowledge of fashion to create a cohesive and aesthetically pleasing look.
Accessorizing is the process of adding complementary items, such as jewelry, scarves, belts, and hats, to an outfit to enhance its style and visual interest.
Fashion editorial refers to a written or visual piece, such as a magazine article or photo spread, that showcases fashion trends, styles, and products. Fashion editorials often feature high-quality photography and are intended to inspire and inform readers about the latest fashion trends.
Fashion photography is a genre of photography that focuses on capturing clothing, accessories, and other fashion products in a visually appealing way. Fashion photographers work with models, stylists, and other professionals to create images that showcase the latest fashion trends and products.
Fashion illustration is the art of creating drawings or paintings of clothing, accessories, and other fashion products. Fashion illustrators use their artistic skills to create stylized and visually appealing representations of fashion products.
Fashion journalism is the practice of reporting on fashion trends, styles, and products through written, visual, or audio content. Fashion journalists cover fashion events, interview designers and industry professionals, and report on the latest trends and products in the fashion industry.
Fashion blogging involves creating and publishing content related to fashion trends, styles, and products on a blog or other online platform. Fashion bloggers often work with brands and retailers to promote their products and offer styling tips and advice to their readers.
Sustainable fashion refers to clothing and accessories that are produced using environmentally friendly, ethical and socially responsible practices. Sustainable fashion aims to reduce the environmental impact of the fashion industry and promote fair labor practices throughout the supply chain.
Wholesale refers to the sale of goods in large quantities at a discounted price to retailers, distributors, or other businesses. Wholesale buyers often purchase goods from manufacturers or suppliers and resell them to consumers at a markup.
Margins refer to the difference between the cost of producing or acquiring a product and the price at which it is sold. Gross margin is the difference between the revenue generated by a product and the cost of producing or acquiring it, while net margin is the difference between revenue and all costs, including operating expenses and taxes.
Keystone Markup in retail refers to a pricing strategy where the retail price of a product is set at double the wholesale cost, with the idea that the retail price covers both the cost of goods sold and provides a standard profit margin for the retailer. In this context, the “keystone” refers to the practice of marking up the cost by 100%. For example, if a retailer purchases a product from a wholesaler for $50, they would set the retail price at $100 (50 * 2) using the keystone pricing method.
Fashion Production & Garment Manufacturing Terms
Fashion production is the process of garment manufacturing and typically involves a wide range of terms.
Sourcing is the process of finding, evaluating, and selecting suppliers, manufacturers, or vendors to provide the necessary materials, products, or services for a business. Sourcing can involve negotiating contracts, establishing quality standards, and managing relationships with suppliers to ensure timely delivery and cost-effectiveness.
Supply Chain is the interconnected network of businesses, organizations, and individuals involved in the production, transportation, and distribution of goods and services. A typical supply chain includes raw material suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers. Effective supply chain management is essential for ensuring timely delivery, quality control, and cost efficiency.
Leadtime refers to the time it takes to procure, produce, and deliver a product to the customer. Lead time can be affected by various factors, such as availability of raw materials, production capacity, transportation, and logistics.
Tech packs are used to provide detailed information about the product and its construction. Tech packs include a garment spec sheet that has the body measurements, and an area called the bill of materials (BOM) that has all the details and trim information including a sketch- at least a front and a back with additional details attached to it. It usually has the comments section as well.
Pattern making involves creating the pattern or blocks that is used to produce the garment. The garment has pieces that need to be cut and sewn together. So patterns need to be made for those pieces to be able to be cut out and then stitched together.
Sample making is the process of creating a prototype or sample of a garment based on the pattern. Sample making is typically done to test the fit, design, and overall quality of the garment.
Garment construction is the process of assembling the various parts of a garment, such as the sleeves, collar, and hem, into a finished product. Garment construction requires skill and precision to ensure that the finished product is of high quality.
Grading is when you are scaling (the patterns) up or down to various sizes. The measurements that you put in from each size goes up by a certain amount in measurements, that’s typically indicated on the specification sheets.
Markers are what the cutters at the factory use to cut out the pattern pieces when it comes to production.
Pre-production is a crucial stage in which samples are produced and tested for quality control before mass production begins.
MOQ stands for minimum order quantity. That’s an industry term that most manufacturers use to talk about production minimums.
Lean Manufacturing is a systematic approach to achieving the shortest possible cycle by identifying and eliminating waste from the production process and offering continual improvement. By implementing lean manufacturing principles, garment manufacturers can improve productivity, reduce lead times, lower production costs, enhance quality, and respond more effectively to changing customer demands and market conditions.
Different samples are needed for different purposes. Here are the 5 most common types of samples:
1. Prototype sample is the first physical representation of a product that is created during the product development process. It is typically used to test and refine the product design before moving to the next phase of production.
2. Salesman samples are typically used by sales representatives to showcase a product to potential buyers or customers.
3. Counter samples is a sample created by a manufacturer to match a specific design or sample provided by a customer. These samples are typically created to ensure that the final product meets the customer’s specifications and requirements.
4. Pre-production sample is a sample created to test the manufacturing process and ensures that the final product meets the desired specifications. It is created before mass production begins.
5. Production sample, also known as TOP (Top of Production) sample, is the first sample produced during mass production. It is used to check the quality of the production run and ensure that the final product meets the desired specifications.
Apparel Production Systems– Depending on the scale and complexity of production, different systems can be utilized such as domestic/offshore manufacturing, modular production system, progressive bundle system, unit production system or piece rate system. All these factors must be taken into account when managing fashion production in order to ensure efficiency and quality control throughout the entire process.
In conclusion, the fashion industry is a complex and ever-changing world that requires a deep understanding of its terminology. Understanding fashion industry terms is essential in creating and communicating ideas effectively in the industry. Additionally, utilizing the proper terminology shows a level of professionalism and expertise in the field.
As the fashion industry continues to evolve and innovate, new terminology will continue to emerge. By staying up-to-date with the latest trends and developments, you can position yourself as a knowledgeable and valuable member of the fashion community.
If you are looking for a fashion design business consultant to help you launch and grow your fashion e-commerce brand book your call with me: https://calendly.com/glynistao/book-a-call
