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.