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Want to start a
fashion brand, but don’t like the idea of losing your shirt? Man and Sewing Machine will show
you the safe way!
Post by post, I will show you the steps I took building my brand, so that you can follow, in your own inimitable fashion.
Today’s Post
Where do clothing brands get their patterns?
It’s a bit of trick question, because quality brands don’t “get” them, as such. They make them, or have them made. It's the main reason that everything a quality brand sells,
is consistent in size.
The temptation is great though, to grab patterns in an expedient way. Brands that do it, invite discrepencies between garments and size charts, and erode consumer confidence. Brands that build trust, do so by procuring their patterns in the ways this post will describe.
Pattern Piracy
Have you ever made two online purchases, from the same brand, only to find
the second thing you bought from them was bigger or smaller, although both were
supposed to be the same size? One of the reasons this happens, is that instead
of making all their own patterns, with the same basic measurements as their
starting point, a lot of brands get into the practice of scraping together
patterns from any old source. Pirated, mostly, these patterns circulate throughout
the fashion industry, with little regard for intellectual property rights, and
no regard for consistency, when it comes to their sizing.
It is too pervasive a practice for me to think I can stop you from having any
part in it. What I will do, is warn you of the long-term brand damage you will
be causing yourself, even if your piracy is never exposed. The problem, as I’ve
said, concerns sizing. There are processes designers and brands have available
to them, that ensure repeat customers have no nasty surprises, like buying
something in a size that fit them the first time they bought something from
you, only to find that something else they have bought from you is too big or too small.
I’m not saying you should be concerned about patterns for scrunchies, neck-ties,
or little things like those, for which there are public realm patterns and no
consequences if sizes aren’t perfect. I have never heard of anyone condemning
a brand, because their pony tail slipped from a scrunchie!
I am referring to patterns for your primary offerings, the things you hope
to be known for. It is all-too tempting, to take shortcuts when procuring these
patterns.
How Patterns Get Pirated
It can be tempting, for instance, to buy items on clearance, in sizes XS, S,
M, L and XL, and meticulously pick them apart. You would just have to glue the
fabric pieces to cardboard, and voila: you would have a full range of pirated
patterns, ready to start cutting and sewing.
Rather than doing the pirating yourself, you might buy stock from a pirate,
and pretend you didn’t know how they came to possess such an enormous collection of patterns.
Take the overseas factory, or local agent for an overseas factory, with a vast
catalogue of patterns to choose from. They will tell you they are all free to
use, so long as you’re purchasing from them. But where do you think each of those
patterns originated? Typically, a client of that factory, before you, will have
invested hundreds, if not thousands, in having that pattern developed. The
factory only had the pattern on loan, for the sole purpose of fulfilling that
client’s particular order. They were not at liberty to make copies, so that
their next client, you, could bypass the cost of design work. But that is
precisely the liberty factory owners will take, when they’re in a country where
there is not any recourse.
If they have been pirated in digital form, patterns sell like pirated software,
on every variety of digital platform. I heard from a friend in the business,
that just months after having her specially designed `infants’ pants manufactured
in China, her pattern was selling for a few bucks, on a website hosted in
China.
Stealing or receiving patterns belonging to others, might seem harmless enough before you’re making products to sell, but it will come back to bite you, long term. The threat of being sued for millions of dollars, while grave, is so slight I know no one would care. The real cost, is that of not taking the opportunity that exists to do everything properly, using methods I'm about to outline.
Pattern Blocks
If you or an employee knows how to use them, and you plan on creating many
designs, a set of pattern blocks will ensure customers get garments that fit
them, as you add dozens, if not hundreds of styles, to your brand’s range.
Blocks can seem like expensive pieces of cardboard, when they are not even
patterns that are ready to use. They don’t have seam allowances or notches, and without
lots of manipulation, only give you the most basic styles. What you get for
your money, are templates from which you can draft an infinite variety of patterns,
across a complete size range, and in any imaginable style. Every garment you sell,
that has its genesis with your block set, whether that garment is pleated,
darted, flared, gathered, baggy or close fitting, will be true to your brand’s
size.
I say “your” brand’s size, because there is no such thing as a universal, or
even a national standard. There are no platinum mannequins in museums in Paris, like there are for the metric one-meter!
This is something I find myself having to explain to my customers, when, for
example, ones asks if my size 10, is a “real” size 10. The truth, is no “real”
10 exists. In your case, if you invest in and keep using one set of blocks,
your 10 will be the 10 of those blocks. At least you will be able to say, that
unlike the brand that grabs pirated patterns, your 10 is your 10, across
all of your styles.
Size Charts
If you only ever work from one set of blocks, you will be able to provide
your customers with a true size chart. A size chart will come with your blocks, from
which you will able to take information, and make a size chart for your
webstore and/or catalogues. Any customer capable of measuring themselves, will
be able to refer to it, and know exactly what size they should buy from your brand,
regardless of the item they want.
Brands that take whatever patterns they’re able to get their hands on, have
no idea what measurements any of their pieces are made for. It probably wouldn’t
matter if all they were selling were baggy sarongs, but good luck to them if
they ever try to sell something that’s fitted!
The stakes are higher again when you’re making compression garments from elastic
stretch fabric. In my case, that has meant the next step up the quality ladder
from blocks.
Digital Pattern Making
There are pattern blocks you can buy for stretch fabric, but since no two
stretch fabrics perform the same way, they’re useless for the shape-control
swimsuits I specialise in with my business. Standard swimwear fabric has more give,
and stretches further, than the heavy-duty shape control fabric I use. If I had
used standard stretch blocks for my swimsuits, customers would have found them
impossibly small, a problem that would only have been compounded by the fact
that I use the same heavy fabric for front and back lining. Matters are complicated
even more by the up-and-down (warp) stretch of my fabric, which is especially
limited compared to cheap fabric. And if that’s not enough, I like bagged out (some
would say “seamless”) front seams. These a kind of trapeze act, with lining and
outer self-fabric, balanced on a high wire of rubber inside.
Customers who try my suits on, invariably buy them. For older women
especially, it comes as a revelation to see that a swimsuit could have such
even compression and such a smooth look. That comes about because each pattern
I use, was made to correspond to the particular stretch of the fabric I’ve
chosen.
It is a job I have done by a specialist with many years serving premium swim
brands, and expertise in computer aided (Lectra) pattern making. Patterns I
commission from her are among my largest expenses, but save me spending on advertising.
No advertisement can tell people what word-of-mouth can, that a Pride swimsuit
will fit them, and thus provide even compression.
To save myself haemorrhaging money on patterns, I have worked with my
designer to develop a modular system, that lets me mix and match bottoms, top
fronts and top backs. When I expanded my range with stretch woven swimsuits, I
sourced fabric with the same maximum stretch as the fabric I was using already.
Another way I have kept a reign of this expense, is by not aiming to please the
whole world, by offering every imaginable style. I offer my vision of beauty,
for customers who happen to share it. It’s a happy coincidence, that only
making styles I personally love, means I haven’t had to commission more of
these highly specialised patterns than I have been able to afford.
Particular Body Types
A unique feature of Lectra pattern making, is it can start with the measurements
of a particular body. So, for example, if I were making swimsuits for elite
swimmers, I could engage an actual elite swimmer, with her developed shoulder
and lateral muscles, and make her body the starting point for my whole range.
When I eventually get around to making bike racing clothing, I will find an
elite cyclist, with his skinny arms and huge thighs, and make patterns for him.
When I have patterns graded across my whole size range, the biggest and
smallest garments I offer, will all still have his proportions.
All I will say, is they gave me a refund, and in fairness, we all make
mistakes. I’m just writing this blog, so that you might make fewer of them, and
that when you make them, they’re small.
While I am being so helpful, here’s a suggestion. Think of a rare, or unique
body type, and one type of garment you might like to make for such people. I
have already pointed to a possible gap in the urban bikewear market, for jeans.
I studied fashion with a woman whose son had dwarfism, who was imagining a brand
selling clothing for children like him. I have also mentored a brand, CinnamonCove, that have enjoyed continuing free press for their hip but modest swimwear,
design by and for tweens.
What combination of rare body type and garment do you imagine? In this age
of online communities and internet searching, it has a strong chance of
succeeding!
You Know What to Do!
Thank you for reading my latest blog post! Everything I have had to learn the hard way, since starting my swim brand, is pouring onto the page like checkerboard paint.
If
it has helped you, you know what to do! Click on the following links, leave
comments and share. My only rationale for sharing this knowledge, is it might
drive traffic to my webstore, which, who knows, might lead to some sales!
- Webstore: Prideswim
- on Instragram
- on TikTok
- on YouTube
- on 500px
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