Sampling process in garment industry can make or break any brand. Explanation for this process in garment manufacturing is made simple here.
Sampling Process in Garment Industry
What is garment sampling? In short, it is the activity of developing a prototype of a fashion design.
Sampling process in garment industry is crucial in determining whether a garment factory can turn a design into real life garment using the parameters set by the brand owner (style, type of fabric, budget, time, etc.) From the resulting samples, a brand owner can decide whether to work with the garment factory or not. The approved samples then become the quality standard, and they could be very influential in convincing retailers to place big orders with the brand owner.
But what are the steps in sampling process in garment industry?
The answer is determined by what a brand owner has in possession before he/she contacts a garment factory.
If the brand owner only has sketches and/or reference photos, then sampling process in garment industry would be as follows:
1. Finalizing the silhouette (style/shape and fabrics)
The complete steps of garment production process must start with an idea. But some ideas are just not possible to be made with the style, fabric, and the budget that a designer specifically has in mind.
The sampling process in garment industry involves finalizing such ideas to become doable designs.
2. making pattern(s)
Patterns are made so that the same style can be easily and efficiently duplicated for mass production. One simply can’t make good clothes using bad patterns because the fabric wouldn’t get cut in the right shape and size, which would result in bad sewing quality. The problem is that finding a good pattern maker is not always easy.
3. Fabric Sourcing
This is the process of finding the right type of fabric for the design. It requires time and effort to request fabric swatches and their price lists from suppliers. So, to make the process efficient, the garment factory should have a clear understanding of what the designer envisioned for his/her designs.
Depending on the quantity of order, a garment factory with good garment supply chain management would find the best deals available and offer the alternatives if the exact required fabric is not available.
4. Making Fit Sample
This is the first result of development sample in garment industry. This one is a prototype, made for the purpose of checking the fit of the style (how does the fit look like when being worn by human). Usually, this sample is made using similar but cheaper fabrics and materials.
Start-ups should not be surprised if this sample is not made in the requested colour because the purpose is only to check the fit (how does it look like when being worn by a human model.
The standard practice for clothing production in Bali is that customers who order sampling service would get some free revisions of the fit sample.
5. Fit Adjustments
It is natural that fit sampling in garment industry is not perfect. Normally fit adjustments are required to perfect the sample. In some cases of the sampling process in garment industry, changes are required in points of measure, sewing technique, patterns, etc.
6. Making salesman/prototype sample
This sample is made of the actual fabric using the correct cutting and sewing techniques. It should look like how it is intended to look like.
The salesman sample in garment industry is an integral part of a clothing line marketing plan. It could be used in photo shoots for online sales, as a display in stores, and it could also be sent to purchasing department of department stores.
7. Completing Tech Pack
Tech pack in garment industry serves as a manual; all the technical data such as cutting instructions, sewing instructions, bill of materials, etc. is compiled in a tech pack. If the tech pack is a complete one, then any professional clothing manufacturer in the world could use it to produce a style to the exact specifications approved by the designer.
8. Bill of Materials & Production Costing
Sampling process in garment industry involves the effort to record of all the required materials and its respective info (how much required, where is it sourced from, its price, etc.). The results of this effort is called Bill of Materials, which is a crucial component for the clothing manufacturing cost estimation.
For example, when the design in simple but the bill of materials reveals that it requires a lot of fabric, then the production cost will be high. Perhaps then the designer would like to find cheaper fabric as alternatives, or to readjust the designs.
NOTE:
Sampling process in garment industry is not always exact. In the event where a brand owner possesses an original sample that one would like to make copies or to slightly alter it, then, the sampling in process would only do no 2, 3, 5, 7 and 8 of the list above.