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İçerik Heather Zager tarafından sağlanmıştır. Bölümler, grafikler ve podcast açıklamaları dahil tüm podcast içeriği doğrudan Heather Zager veya podcast platform ortağı tarafından yüklenir ve sağlanır. Birinin telif hakkıyla korunan çalışmanızı izniniz olmadan kullandığını düşünüyorsanız burada https://tr.player.fm/legal özetlenen süreci takip edebilirsiniz.
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Squid Game: The Official Podcast
31:25
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31:25Squid Game is back, and so is Player 456. In the gripping Season 2 premiere, Player 456 returns with a vengeance, leading a covert manhunt for the Recruiter. Hosts Phil Yu and Kiera Please dive into Gi-hun’s transformation from victim to vigilante, the Recruiter’s twisted philosophy on fairness, and the dark experiments that continue to haunt the Squid Game. Plus, we touch on the new characters, the enduring trauma of old ones, and Phil and Kiera go head-to-head in a game of Ddakjji. Finally, our resident mortician, Lauren Bowser is back to drop more truth bombs on all things death. SPOILER ALERT! Make sure you watch Squid Game Season 2 Episode 1 before listening on. Let the new games begin! IG - @SquidGameNetflix X (f.k.a. Twitter) - @SquidGame Check out more from Phil Yu @angryasianman , Kiera Please @kieraplease and Lauren Bowser @thebitchinmortician on IG Listen to more from Netflix Podcasts . Squid Game: The Official Podcast is produced by Netflix and The Mash-Up Americans.…
MADE Apparel Services Podcast
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İçerik Heather Zager tarafından sağlanmıştır. Bölümler, grafikler ve podcast açıklamaları dahil tüm podcast içeriği doğrudan Heather Zager veya podcast platform ortağı tarafından yüklenir ve sağlanır. Birinin telif hakkıyla korunan çalışmanızı izniniz olmadan kullandığını düşünüyorsanız burada https://tr.player.fm/legal özetlenen süreci takip edebilirsiniz.
Tips, tricks, and advice on getting a sewn product idea into development and manufacture.
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12 bölüm
Tümünü oynan(ma)dı işaretle ...
Manage series 3552828
İçerik Heather Zager tarafından sağlanmıştır. Bölümler, grafikler ve podcast açıklamaları dahil tüm podcast içeriği doğrudan Heather Zager veya podcast platform ortağı tarafından yüklenir ve sağlanır. Birinin telif hakkıyla korunan çalışmanızı izniniz olmadan kullandığını düşünüyorsanız burada https://tr.player.fm/legal özetlenen süreci takip edebilirsiniz.
Tips, tricks, and advice on getting a sewn product idea into development and manufacture.
…
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12 bölüm
Tüm bölümler
×1 Creative Nobility Interview 29:58
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29:58Host Heather Zager interviews social media strategist Rebecca Scott about all things social media, including how often to post, where to post, and how much time business owners should spend on the task. Rebecca shares practical tips to help entrepreneurs improve their social media strategy, starting by identifying their ideal customers and choosing the platforms that align with their interests. From there, Rebecca shares tips for what to post, what not to post, and why engagement matters. When Heather asks about how much time business owners should realistically spend on their social media, Rebecca outlines a basic social media management strategy for business owners, emphasizing efficiency through content batching and consistent engagement. The approach involves creating monthly content in advance, followed by daily engagement to foster audience interaction. The key steps include establishing content pillars, brainstorming ideas, organizing formats, setting posting frequency, and balancing content types. Time is divided across planning, creating, and scheduling, with daily engagement given high importance to boost algorithm performance. Below is a breakdown of these steps and the time allotted for each. This episode contains insights, useful tips, and inspiration for business owners of all experience levels. Rebecca’s Basic Social Media Strategy for Entrepreneurs: 1-2 hours planning and batching content 2-3 hours filming, editing, creating content, writing captions 1-1.5 hours creating graphics for posting 30-minutes scheduling posts 2.5 hours weekly for engagement About Rebecca Scott With a decade of entrepreneurship under her belt, Rebecca Scott is an experienced social media manager and founder of Creative Nobility. Originally trained in graphic design, she began her career specializing in branding and print media. However, as the demand for digital solutions grew, she expanded her services to include social media management—developing a new passion that transformed her business. Today, social media management makes up the core of Rebecca’s business, serving clients across Canada and the United States in various industries, including podcasting. Known for her dedication to staying ahead of trends, Rebecca is committed to providing her clients with innovative strategies to help them grow their businesses online. Resources discussed in this episode: Canva Loomly Hootsuite Sprout Social Planoly Later Fiverr Upwork — Contact Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services: Website: MADEApparelServices.com Facebook: MADEApparelServices Instagram: MADEApparelServices Linkedin: MADEApparelServices Contact Rebecca Scott | Creative Nobility: Website: CreativeNobility.com Facebook: CreativeNobility Instagram: CreativeNobility LinkedIn: CreativeNobility — Transcript Heather Zager: [00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome to the Made Apparel Services Podcast. My name is Heather Zager and I will be your host for this series. I am also the founder of Made Apparel Services, which is a sewn product development company for small brands. Whether you are just starting out or a seasoned pro, I have a lot of resources to help you on your journey to manufacture. Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter and follow me on social media for other fun updates. Links to both are always in the show notes. Heather Zager: [00:00:30] Hello everyone! Today we have Rebecca from Creative Nobility with us. We are interviewing her on everything social media. So Rebecca, welcome. Let's just start off by having you tell me a little bit about your business and what it is that you do. Rebecca Scott: [00:00:44] Awesome. Thanks for having me here today, Heather. I guess I'll start off by saying I'm a social media manager. I have had my company for, actually this month is year 10. So it's pretty exciting. I'm happy that I made it to 10 years. You know how it is with starting up a company and entrepreneurship, all that fun stuff. I started off just as a graphic designer, that's what I went to school for. It was called Electronic Publishing at a university here in Canada, in Calgary. I started off by doing graphic design, branding, mostly print for my clients, which is kind of dying out a little bit now, which is sad. But that was one of the main reasons that I ended up adding social media to my offerings, because people were looking more for that digital offering to grow more online and to get more online sales. That wasn't something that I originally had planned on offering, but it developed into this new passion that I had about 7 years ago. So I started doing that, and that's about 95% of what I do for my clients now. It's clients from Canada and the US across all different industries. A lot of them have podcasts like yourself, and I fell in love with doing anything social media, and I am on my phone a lot, which is a bit of a downside, but it's good because I'm always learning. Staying on top of trends that way and making sure that I'm giving my clients the best chance at growing their business as possible. Heather Zager: [00:02:27] And that makes sense because I think in any industry, the best thing you can do as a business owner is be flexible. You have to see what the customer wants and move towards those trends to stay afloat. So that makes a lot of sense to me. Very cool. I have a couple of questions that I'm going to go over with you and we can take this any direction that it tends to go. Some things that I thought of that my clients might be interested in is, how many times per week should someone spend doing social media, especially if they're doing it themselves. What can they expect to be the percentage of time, if they're really going to do this well, and try to gain a following to sell their product or their brand or whatever it is that they're starting up. Rebecca Scott: [00:03:13] That is a great question. That's one that I get asked often by prospective clients and business owners who are looking to do their social media themselves and aren't quite sure. It does depend a little bit on your comfort level with social media. If you're comfortable creating assets and how many platforms you're going to be on. In general, I asked a bunch of my friends who own businesses, and then read a study as well, and it said that 43% of business owners spend around 6 hours each week. So I went through my process of what I would think a business owner with maybe not a ton of experience would do with their own social media. And I came up with a bit of a breakdown that I thought I would share with you. And this might...…
Host Heather Zager shares valuable insights for new and small brands looking to simplify their manufacturing process to save time and money. She emphasizes the importance of narrowing down design options to keep costs reasonable and avoid overwhelming inventory numbers. Heather suggests starting with one design in a size range with limited colors to keep costs manageable. Once success is reached with that design, other options can be explored. To help streamline the process and validate design ideas, Heather recommends sharing design options on social media to gather feedback. This also helps build a strong social media presence and encourages engagement. Listeners will also hear practical tips, such as how to learn more about material sourcing and pattern-making to save time and money in the long run. These strategies not only simplify production but also ensure that brands make informed decisions, minimizing risk, and maximizing profitability. About Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services Founder and Owner Heather Zager found her calling when she signed up for a beginning pattern-making course and realized she had a passion for technical design. She subsequently enrolled in the Apparel Design and Development program at Seattle Central College and graduated two years later with her Associate of Applied Science Degree. After graduation, she began working with Meta assisting in developing and designing augmented and virtual reality wearable tech gear. In 2020, MADE Apparel Services was born with the idea of helping makers, inventors and designers bring their own sewn product ideas to manufacture. Since then, she has worked with various businesses such as Santa’s Tailor, Feathered Friends, Wolfpack Gear and Classic Accessories, helping them achieve their goals in design, development, pattern making, sewn construction and manufacture. Today, Heather continues to grow her knowledge and share her experiences with others to bring their visions to reality. Resources discussed in this episode: Episode 4: Concept to Customer Part 2: Material Sourcing Choosing Fabrics: Fabrics 101 MADE Apparel Services Newsletter -- Contact Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services: Website: MADEApparelServices.com Facebook: MADEApparelServices Instagram: MADEApparelServices Linkedin: MADEApparelServices -- Transcript Heather Zager: [00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome to the Made Apparel Services Podcast. My name is Heather Zager and I will be your host for this series. I am also the founder of Made Apparel Services, which is a sewn product development company for small brands. Whether you are just starting out or a seasoned pro, I have a lot of resources to help you on your journey to manufacture. Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter and follow me on social media for other fun updates. Links to both are always in the show notes. Heather Zager: [00:00:29] Welcome back to my podcast. Today I'm going to talk about a few things you can do to simplify your design idea to better prepare you for manufacture. And by prepare, I mean helping you to understand ways you can keep the development and production of your idea moving forward so you save time and money. It's totally fine if you decide against these tips. My goal is only to help you to see the consequences of each of these so that you can more confidently make a decision now about your production plans. So the first and most obvious way to reduce costs and simplify getting to manufacture is to really think about how many designs you actually need. I've had clients with upwards of 15 design ideas, and this is because they feel their website should be full, but 15 is usually too many to start. Heather Zager: [00:01:21] Even if you have a following on social media, you don't have any historical data to tell you what they will like or not like. Also, having fewer designs is much easier to track, especially when you realize that each design will have to come in a size range. And if you have colorways for each design too, you'll end up with dozens of inventory items to keep organized and keep track of. Instead, share your designs on social media and ask your following to pick their top three looks. Depending on how many people respond, and what they say, you'll get a really good idea of interest before you spend a lot of money guessing what designs will be popular. Plus, you build engagement and they get to be involved in supporting you. By the way, if you feel your site needs to be full, take a step back and ask yourself instead, what is unique about your brand over everyone else selling something similar? I find that folks who want a lot of designs on their website haven't really thought about what it is that's selling their designs. Most of the time you just need a good founding story, but if you still feel you must fill your site with items, then consider using branding blanks, which are just pre-made garments that you can have custom printed with your logo. You can use those as a way to fill in space on your website, rather than developing a lot of unique designs. Now, if you aren't on social media yet, or you don't have a landing page where people can go and sign up for updates and know where to follow you, then start working on that instead of more designs. The goal of gaining this following is to have some pre-sales. This will help you to know your order quantity, which sizes and colors are most popular, so you can be more confident that your first order you place for production will be on target with your demand, and you don't end up with extra supplies, colors, or sizes that you don't need. And this brings me to my next tip. Heather Zager: [00:03:27] So if you still feel like you need a whole bunch of designs, then maybe this logic will help to convince you to minimize. So let's take, for example, that you have one design. Well, each design obviously needs to come in a size range eventually. Let's say that there's five sizes, extra small to extra large. That is the average number of sizes that a manufacturer will allow before they start charging you extra. If you haven't done pre-sales or any kind of customer surveys, which isn't uncommon at this point, and that's okay, then you likely don't know what sizes will be most popular. So, let's just say you need to start out with 5 of each size, so that's a total of 25 pieces. 5 in extra small, 5 in small, 5 in medium and so on. Now, also consider if you have colorways for each design, and usually there's about three. So, let's do blue, yellow and red. That probably means you need 5 of each color, also. 5 blue in extra small, 5 red in extra small, 5 yellow in extra small and repeat that for each size. This brings the total to 75 pieces. Now, if you're using a US based manufacturer, you're probably looking at somewhere around $15 a piece as an average. So that brings your total cost to make 75 pieces to $1,125 for one design. Now, if you reduce by one colorway, your total becomes 50 garments, bringing ...…
1 Tech Pack, Spec Sheets and Patterns (oh my!) 14:21
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14:21Host Heather Zager talks all about tech packs, spec sheets, and patterns in today’s episode. She explains the differences between each one and the function each one performs. A spec sheet is short for a specification sheet. The single difference between it and a tech pack is that a spec sheet is just one page. A tech pack - or technical package or technical specification package - is essentially an instruction manual with all the information needed to create a sewn product. A pattern is a paper pattern used for sewing a product. Heather goes into great detail about what a tech pack could and should include. The summary of the points she discusses is: A cover page or an overview page. Fabrications page. Pattern layout page by fabrication. Bill of materials Pattern pieces list, also known as a cutters must or a pattern parts list. A sequence of construction, also known as the order of operations. Several pages of annotations which are callouts: Just stitch types, just the fabrications, and just colorways. Possibly a close-up or a more detailed illustration. Supplier information. You might also include packaging information. A space for special notes and another space for version updates. The possible variations and trade-offs in information included in tech packs are explained by Heather and she breaks down exactly how a pattern works, when spec sheets are useful, and what other episodes of her podcast will explain certain pieces of information in greater detail. Heather’s knowledge and expertise help to make the process of designing and manufacturing sewn goods easier to understand and less daunting to attempt. About Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services Founder and Owner Heather Zager found her calling when she signed up for a beginning pattern-making course and realized she had a passion for technical design. She subsequently enrolled in the Apparel Design and Development program at Seattle Central College and graduated two years later with her Associate of Applied Science Degree. After graduation, she began working with Meta assisting in developing and designing augmented and virtual reality wearable tech gear. In 2020, MADE Apparel Services was born with the idea of helping makers, inventors and designers bring their own sewn product ideas to manufacture. Since then, she has worked with various businesses such as Santa’s Tailor, Feathered Friends, Wolfpack Gear and Classic Accessories, helping them achieve their goals in design, development, pattern making, sewn construction and manufacture. Today, Heather continues to grow her knowledge and share her experiences with others to bring their visions to reality. __ Resources mentioned in this episode: Episode 8: Concept to Customer Part 4 - Preparing for Manufacture MADE Apparel Services: Sample Tech Pack __ Contact Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services: Website: MADEApparelServices.com Facebook: MADEApparelServices Instagram: MADEApparelServices Linkedin: MADEApparelServices — Transcript Heather Zager: [00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome to the Made Apparel Services Podcast. My name is Heather Zager and I will be your host for this series. I am also the founder of Made Apparel Services, which is a sewn product development company for small brands. Whether you are just starting out or a seasoned pro, I have a lot of resources to help you on your journey to manufacture. Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter and follow me on social media for other fun updates. Links to both are always in the show notes. Heather Zager: [00:00:29] Hello and welcome back to my podcast channel. My name is Heather Zager with Made Apparel Services. And today I'm going to talk about the difference between a tech pack, a spec sheet and a pattern. And by pattern I mean a paper pattern you use for sewing a sewn product, not the pattern on your sheets or your wallpaper. First, they are all something different and it is very straightforward. But let's start with talking about a spec sheet, as this is the one that people seem to misunderstand the most and may not even be realizing it. So a spec sheet is short for specification sheet. The single key difference between this and a tech pack is that a spec sheet is just one page. Now, a spec sheet is commonly thought of as a summary page that highlights the most important features of a sewn design, but this means that several specs end up on a single page at one time, and this can become a problem in manufacture, and I'll explain more on that in a moment. Heather Zager: [00:01:35] In the way that people think of a spec sheet, it would actually be more appropriate to call the single page a design summary. There are a few disadvantages to a design summary. First, there is no standard for how these should look or what they should contain. Second, if there is too much information within your design summary, it can become hard to read and confusing. Imagine if Ikea crammed all of their furniture construction information into a single page. Alternatively, if you don't have enough information, then there will be a lot of details you leave to the manufacturer to figure out. So the answer to this problem is to use a tech pack instead. A tech pack or technical package or technical specification package can be thought of as an instruction manual that includes all the information needed to create a sewn product. There are varying opinions on how much information a tech pack should contain, but for my clients, my goal is to keep the manufacturer from guessing on anything. You can certainly get to manufacturer with just a design summary or a spec sheet, but you open yourself up to misunderstandings and confusions that will then push out deadlines, even if those deadlines are only self-imposed and increase costs, along with create frustration for both you and your manufacturer. Heather Zager: [00:02:58] To give you an idea of what a thorough and complete tech pack will look like, mine are usually no less than around 11 pages if each spec is just one page. Now, a spec can span more than one page if needed, but should only be covering the details of that spec within those pages. For example, a pattern pieces list. You might need more than one page to list all of your pattern pieces if you have a more complicated design, like an outdoor jacket that's lined with lots of pockets and plackets and buttons. And that's okay, because your spec is still the pattern pieces list across two pages. The 11 pages that I just mentioned that are in my tech pack are as follows, and these will be listed in the show notes for you. First page of your tech pack is just a cover page or an overview page. It will contain just a description and some black and white sketches. The description will be a long sentence that describes the design and the features that go into it. The sketches are just black and white sketches, usually just a front and a back, but you can also include a side view if you feel that's helpful to convey your concept. And that's all. They ...…
Host Heather Zager talks about manufacture in this final episode of her four-part series called Concept to Customer. This is the fourth of the most common areas of confusion or misunderstanding among new designers, areas that Heather wants to demystify. Having already covered design concepting, material sourcing, and size and fit, she now discusses manufacturing. She explores what manufacturing is, what types of manufacturers are available, and imparts advice and all the necessary details about getting a product to the manufacture stage. Manufacturing is the process of putting the garments together into complete products. Mass manufacturing involves machines because machines are generally considered to be faster than humans. Heather breaks down all the things needed to have a successful mass manufacturing run, what a tech pack is, why a complete tech pack is so important, and the differences between a factory, a manufacturer, and an agency. Each of these steps can be a point of confusion which is why Heather explains them in detail here. What is the difference between small-batch manufacture and large-scale production? Which is better in what circumstance? Heather answers these questions from experience and with a detailed explanation of how each works. She also gets into the five most common misconceptions about manufacturing that she encounters. Can manufacturers sew anything? Do you need to share confidential design information with them? Do you need to sew samples for each new design? These questions are why Heather and MADE Apparel Services are here, and why this episode is so important for designers to grow. About Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services Founder and Owner Heather Zager found her calling when she signed up for a beginning pattern-making course and realized she had a passion for technical design. She subsequently enrolled in the Apparel Design and Development program at Seattle Central College and graduated two years later with her Associate of Applied Science Degree. After graduation, she began working with Meta assisting in developing and designing augmented and virtual reality wearable tech gear. In 2020, MADE Apparel Services was born with the idea of helping makers, inventors and designers bring their own sewn product ideas to manufacture. Since then, she has worked with various businesses such as Santa’s Tailor, Feathered Friends, Wolfpack Gear and Classic Accessories, helping them achieve their goals in design, development, pattern making, sewn construction and manufacture. Today, Heather continues to grow her knowledge and share her experiences with others to bring their visions to reality. __ Resources mentioned in this episode: Blog: Why You Need a Tech Pack for Clothing Manufacture MADE Apparel Services: How It Works __ Contact Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services: Website: MADEApparelServices.com Facebook: MADEApparelServices Instagram: MADEApparelServices Linkedin: MADEApparelServices — Transcript Heather Zager: [00:00:00] Hello everyone, and welcome to today's podcast. My name is Heather Zager. I am the host of this podcast series and founder of Made Apparel Services. Heather Zager: [00:00:12] Hi everyone. Heather here from Made Apparel Services. Welcome back to my channel. In this final episode of my four part series called Concept to Customer, I'm going to talk about types of manufacturers. But before I start, if you haven't listened to the other podcasts, that is okay as they aren't in any particular order. I only numbered them to distinguish them from my other podcasts that aren't in this series. Now, the topics I discuss in this series of Concept to Customer are on design concepting, material sourcing, and size and fit. Those are the other three. These, along with today's podcast, are the four most common areas of confusion or misunderstanding that I've found that new designers have when it comes to visualizing and understanding how the entire process of getting an idea to market works. To understand the types of manufacture for garments or sewn goods, we first need to understand what manufacture is. So the idea of mass manufacture is founded in the concept that machines can do better work faster than people. Technically, it is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products at a constant flow. Now, humans can certainly accomplish this when you think about the pyramids, for example. But you need a whole lot of people, and even then the work won't be as consistently perfect or reliable. Heather Zager: [00:01:34] Now, the use of machines helps manage not only the cost of labor, but it removes variables such as differing abilities and skills, which is the consistency of the work, along with things like sick days and vacations, which is the reliability aspect, and even small things like lunch breaks and shift changes or employee meetings and the list goes on. However, mass production is money and energy intensive for the manufacturer. The machinery that is needed to set up a mass production line is expensive, and that machinery uses a lot of power, along with other day to day expenses like maintenance and repair. So in order to attain a profit margin that will keep the manufacturer in business, there must be some assurance that the cost of buying and running the equipment will be reimbursed. And this is where minimum order quantities factor in. There are many ways a manufacturer will evaluate the profitability of a project, but there is only one you need to understand and that is how ready you are. If you already have a sewn product business, that will be very attractive to them for a few reasons. First, you have cash flow. You're not just using a savings account that's limited to cover costs. It also tells them that you are already understanding what manufacture entails and the process behind it. You'll be a little bit easier for them to take forward through the process more quickly. You probably won't have as many questions if it's not your first time. Heather Zager: [00:03:06] Additionally, you already know your target customer and how to market to them. You also have some skin in the game, so you're more likely to work harder to ensure your product is successful because your business and your brand reputation will depend on your success. And all of this is important for one reason, which is repeat business. For a new designer who isn't already selling product, you'll need another way to prove that you are ready and that you have the potential for repeat business. And that is whether or not you have a tech pack. This is true even for an existing business, but for a new designer it will be the sole determining factor. Let's talk about what a tech pack is and isn't. I get a lot of "tech packs" from people who think they are ready for manufacture, but their tech packs are only 1 or 2 pages and they're just a couple of illustrations, a few call outs and maybe even some measurements. This is a start, but it's not complete from a manufacture perspective. There's an exception to this, which I will explain in a minute, but the production process is like baking. You should have a list of ingredients, whe...…
Host Heather Zager talks about size and fit in this third of her four-part series called Concept to Customer. She explains exactly what fit and size are, technically speaking, and what they should mean to a garment and the customer wearing said garment. Historical context and a modern-day leaning towards vanity sizing are also addressed in Heather’s deep dive into how to best size and fit the garment being made for the ideal customer to wear. Fit is how the garment fits onto the wearer and how that fit suits the activity the garment is designed for. Generally speaking fit aims for comfort but specific items fulfill different purposes wherein that might not be the top goal. A swimsuit and a ski jacket will be designed to fit very differently, for example. Size is then sizing that garment larger and smaller to accommodate different bodies while making sure the fit is the same on every shape. Heather explains all the nuances of sizing, covering vanity sizing, historical custom-fit clothes, how sizing affects fit, and standardized sizing. She discusses why the average standardized sizes don’t necessarily fit every body and how those sizes were initially calculated. How should a designer tackle the questions of size and fit for a garment? Heather sheds light on the answer with guidance and context based on her extensive knowledge and experience in the industry. About Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services Founder and Owner Heather Zager found her calling when she signed up for a beginning pattern-making course and realized she had a passion for technical design. She subsequently enrolled in the Apparel Design and Development program at Seattle Central College and graduated two years later with her Associate of Applied Science Degree. After graduation, she began working with Meta assisting in developing and designing augmented and virtual reality wearable tech gear. In 2020, MADE Apparel Services was born with the idea of helping makers, inventors and designers bring their own sewn product ideas to manufacture. Since then, she has worked with various businesses such as Santa’s Tailor, Feathered Friends, Wolfpack Gear and Classic Accessories, helping them achieve their goals in design, development, pattern making, sewn construction and manufacture Today, Heather continues to grow her knowledge and share her experiences with others to bring their visions to reality. __ Resources mentioned in this episode: ASTM history Alvanon History of the Toga __ Contact Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services: Website: MADEApparelServices.com Facebook: MADEApparelServices Instagram: MADEApparelServices Linkedin: MADEApparelServices — Transcript Heather Zager: [00:00:00] Hello everyone, and welcome to today's podcast. My name is Heather Zager. I am the host of this podcast series and founder of Made Apparel Services. Heather Zager: [00:00:11] Hi, Heather here from Made Apparel Services, welcome back to my channel. In this episode, which is the third of a four-part series called Concept to Customer, I'm going to talk about size and fit. Before I start, I should mention that if you haven't listened to the other two podcasts, don't fret. These aren't in any particular order. It's just a series of podcasts that I've created to help sort through some common misconceptions that new designers tend to have, and I numbered them based only on the fact that I could narrow them into four categories. And those categories are: Design Concepting, Material Sourcing, Size and Fit and, yet to come, Types of Manufacturers. Let's start by talking about what fit is. First of all, it's relative. For an individual, it depends on their particular preferences and style and how they want to look or feel. For a clothing company, they may have their own vision of how their customer is shaped and sized, and they will fit to that vision. Vanity sizing is another relative aspect of fit. This is where the labeled size of a garment decreases, despite the garment itself not changing at all in size. In other words, a smaller size label is known to boost the self-esteem of the customer. Thus, a brand gains customer loyalty and sells more product because the customer feels better that they are buying a smaller size label. Heather Zager: [00:01:35] If vanity sizing is still a little bit confusing to you, you can just Google it and you will get a lot of information about vanity sizing and what it is. Technically speaking though, the goal of fit is comfort, and a good-fitting garment tends to be a balance of three things: Function, which is the purpose of the garment. Form, which is its shape and silhouette. And its features, these are the things that make the garment design, such as a zip-up hoodie versus a pullover. Let me use a raincoat as an example to explain how all three components work together. It has a 'function' to keep you dry. Its 'form' may be as a poncho instead of a jacket, and its 'features' would be having a warm lining, interior pockets, and maybe an integrated stuffed sack. You may notice I left out material as any part of this equation, and that is because material choice can affect any one of the three components, entirely shifting the design intention. For example, it's possible that the only feature that separates a cheap poncho in your disaster kit from an expensive one is the use of a high-quality rainproof material. Additionally, if you change the material to a windproof fleece, it is no longer serving the function of waterproofing, but rather warmth. Finally, if you choose a lightweight waterproof material over a heavy and thick one, the form changes and it becomes more drapey and graceful and perhaps more of an elegant look. Of course, there are degrees of variation and overlap in all of this, but it's a generalization to help you understand. The idea is that fit is about comfort, but comfort can be a bit hard to fit. Heather Zager: [00:03:21] Now that we understand fit a bit better, let's talk about what size is. That's actually quite a bit easier to comprehend than fit. Size is simply about taking that function, form and feature formula and applying it across a range such as extra small to extra large. That's it. However, people tend to think sizing is just scaling, which oversimplifies things and causes misconceptions. In reality, the body grows at different rates in different areas. For example, a bust circumference from a size 8 to a size 10 may grow by two inches, but the waist only grows by one inch, so scaling a pattern by 5% is going to grow the design too fast at the waist in relation to the bust. Also, adults don't continue to grow in height, so if you scale a pattern vertically in addition to horizontally, the garment is gaining in length when the body isn't. There's a bit of a catch to this that I'll explain in a moment, though. A way to understand sizing in more detail is to imagine for a moment that you line up five people side by side. They are, in order, ranging in size from extra small on the left to extra large on the right. If you put a medium-sized shirt on all of them, the only one that will look cor...…
1 Apparel Manufacture with Kyla from Lefty Production Co. 46:41
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46:41Heather Zager talks about all the questions new designers have about getting to manufacture with guest Kyla Sayre. Kyla is the Director of Business Development for Lefty Production Company and Stitch Texas. While Kyla has been in her current role for roughly four years, she’s been in the industry for ten years and has experience in many different aspects of the business. Heather does a deep dive into all the common things new designers run into in manufacturing with Kyla. In answering the question of whether Lefty Production Company is a factory, manufacturer, agency, or wholesaler, Kyla defines the differences between each type of facility before identifying Lefty as a manufacturer that owns their own factories domestically. In her role as Director of Business Development, Kyla routinely connects with brands to help them with development and production assistance, performing costing exercises to see if domestic or overseas production would best fit their brand, and explaining all the costs and minimums that go into the process. Heather’s discussion with Kyla Sayre explores a vast number of questions, from materials sourcing to wholesaling, PFD (Prepared For Dyeing) to MOQ (Minimum Order Quantities), and from what’s needed to be production-ready to assessing the benefits of domestic versus overseas production. Kyla explains what Lefty specializes in, how she walks her clients through the process, and offers a lot of inside information that is invaluable for new designers to have access to. This interview shines a light on the intricate decisions faced in the manufacturing process with straight-forward answers to common questions. Resources discussed in this episode: MADE Apparel Services Design Concepting Course __ About Kyla Sayre: Kyla is the Director of Business Development for Lefty Production Co. and Stitch TX, sister companies that offer a one-stop-shop solution for apparel and accessory development and manufacturing both domestically and overseas. — Contact Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services: Website: MADEApparelServices.com Facebook: MADEApparelServices Instagram: MADEApparelServices Linkedin: MADEApparelServices Contact Kyla Sayre: Website: LeftyProductionCo.com Website: StitchTexas.com Kyle Sayre on LinkedIn — Transcript Heather Zager: [00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome to today's podcast. My name is Heather Zager. I am the host of this podcast series and founder of Made Apparel Services. Hello and thank you for tuning in to our podcast today. And our guest today is Kyla Sayre of Lefty Productions, which is a California-based manufacturer who can do both domestic and foreign production. We're going to ask and answer questions that are common to new designers about getting to manufacture. So let's just start things off by, Kyla, tell us a little bit about who you are, how long you've been doing this, and how you got to where you are today. Kyla Sayre: [00:00:39] Of course. And thank you so much for having me today on the show. I'm super excited to be here. Answer all of the questions that you have for me throughout this podcast. And as a bit of background about me, I'm the Director of Business Development for both Lefty Production Company and Stitch Texas, and on a daily basis, I connect with brands to help them with development and production assistants, going through different costing exercises and processes to see if domestic or overseas production would be a better fit for their brand, and all the costs and minimums that just go on into it. And this is about my fourth year in this specific role, but I've been in the industry for about ten years now altogether. Heather Zager: [00:01:22] Okay. And what did you do prior to this four years? Kyla Sayre: [00:01:26] Prior to this, I was actually in a lot of different places in the industry, so I did more of the retail side of things, but also wholesale. So I worked at the World Trade Center in Dallas for a while in a showroom. So, definitely a lot of different sides of things, which is nice because every single different side of the business goes into helping you understand the industry as a whole. Heather Zager: [00:01:46] Yeah, that's exactly why I was curious with, before Lefty what you did. So perfect. Okay, that makes good sense. One question I have, I get this a lot is what is the difference between a factory, a manufacturer, an agency, a wholesaler, and which one is Lefty in all of those? Kyla Sayre: [00:02:05] Absolutely. So a factory itself is really the facility where your goods are manufactured. So actually the warehouse where all of the cut-and-sew production happens. A manufacturer themselves is usually the entity that will own the factories. And they can also outsource or contract out some of the production. An agency is a bit different in itself that you can kind of look at an agency as a broker in the sense of they don't have their own in-house setup, ever. They're truly using their network of factories and facilities to connect with, to really outsource your production, which makes it kind of tricky because they don't have a ton of like, skin in the game, in a sense. Control over the factories and the actual quality that's being produced. Heather Zager: [00:02:55] Right. Kyla Sayre: [00:02:56] And then the last option, wholesaler, it's a little bit different because that's more people or brands who have goods that they sell to retail shops at a wholesale price that are then marked up to the retailer. So your cost that you'd get from manufacturer or factory would be lower than wholesale. So you'd mark that up to wholesale. And then as a wholesaler they would retail it on top of that. Heather Zager: [00:03:22] Right. Kyla Sayre: [00:03:23] So for Lefty specifically, we are a manufacturer who owns their own factories domestically. Heather Zager: [00:03:31] Okay. Kyla Sayre: [00:03:32] However, we do have some contractors we work with just where there are different sort of specialties or levels of expertise. For example, we have denim contractors where their bread and butter is doing denim work and we have a network of facilities as well we work with. And then overseas we play a little bit more of the role of an agent, but we're a lot more hands-on than an agent ever would be. So we have relationships with preexisting factories overseas that have really high consistent quality that we have vetted. We have boots on the ground. Check them out. We'll maintain that relationship and make sure everything is done properly. But it's really great for overseas production to be in that kind of situation. Because it's really hard as a brand starting out to get into those bigger factories on your own. When you have similar volumes. So using a facilitator like us, we're able to bundle your project alongside other ones to help...…
1 Fabric Supplying with Jay Arbetman of The Sourcing District 47:05
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47:05Host Heather Zager welcomes Jay Arbetman, owner of The Sourcing District, a fabric and textile products sales agency, to the show to talk in-depth about fabric supply. Jay was, as he says, born into the industry. He started working in the family business - coat manufacturing in the Chicago area - at age 14 and has been in the fabric business ever since. Jay shares a wealth of experience and knowledge about fabric with Heather. Fabric sourcing is a key component in the manufacturing process and Jay is a sales agent for wholesale fabric companies like KenDor Textiles, Sextet Fabrics, and Oriole Textile, among others. He explains the benefits of working with a sales agent like him as he breaks down the differences between being an importer, converter, or US-based mill and how fabrics are purchased and sold. It can be a bewildering step to tackle for first-time designers but Jay and Heather’s conversation demystifies a lot of the process. Heather and Jay talk about what jobbers are, the benefits and limitations of deadstock fabric, why product development must start with fabric, and the limitations in retail store purchasing. Jay’s many years in the business have given him a wealth of contacts and industry knowledge that he is happy to share with first-time designers and beginners. This episode is the first step in breaking down a key component of manufacturing and a must-listen for understanding fabric supply. Resources discussed in this episode: KenDor Textiles Limited Sextet Fabrics Oriole Textile Blue Desert Co. Tuscarora Mills __ About Jay Arbetman: Jay is the owner of The Sourcing District, a sales agency that sells fabric, textile products, and garment production necessities to companies in industries like apparel, hospitality, event planning, and uniforms. — Contact Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services: Website: MADEApparelServices.com Facebook: MADEApparelServices Instagram: MADEApparelServices Linkedin: MADEApparelServices Contact Jay Arbetman | The Sourcing District: Website: TheSourcingDistrict.com Website: InterfacingAndMuslin.com Phone: (708) 386 8586 Text: (708) 351 7278 Email: Jay@TheSourcingDistrict.com — Transcript Heather Zager: [00:00:00] Hello everyone, and welcome to today's podcast. My name is Heather Zager. I am the host of this podcast series and founder of Made Apparel Services. Our guest today is Jay Arbetman of The Sourcing District. He represents some of today's best suppliers such as KenDor, Sextet, Oriole Mills and Blue Desert Co, and even Made In USA Mills. He can also give us guidance on labels, hang tags and other findings such as elastics, interfacing and the list goes on. And he can add to that more here in a minute. But Jay, let's start off by having you tell us a little bit about who you are, how long you've been doing this, and how you got to where you are today. Jay Arbetman: [00:00:39] Well, I was born into the business. That's the best way to put it. My dad and my uncles were coat manufacturers, actually, my grandfather was and they manufactured coats in Chicago and then in the western suburbs of Chicago and then in the western suburbs of Chicago and overseas. And the business was active from 1902 when my grandfather started it, until 1999, when my brother and I, who were the survivors of the business, put the key in the door. So I had a long career. I started working for them full-time in 1971, and so I had close to 30 years in the apparel manufacturing end of the business and actually worked for them as a teenager and, you know, picking orders on Saturdays or, you know, whatever I could do. And so I've been doing this for a long time. In the early 2000s, about 2003, a friend of mine in New York who was in the zipper and button business called me up and asked me to reach out to a local dress manufacturer who I knew, and I did, and I wrote an order, and a couple of weeks later, I got a check in the mail and I thought, wow, this is something I should explore. Jay Arbetman: [00:02:02] And so over the years, I developed a business, at first kind of did it on the side, I was working for a jacket company and and then in about 2009, I started doing this full-time. Took me several years to kind of get going with it. But the last 11, 12 years I've done pretty well doing this. Heather Zager: [00:02:22] Great. Jay Arbetman: [00:02:22] And have had a really good group of suppliers. And I have a pretty substantial online presence, I do shows, I do some traveling, and I'm not an unknown commodity among independent designers. So that's how I got here. And I've been basically in and around the business, I'm 73, and I've been in and around the business since I was 14. So I'm moving in on 60 years. And it was part of our discussion at the dinner table sometimes. I remember knowing that really good coating wools came from Forstmann Mills when I was, you know, 14, 15 years old. And that I remember hearing one of my uncles say that a certain manufacturer had a 33 inch yardstick, which I always thought was really funny. And so I've been around this my whole life. Heather Zager: [00:03:19] So how does somebody that isn't in the industry but, well, and we're speaking to my clients specifically because they are just new designers or people with a concept in mind and they just don't even know how to start. So a lot of times they think, well, I need material. So what are they putting into a Google search to find somebody like you? Like what are the key words would you recommend that they do? Does that make sense? Jay Arbetman: [00:03:41] Yeah. So that's a good question. So if you put in wholesale fabric sourcing I believe I come up on the first page. Heather Zager: [00:03:49] Okay. Jay Arbetman: [00:03:50] So not at the top. At the top is going to be Amazon. Heather Zager: [00:03:53] Right. Right. Jay Arbetman: [00:03:54] Which will do you about as, not a great thing to buy from. Heather Zager: [00:03:59] Yeah. Yeah. Jay Arbetman: [00:04:00] And then there are a lot of jobbers and people who, so you know my concept, and I think it's the right one, is that the fabric's got to have a United States FOB point. It has to be stocked in North America and it has to have continuity and real wholesale pricing. So if those things are, those things are not available, you know, then it's a problem. And continuity is really important because if some...…
Heather Zager discusses the second topic in her four-part series called Concept to Customer in this episode. In the first episode she introduced us to design concepting and today she talks about material sourcing. She explains the foundation of fabrics and how they are made, differentiating between natural and man-made fibers as well as how fibers are turned into yarn. Everything from roll size to fabric weight is addressed in this episode to aid in swatch searching. Natural fibers are either cellulose-based, which comes from a plant, or protein-based, which comes from an animal. Man-made fibers are constructed by humans and they are comprised of two types: manufactured and synthetic. Heather breaks these categories down with examples of which fibers comprise the fabrics we’re used to. She details how they are turned from fibers into yarn, either non-woven, woven, or knit. Each type creates different attributes in the resulting fabric that work best for different types of apparel. Understanding fabric packaging is the next important piece of material sourcing, so Heather explores rolls, fabric width, fabric length, and weight. Understanding how fabric is measured, what the grain line is, and how it’s weighted will allow for easier swatch selection according to what type of garment will ultimately be made. Heather’s four-part series on the basics of design imparts a foundational understanding of exactly what is required for product development in manufacturing. About Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services Founder and Owner Heather Zager found her calling when she signed up for a beginning pattern making course and realized she had a passion for technical design. She subsequently enrolled in the Apparel Design and Development program at Seattle Central College and graduated two years later with her Associate of Applied Science Degree. After graduation, she began working with Meta assisting in developing and designing augmented and virtual reality wearable tech gear. In 2020, MADE Apparel Services was born with the idea of helping makers, inventors and designers bring their own sewn product ideas to manufacture. Since then, she has worked with various businesses such as Santa’s Tailor, Feathered Friends, Wolfpack Gear and Classic Accessories, helping them achieve their goals in design, development, pattern making, sewn construction and manufacture. Today, Heather continues to grow her knowledge and share her experiences with others to bring their visions to reality. __ Resources discussed in this episode: Spinning wheel Thread Science article Types of Weave and Types of Knit Textile & Fabric Weight and Conversions — Contact Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services: Website: MADEApparelServices.com Facebook: MADEApparelServices Instagram: MADEApparelServices Linkedin: MADEApparelServices — Transcript Heather Zager: Hello everyone, and welcome to today's podcast. My name is Heather Zager. I am the host of this podcast series and founder of Made Apparel Services. Hi Heather here from Made Apparel Services. Welcome back to my channel. In this episode, which is the second part of a four-part series called Concept to Customer, I am going to talk about sourcing materials for your project. But before you start, just a quick background on why I created this series. Over the last couple of years, when working with my clients, I noticed a consistency in their misunderstanding of four issues or areas of product development in manufacture. Those were Design Concepting, Material Sourcing, Size and Fit, and Types of Manufacturers. This information was creating a lot of confusion and in some cases blocking their progress. But once I explain things in more simplified terms and as smaller steps in relation to a bigger picture, things got much clearer and a lot simpler. So if you're feeling a bit overwhelmed and don't know where to start, I think this series will help you gain some perspective. Heather Zager: If you are a new designer, sourcing materials can feel overwhelming. However, I've found it's because new designers tend to think a little bit too far into the future as though they are about to go into manufacture, so they're trying to find the perfect material in hundreds of yards from a reputable mill. However, at this early stage, your idea needs development, which means all aspects of the design creation, patterning, sample sewing, and material selection must be explored together. So if one needs to change, the others can quickly follow. Heather Zager: What we're going to work towards is sourcing swatches and small quantities like five yards. Not only will you get materials faster for testing, but you can easily redirect to another material if you find the one you've chosen is lacking in some way. Small scale or large, though, you should still understand some fundamentals of fabrics to make selection easier. And when you are ready to source larger quantities or work with a supplier, you are much better prepared with the lingo of the industry. Heather Zager: I am going to first explain the foundation of fabrics and how they are made. So fibers, yarns, and weaves. Then I'm going to talk about fabric packaging, roll size, weights and widths. Once you have the basics, these rows and rows of fabrics you see in-store or page after page if you're online will become a lot less overwhelming. Let's start with fibers. Fibers are the smallest visible part of a fabric, and are best imagined as a single hair-like strand. We call this a staple. While fibers are the foundation of all fabric, there are actually only two types: natural and man-made. Natural fibers are either cellulose-based, which means it comes from a plant, and an example of that is cotton, or protein-based, which comes from an animal. And an example of that is wool. Man-made fibers are just that, they're man-made. Heather Zager: Man-made fibers also come in two types: manufactured and synthetic. Manufactured man-made fibers use a natural base such as cellulose, protein, or even a mineral such as a glass as its foundation, but it then goes through additional steps to turn it into a fiber. It is essentially a blend of a natural base and then some human ingenuity. Some examples you might be familiar with are modals, lyocels, bamboo, and everyone knows rayon. Another way to think of how a manufactured man-made fiber is created is with an example. If you imagine wheat and you grind it and turn it into flour, that's somewhat of a natural process. But if you then take that flour and turn it into a pancake, then you've manufactured it. It's man-made at this point, but it is using a natural base. And this is what a manufactured man-made fiber is. The other type of man-made fiber is synthetic, which means they're purely...…
1 Building Your First E-Commerce Website with Blockbeta 34:11
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34:11Host Heather Zager welcomes Robbin Block, the Creative Marketing Strategist at Blockbeta Marketing, to the show to explain the ins and outs of building an e-commerce website. Robbin has an MBA from Boston University and a BA in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany, and through her more than 30 years in the industry, she knows exactly what is needed to start marketing and selling your product effectively. Heather asks Robbin some of the basic questions she gets asked by her clients so Robbin can weigh in from an experienced professional point of view. The first question everyone asks is which website platform is best for selling products. Robbin answers that question with examples and information on options for differing experience levels. There’s a solution for every question. Heather and Robbin dig into the topics everyone who sells online needs to know. The difference between a full website and a squeeze page, what a landing page is and why it’s important, the advantages and disadvantages with platforms like Etsy and Amazon, and all about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and keywords. Robbin Block offers what is essentially a crash course in E-Commerce 101 in this interview. It’s a vital discussion for everyone who wants an online sales platform and needs marketing advice to drive those sales. About Robbin Block: Robbin Block is the Creative Marketing Strategist at Blockbeta Marketing. She has an MBA from Boston University and a BA in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany, which enables her to deliver marketing solutions focused on an entire business, not just a particular marketing tactic. During her more than 30 years in the trade, she’s developed a unique perspective, having worked with almost every niche business imaginable, from cannabis to mobile tech, and creative makers and designers. This helps her get right to the point when guiding clients through the increasingly complicated online marketing space, from developing high-converting websites through concepting media strategies An experienced speaker, she’s also the author of “Social Persuasion: Making Sense of Social Media for Small Business” and various marketing ebooks. A background in economics and an MBA are the foundation for her big-picture approach that gets her clients results. Robbin excels at explaining marketing in a way that makes total sense, so business owners can make better decisions about how to spend their marketing resources. — Contact Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services: Website: MADEApparelServices.com Facebook: MADEApparelServices Instagram: MADEApparelServices Linkedin: MADEApparelServices Contact Robbin Block |Blockbeta Marketing: Website: Blockbeta.com “Social Persuasion” by Robbin Block LinkedIn Facebook — Transcript Heather Zager: [00:00:00] Hello everyone, and welcome to today's podcast. My name is Heather Zager. I am the host of this podcast series and founder of Made Apparel Services. In today's episode, we're going to be talking with a marketing and website expert. She has worked a lot with new designers selling product, so she has a lot of good answers for some common questions about building your first website and how to drive traffic to it, how to engage your social media and establish a strategy around that. Also, she'll talk a little bit about some of that background stuff, like SEO and keywords and analytics and how to read those. So stay tuned. We hope you enjoy the show and let's get started. Heather Zager: [00:00:41] Welcome everybody. We are here with Robbin Block with Blockbeta Marketing. And she's going to talk to us a little bit today about websites for emerging designers who are just launching new product and trying to get the word out there and gain a following. And we have a few questions lined up for her. But first, Robbin, welcome and tell us a little bit about what it is that you do. Robbin Block: [00:01:03] Well, I've been in marketing for quite a long time and I focus on providing creative marketing strategy. Everything from helping companies figure out what their strategy should be overall from a business perspective, then working with them to develop websites that are high converting and then amplifying their information out to the public so they can drive more business and interest in what they're doing. Heather Zager: [00:01:30] Okay, perfect. Well rounded. So the first question I have for you is a very common one that I get from my clients all the time, and they ask which website platform is best for selling my product. Robbin Block: [00:01:42] And everybody asks that. I don't care if you're selling product or driving leads, but if you really want to do e-commerce, which means selling a product directly from your website, a lot of it will depend on how many products you actually have. So if you're launching just one hoodie or a line of hoodies or a line of clothing, for example, the line, you probably want to use something like Shopify. There's a bit of a learning curve, but you could do some of it yourself. You could get help building it. It's a very robust, well-used, trusted platform for hosting your products, building pages at the front end so you can build up your business as well as the products themselves, takes care of all the transactions, the taxes and everything else. So Shopify, if you have several products to sell, I think it's a great way to go. There's a fairly low per month entry fee for the hosting and the building. I mean, you build it yourself, but it's got a builder tool, right? Heather Zager: [00:02:43] Okay. Robbin Block: [00:02:44] If you only have one product, there are simpler ways to go. Heather Zager: [00:02:48] Okay. Robbin Block: [00:02:48] Where you might want to use something like Squarespace which is more like brochure-ware. And then you can use their e-commerce or use another very simple plugin to deal with the e-commerce piece. Heather Zager: [00:03:01] Okay, perfect. And I actually know a manufacturer that I work with that integrates with Shopify, and you have to have Shopify to use their actual services if you want them to handle that part of your production factory. Yeah. So once something is developed and they've sewn it and they're ready to ship it for you, they're going to take all your orders through Shopify. So it seems like it's not an uncommon platform for manufacturers also. Robbin Block: [00:03:30] Yeah, they have a much more robust version of Shopify for bigger companies, too. It's really expensive though. Heather Zager: [00:03:38] Right. Okay. But that's good to know. An...…
1 Steps to Success in Apparel Manufacturing with Satsuma Designs 29:03
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29:03Host Heather Zager welcomes Jennifer Porter, the owner and operator of Satsuma Designs out of Seattle, to the show to talk about the different types of manufacture and what the manufacturing process entails. Jennifer has been in the business for twenty years and through that experience walks listeners through how to prepare for manufacture and addresses some common misconceptions about how it all works. Jennifer got her start in infant and children’s clothes which is reflected in how Satsuma Designs offers a kid’s uniform recycling process as well as cut and sew services and informational courses for product businesses. She is a big supporter of US-based manufacturing and breaks down the differences between working in the US and overseas with Heather. Jennifer’s strength in communicating the process clearly for emerging designers and new entrepreneurs makes things seem less complex and more achievable. Heather and Jennifer discuss everything from tech packs to labels and samples. They explain the acronym MOQ, why the rule of three is an efficient cost-saving technique for start-ups, why fabric choice can affect time and process, and what the greatest misconception among designers often is. Heather’s conversation with Jennifer sheds welcome light on the inner workings of the manufacturing process and Jennifer’s enthusiasm for the industry will inspire new designers to push through hesitation and succeed. About Jennifer Porter Jennifer Porter is the owner/operator of Satsuma Designs, a Seattle-based apparel design and manufacturing company founded in 2007. Satsuma Designs’ most recent initiative started in February 2020 includes Satsuma Uniform, a social enterprise devoted to skills development for women refugees and immigrants in the Pacific Northwest. Through the design and manufacture of school and healthcare uniforms with strategic partner, Refugee Artisan Initiative, Satsuma Uniform is changing the sewn goods industry in the region. Jennifer graduated from Santa Clara University and started her career on Wall Street. She has worked for non-profits in D.C., designed, marketed and sold other peoples’ products as well as her own online and IRL. She’s a passionate teacher of etiquette (courtesy people!), Sunday School, and crafting. When not juggling these, she’s making mom jokes to get her middle-school-aged kids’ attention. Thankfully, she already has her husband and co-comedian, Tim’s, attention. — Contact Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services: Website: MADEApparelServices.com Facebook: MADEApparelServices Instagram: MADEApparelServices Linkedin: MADEApparelServices Contact Jennifer Porter | Satsuma Designs: Website: SatsumaDesigns.com Instagram Pinterest Facebook — Transcript Heather Zager: [00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome to today's podcast. My name is Heather Zager. I am the host of this podcast series and founder of MADE Apparel Services. In today's episode, we will be talking with a manufacturer based in Seattle who has a lot of experience working with new designers. She's going to talk to us a little bit about the different types of manufacture, what it is that you need to do to prepare to get to manufacture, and then some common misconceptions that she's seen about getting to manufacture and what that process entails. Should be a great interview. We hope you enjoy the show. So let's get started. Heather Zager: [00:00:36] Welcome everybody to the MADE Apparel Services podcast. Today we are interviewing with Jennifer Porter with Satsuma Designs, a Seattle based small batch/large batch manufacture company. She is live on the floor also, so if we hear any background noise we will know that it is legit. How are you today, Jennifer? Jennifer Porter: [00:00:55] I'm great Heather, thank you. I'm so happy to be here and hopefully share some helpful information with your clients and folks that you work with. Your partnership has been so valuable to me, and I really appreciate all the professionalism that you bring to this business, your communication, your tech packs, your patterns, and just a lot of creativity. So I'm really happy to be here. Heather Zager: [00:01:18] Wonderful. Thank you so much. I know I will have a lot of listeners very interested in what you have to say, so we'll get started. I first wanted to do a little bit of an explanation for our listeners on the two types of manufacturer. There are cut and sew versus full package. And I think, Jennifer, you might be able to speak a little bit, too, to the differences between those two. And of course there's degrees and variations and overlap in both of those. But I think if you keep these two types of manufacture in mind, one of the issues I find with my clients is that they'll go to one thinking they're getting the services of the other, not realizing that there is a degree of separation that is helpful to understand before you go to a manufacturer and start asking questions about their manufacture capabilities. So tell us a little bit about the difference between cut and sew versus a full package manufacturer. Jennifer Porter: [00:02:09] Yeah thanks, Heather. They are distinct. And I think about a full service manufacturer as somebody who can help a client take an idea or a dream to fruition to turn it into an actual product, somebody that has prototype pattern making, tech pack capabilities, grading, marking, and in some cases, you know, small batch or large batch production. So that full service. Now conversely, a cut and sew, I would say where my focus is currently is working with somebody who maybe has, might not have experience, but at least has the tools in play and in place that we can take kind of that kit and hit the ground running pretty quickly. One thing I like about that, having been in this business for 20 years and being a customer that I serve now, in other words, when I started my baby and children's collection, I was the type of client that I serve today. And being able to go to a cut and sew with those pieces together, for example, that you provide, allows the factory to get started. And what it really allows us to do is give you a better per piece price. Now there are elements through sampling and prototyping where if we run into changes, that's usually billed at an hourly, but sometimes when the focus is on cut and sew, and with my lean manufacturing training, we're trying to be as efficient as possible. And that's our goal for our customer and our team. So it's mutually beneficial. And I feel like we all have the same incentive. Does that help? Heather Zager: [00:03:51] Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's important to note that no matter what manufacturer you go with, if it's cut and sew versus full package, you need some sort of product development at some point. So whether you come to the manufacturer with your product developed or you need those services, that's the di...…
Host Heather Zager welcomes listeners to the inaugural episode of the MADE Apparel Services Podcast. Heather started the podcast to offer tips, tricks, and advice on getting a sewn product idea into development and manufacture. Today she begins a four-part series called Concept to Customer and explains the first step, design concepting boards. Design concept boards ensure that your idea is being developed correctly. Heather noticed that many clients don’t know what design details to communicate and how to communicate them effectively through their concept boards. So to start, she defines a concept board as a single-page illustration of your design idea that visually describes all the features and details of your design. She then lays out five easy steps for understanding and creating a design concept board. Heather’s five steps are: determine the platform you want to work on, find a reference garment that most closely matches your design idea, describe everything you don’t like or want to change about the reference image, organize all the detailed images on the board, and print the design. Through each step, she explains what is being done and why and offers examples of how to accomplish the task. Heather breaks down processes with ease and clarity in a way that will make your design journey, from idea to finished garment, smooth and efficient. About Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services Founder and Owner Heather Zager found her calling when she signed up for a beginning pattern making course and realized she had a passion for technical design. She subsequently enrolled in the Apparel Design and Development program at Seattle Central College and graduated two years later with her Associate of Applied Science Degree. After graduation, she began working with Meta assisting in developing and designing augmented and virtual reality wearable tech gear. In 2020, MADE Apparel Services was born with the idea of helping makers, inventors and designers bring their own sewn product ideas to manufacture. Since then, she has worked with various businesses such as Santa’s Tailor, Feathered Friends, Wolfpack Gear and Classic Accessories, helping them achieve their goals in design, development, pattern making, sewn construction and manufacture. Today, Heather continues to grow her knowledge and share her experiences with others to bring their visions to reality. __ Resources discussed in this episode: Request the Design Concepting Guide PDF: email Fashionary.org croqui templates — Contact Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services: Website: MADEApparelServices.com Facebook: MADEApparelServices Instagram: MADEApparelServices Linkedin: MADEApparelServices — Transcript Heather Zager: [00:00:00] Hello everyone, and welcome to today's podcast. My name is Heather Zager. I am the host of this podcast series and founder of Made Apparel Services. Hi! Heather here from Made Apparel Services. Welcome back to my channel. In this episode, which is the first of a four part series called Concept to Customer, I'm going to talk about design concepting boards. I'll explain why you need one and how to make them, even if you don't know how to draw. Before we start, I want to give you some background on why I created this series. Over the last couple of years working with my clients, I noticed they were consistently misinformed in four key areas. Those were design concepting, material sourcing, size and fit, and types of manufacturers. This misinformation was creating some confusion and making the experience of developing their ideas more stressful than necessary. Once I clarified things, the process became much more manageable for them and easier to understand. If you're that person, I'm hoping this series will help clarify things for you too. Heather Zager: [00:01:03] So now on to concept boards. We'll start first with what is a concept board? The reason you need a concept board is simple. It ensures that your idea is being developed correctly the first time and in the way that you imagined. Consider, for example, if you were in need of a custom cake for a wedding, you would probably have a conversation with the baker as to how many tiers, the diameter of each tier, the frosting color, flavor, and so on. But if you say you want it decorated with red flowers, they might be imagining roses and you were thinking tulips. But neither of you realize this was a detail that needed clarification until the cake is finished and you see it and suddenly realize the idea was translated incorrectly. It's not necessarily anyone's fault, but you are now faced with the decision of accepting the cake as is or starting over. And of course, the wedding is tomorrow. Even if you think your design doesn't have a lot of detail, such as a t shirt, there is always room for something to be misinterpreted. So stay in control of the process and its outcome by thoroughly documenting the details of your design so you are both literally on the same page. Have a conversation before the start of your project and reference your illustration as you go to make sure all questions are answered. Work with someone who will actually ask questions, and be sure to be involved yourself by being responsive and available to them. It's so important that many professionals actually have a term in their agreement stating that unreciprocated communication for more than X number of days will delay or possibly even end the project. So working together will keep both of you motivated and inspired if you are equally collaborating. Heather Zager: [00:02:44] So with that said, I'm going to next explain how to create a concept board and you can do it in five very simple steps. Now that you understand why you need a concept board, let's talk more about what it is. Simply put, it is a single page illustration of your design idea that describes visually all of the features and details of your concept. The main goal is being able to share it with others to start conversations about development. As I mentioned at the very beginning, you do not need to know how to draw. We are going to basically Frankenstein your vision together in those five steps. The first step is to determine the platform on which you want to work. If you like using posterboard or pad of paper, you can certainly do that. Many people like to go digital and use something like Canva. Any of these methods will work, the only thing to keep in mind as you go is, will this print onto an eight and a half by 11 page and still be readable? Many technical designers and product developers need to take notes or have your board in front of them for quicker reference. So consider how much space you were using as you go, and we'll get into this a bit more later. Heather Zager: [00:03:49] Step two is about finding a reference garment that most closely captures your design idea. You will use this as a central image on your concept board. It can be an image you find online or an existing garment that you have in your closet. A lot of times people have something existing that they want to replicate. Its perfect in every wa...…
Tips, tricks, and advice on getting a sewn product idea into development and manufacture. — Contact Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services: Website: MADEApparelServices.com Facebook: MADEApparelServices Instagram: MADEApparelServices Linkedin: MADEApparelServices
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