Now, that product development and fashion business are my things everybody knows (or would know if you have read the first page of my blog lol), but what fascinates me about these fields of the fashion industry and how it really works is what this blog is about.
At the end of the day, fashion is a business and everything goes down to numbers and not just in terms of investment, but in terms of production quantities and where to produce. These are all factors that can directly affect the investment in a new brand or new collection. Covid has taught about quality over quantity, to choose wisely what is on our priority list and that applies to product development as well.
With a whole new shopping mentality after covid19, quality control and lower quantities are more valuable than massive productions. Yes, Zara, H&M, and Forever 21 are massive companies, still in business and will stay in business, but even those brands have reinvented their selling system and incorporated influencer collabs rather than massive campaigns and 3 to 4 collections a year. Consumers are slowly embracing the idea that quality is better than quantity and new emerging brands are choosing to produce locally instead of offshore.
Domestic productions are more expensive (especially in the US), yes! And that happens because of quality control and lower minimums. Offshore production is cheaper, yes! But lower quality control and most important: higher minimums, timeline, and importation tariffs. Especially with goods produced in China! The timeline has been delayed about 3 months and a lot of US local vendors (fabrics goods in particular) have been suffering from lower stocks. Which results in new brands working with lower production quantities and micro launches.
A lot of new brands have cut down their production number not just because of the investment, but because the sources are restricted at this time, and launching a new brand with 4 or 5 styles and 30 units each style resulted in better sales. Of course! It is definitely easier to target your consumers, choose quantities per size, work with smaller and local influencers and do your own fulfillment instead of producing 3000 units per style, pay for a fulfillment center and larger marketing campaigns during times when customers are spending money wisely.
Nowadays having a successful brand does not mean 20 or 50 styles and a gigantic marketing campaign. Like I mentioned, producing 4 to 5 styles gives you the option of creating different outfit combinations and focus on your target market - which in terms of numbers gives you a smaller room for error selling the correct sizes and color/prints. This new vision of fashion production led to the “on-demand” manufacturers.
Pre-ordered production is a very new thing and not all manufacturers are not set up for that, but proved efficient and avoid new brands sitting with the same inventory for more than one season and, even though inventory is equal to money, avoiding larger minimums can be helpful in terms of investment.
Fashion is a business and businesses is about the investment and numbers that you are willing to put up with. SOOO, based on the new customer mentality it is important to rethink how many styles you will be launching on your first season. After all, it is not about having a “big” brand, it is also about making the sale.
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