Checking in....

So, it's been a while. 

Over the past half year or so my life has gone through a bunch of ups, downs and s-curves with an occasional breaking wave over the bow. While I am still creating textile and graphic designs in my head and on my laptop, I am not actively pursuing the world of licensing and production. 

It's been lovely to see how well Daisy Janie is doing, though. Her work is wonderful and she deserves all the good things that have been coming her way this past year. Daisy Janie will be at PrintSource in January and I wish her the best of luck. You go, girl! I had hoped to get down there to visit and walk the floor, but the whole trip is more expensive than I can swing right now.

Instead, I will be continuing my work as a web mistress (!) with bits of graphic design thrown in here and there. I'm enjoying the work and I'm happy to be spending my time being creative. That is something I've strived towards for most of my adult life. Eventually, this will include something like textile design, too. 

My visit to a local, um, silk screen shop

Well, today was interesting. Starting with not being able to find where I was going, despite a mapquest map and quite likely because of it. However, I persevered, drove around, called for help, and finally arrived at the silk screen shop I mentioned in yesterday's post. The company is owned by an incredibly nice guy named Charlie.

Now, I was under the impression that this was a shop that produced silk screened fabric for clients, designers, that sort of thing. This impression was based upon a rather vague conversation with an old friend of my dad's with whom I made contact back in January of this year hoping he knew of someone who did this type of work. And he did. He actually worked with or for this person about 20 years ago and said he'd find him and then get back to me. My dad's friend did finally find Charlie - who was pretty much still in the same place geographically - told him about me, what I was looking to do and asked if it was ok for me to call him. Charlie said, sure, no problem.

Over the next four months Charlie and I played a convoluted game of tag - either he was way too busy or I was traveling - and then he was going on vacation - but we finally hooked up. And that was today. Charlie met me at my car as I pulled up in front of an industrial building on a rather nondescript back street, which, as I mentioned earlier, was pretty hard to find. Charlie shook my hand, introduced himself and invited me upstairs to the shop.

OK. And then we walked into the main office/studio area where I met his sister and his wife. All three of them have art degrees and work together in symbiosis to run the business. This is when I saw that what they are producing, silk screening, etc is NOT yards and yards of fabric for whomever, but rather clothing which they put through a patented process of Charlie's design. Due to the proprietary nature of what I was seeing and what I was going to hear, I was informed that I would be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement before I left the premises.

I'm not sure if any of you have heard of the designer MARIKA CHARLES? Well, that's Charlie and his sister, Marika.

Here are some links to check out:
Augustina Boutiques
Barneys New York
Fashion Magazine

Charlie showed me some pretty cool looking clothes - cashmere sweaters and fine gauge t-shirts, among other things. We went through the shop from where the product begins to where it ends and then into the art department where the designs are created and worked and reworked.

It was all rather astonishing. The colors were fabulous, the patterns were subtle and created a great visual texture. I wasn't able to find anything online that reflected what I saw today - which makes me think most of it was from their fall collection. Actually, I know that some of it was, as I asked and that hunch was confirmed. While showing me one of the sweaters, I asked Charlie what it would retail for and he said, "Oh, about $400". Crikey! Way out of my league.

It was a really good visit and Charlie and his family were very gracious. He and his sister even took time to look at my portfolio and a sample of my printed fabric - all of which I felt quite shy to show them after seeing the extent of their work and success. Man. But, they were very encouraging, made suggestions, talked about options and sent me off feeling inspired and invigorated.

I'll be staying in touch with these people, let me tell you.

Sewing contractors (again), designs, goals, India and Kathleen Fasanella

Ok, well it's been a while since I last posted, but I'm back on track here and even have things to talk about!

So, I worked with two seamstresses from about the beginning of March until the end of April. Not very long, I know, but it seemed like years. Time dragged and prototypes were sewn incorrectly (which I have learned, quite rightly, was all my fault - no proper pattern, obviously poor communication on my part - I have Kathleen Fasanella and her book The Entrepreneur's Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing to thank for that!). And all this time dragging (obviously, I have a problem with thinking that things should happen rather quickly, even though I myself am not that great at getting things done in a timely manner) started to sour in my mind the idea of having anything manufactured at all. Well, not anything, mind you - fabric does not fall into this category. But I was thinking "Crikey! If this is what it's like it's going to drive me bananas and why would I want to do that? " etc, etc.

This was before I began reading Kathleen's book - or at least I hadn't gotten to the part where she lays out things like, yeah, IT TAKES TIME. And then there are the prototypes and the tweaking and the new prototypes and the more tweaking and on it goes. Thus, I have given it more thought and recognized the merits of actually taking an idea, working with it and seeing it through to completion, which, in this case means not only having a finished product in hand, but taking it to market and seeing if it sells.

Other things I have learned from this book: less is more, know your limitations, don't buy materials before you actually have orders (doh!), listen to everyone who could possibly be telling you something useful, keep your ego in check (check!) and, damn it, you can do it! I can't recommend this book enough, so get out there and buy it before you start your handbag, handkerchief or undergarment business, ok? Save yourself some time and forehead slapping.

And then I had a dawn-breaks-over-marble-head moment - um, just yesterday evening to be precise - which went something like this: how about you look in the yellow pages for an actual sewing contractor company? I mean, what do you have to lose? Five minutes? So, I did that, starting locally - found a couple - moved on out to the state - found more - then got giddy and Googled the whole damn country.

Found a whole bunch of them then! Within minutes, I was filling out RFQs and sending email and even making a phone call to leave a message. I have thus far heard back from the recipient of that message and am now awaiting an estimate. I have received an email response from another company and hope to hear from the others by tomorrow. With the exception of a place in India, of course. I mean, time appears to be on another plane altogether in that country. Which is fine, but it does take some getting used to. Oh, right, the India company was not in the US Google search, but rather was one I had contacted a couple months ago. Then it took a while for them to get back to me. And then, I wasn't sure I wanted to manufacture overseas and then, well, I changed my mind, so emailed them with my specs and now I'm waiting...

In the meantime, I will be identifying more sewing contractor companies to contact, working on more textile designs, and researching trade shows. Anyone out there have trade show recommendations for bringing stuff like hand/shoulder bags to market?

The strike-offs I was all excited about in my previous post turned out ok. Yeah, just ok. But I learned a few things. Digital printing on unbleached canvas looks faded from the get-go and canvas is just such a dead fabric! It has no hand and is rather uninspiring. It is incredibly affordable, though. *sigh* The second set of strike offs were done on oyster linen and heavy cotton sateen and they turned out much better. I love linen, always have. Yesterday I submitted 4 new designs to be struck-off on a cotton/linen blend. Soon I will be listing my fabrics for sale on my etsy shop. When that happens, I'll post the URL.

Tomorrow I will be visiting a silk screen company not far from here. It's owned by a guy who started out painting silk scarves about 30 years ago and now owns this shop that occupies over 20,000 square feet! I'm looking forward to that visit for several reasons: have never seen such a large silk screen operation, certainly not one that specializes in screen printing yardage, I have lots of questions, and I hope to work with this company to produce a line of home furnishings and bedding. But, that will come at a later date. I have shoulder bags to manufacture!

Strike-offs, sewing contractor search, India

So, the strike-offs are shipping out from the digital printer today! The woman I spoke to on the phone said they look really good - but, hey, I'll be the judge of that, eh? Man, I hope they look really good. It would make my life easier if there is no color jiggling to be done. It is my hope, as well, that I won't need to go looking for bleached cotton canvas, should the design look too yellow on natural canvas. If that's the case, I'd rather compensate in the design file than go for bleached fabric. Yep.

Today I've gone through my list of contacted companies in India - both fabric printers and sewing contractors - and re-contacted them. Are they not getting my email? Are they not interested in potential work? Or do they think I'm too small a company or something? I never understand when companies don't respond to inquiries from potential clients.

However, then there's Mr. Anand in Mumbai. He got back to me within a week and then we talked on the phone. Hopefully, he'll be in touch again soon with an estimate and information on the samples I've requested.

I have a contact in New Bedford, MA - where a good deal of sewing of leather and fabric goes on - and, whenever I ask him about finding a sewing contractor in the area, he becomes really cagey. He says, "well, I don't know any". And, well, how can he not? He owns a company that makes products from leather and they are sewn right there in his facility. What's he afraid of? Anyway, this time, I asked if he would at least give me a clue as to who to approach for this potential information. He barked off a couple government agency titles and then had to go to a meeting. Crikey.

The strike-offs are coming! The strike-offs are coming! I can't wait to see them! [must.not.get.too.excited. must.suppress.all.glee.]

Fabric production, sewing contractors, stress

Things are moving along pretty well. They could always be better, though, I think. Since I last posted, I've met with a total of 3 seamstresses, 2 of which seemed to me to be a good fit. The first one I wrote about was great - definitely talented, capable, etc, but just didn't seem like she was as interested the work as much as the other two. Now, that may not have been a good reason to rule her out, but I did.

Yesterday, I met with one of the seamstresses and she had a prototype for me to look at based on my design idea and measurements. It was a good meeting - confirmed things like the strap length I had chosen was a good one and that the shape of the bag wasn't as good as I had thought. So, we changed the shape a little - eliminating the side panels altogether - and she made some notes on things she had done incorrectly (the bottom panel and the opening with the zipper). She is going to produce a second prototype for me - this time out of 10 oz. canvas, so I can better see the structure and shape - and get back to me within 10 days.

The other seamstress had emailed me about a week and a half ago saying that she would soon have 2 prototypes done for me - one with a stiff interfacing and the other with soft. I'm not sure I want interfacing, but I don't mind seeing how it works out.

Now, I called both these ladies last Monday, leaving them both messages asking what's up, can we meet soon and please call me back. Obviously, the woman I met with yesterday called me back quickly. The other woman didn't call at all. I called her again this morning and just received a call back and a message that she's all stressed out and very busy with work and her son's baseball practice and that, while she can have 2 samples to me in the next week or so, she won't be able to do any more work for me until May.

This is no good and now I'm stressing out! It's not like I have any orders to meet, but I'd really like to get this off the ground, you know? Once I have fabric printed (I'll get to that soon) I'll need someone to produce a few good shoulder bag samples for me and the sooner the better. Damn it.

Ok - the fabric. Well, I sent a file to the digital printer and they will have 3 strike-offs (proofs) to me around the middle of this week. I decided to have strike-offs produced on three fabrics for comparison purposes, though I'm pretty much set on what base fabric I am going to use - cotton canvas. Perhaps I shouldn't have spent the extra $30 on the other 2 fabric samples, but there you have it.

Next, I have to order a large roll of the fabric and have it shipped to the printer. This saves me a LOT of money. Hopefully, it won't take too long for the fabric to get there. I'll be placing the order on Monday, Tuesday at the latest.

I've also been emailing companies in India - both in fabric production and sewing contractors. Thus far, I have received a reply from one fabric company representative, who included his phone number. I called him yesterday morning and we chatted for a bit. The company can accommodate fabric up to 58" and they do screen printing primarily, though he mentioned other methods and, truthfully, I couldn't understand him! He spoke quickly and with that lovely Indian accent, so there was a lot of "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" on my end.

The minimum run is 1500 meters (about 1640 yards) and each screen (= color) costs a mere $25. Compare that to a company I recently spoke to here in the US with a yardage minimum of 2500 at about $3 a yard plus screen costs of $250 for each color! I am waiting on an actual quote from the company in India, but first had to email the rep again with more info. I also asked him if he could recommend a sewing contractor over there so that I could keep costs down by having everything done in one general area. I have emailed some sewing contractors myself, but thus far have received no reply despite several attempts.

So, I really hope I can get things going with either this particular company or some other one in India, because I'm never going to be able to make money on these bags if I have to produce them here in the US - very sad to say. It was my strong desire to keep the fabric and accessories production here in this country, but I just don't think that's going to be possible.

Woo hoo!

Well, I just got off the phone with the potential sewing contractor. A woman who, it turns out, lives one town over and who does alteration work for a small bridal shop just one house away from where I live! Talk about a small world.

I am quite pleased with her professionalism, her years of experience (over 20), the fact that she also has experience drafting patterns and her willingness to work with me and my steep learning curve! We are going to meet next week, when I'll be able to see samples of her work, read through her resume and just see how we interact one on one.

This is great! I know I shouldn't get too excited yet, but I was so dreading this process (see earlier post) - phew!

Onward and upward, yes?

Looking for a sewing contractor and computer problems

My laptop took a tumble a week or so ago and is still in the process of being repaired. It not being enough that I'm annoyed at myself for the mishap itself, I'm also dealing with a repair shop not calling me when the computer came back from Apple (last Thursday!), but also with the damn thing not actually having been fixed! Ah yes. Apple says it was working when it left their facility. And the customer rep apologized several times for the inconvenience. But, what can I do now other than wait for my precious laptop to be returned to me as soon as possible?

In the meantime, I am using a friend's laptop, so at least I have internet access and can do research and send email. I am in the process of learning about the sewing industry, while also trying to find a sewing contractor. Admittedly, I am not up to speed in all that I need to know vis a vis patterns, samples, sewing techniques, cost per sample and materials. It's a long list, yes, but I'm working on it daily.

Currently, I have one person whom I found on craigslist who sounds like she has the right experience. I will call her today and see how things go. I've been reading posts and comments on the Fashion Incubator website - which is such a boon, I can't tell you. If you are thinking of doing anything fashion/sewing/textiles related - this is the site to bookmark and read daily.

Anyway, many business people have posted about and commented on articles concerning finding and working with sewing contractors. Sadly, it appears this is quite the daunting task. However, as one commenter pointed out, if you act business-like, do your homework, know what you need and know what you are talking about, then you should be all right. Granted, it may seem that you have found a good, reliable contractor only to have samples that are poorly done or that may not materialize at all, ever.

So, I am preparing myself for what may be a long, frustrating process. We'll see.