Confessions of An Emerging Designer: Finding A Factory

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Now that the craziness of Fashion Week is over, I can divert my attention back to my line. I've been searching for factories in the Garment Center for over a month. Why can't I make my own clothes, you ask? Well, because I can't continue to do this, when I get an order.


It's been interesting, to say the least. A few things that are important to me in finding a factory:

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  1. Ease of location. I want to be able to stop by easily if there's an issue.
  2. Working conditions. I want the workers to be offered health insurance, paid lunch, vacation, etc. I also think the working conditions should be tolerable and not just a bunch of sewing machines stacked in a room.
  3. I'd like the assurance that they are timely and can stick to a schedule. 
  4. I need reasonable prices. No mystery there!
  5. Can accommodate large orders and small orders. 
  6. Do not ship my work to China
I went pounding the pavements, visiting factories on my own and everyone I met with was very nice and had great things to say about themselves, obviously. Some of them do production for The Row, Nanette Lepore and other big names. As awesome as this sounds, the chances are that if The Row brings in a big order last minute, my small order will be shoved to the side. The thing is, though, that having accounts with these big companies allows them to not have minimums with the smaller ones, like me. 

I also connected with a great group of emerging designers in the city and they've been uber supportive. I asked around about the factories that I met with and was SO happy I did. One of the other designers had a REALLY bad experience (read COSTLY) with one of them. Whew! They just saved me a few thousand dollars with their 2 minutes of advice. 

One of my fellow designers took me to see the factory he works with. I looked at his product, met with them, looked at prices, schedules, etc and decided to give them a go. 

I am so relieved. The next step is to get them some work. 

Next up: deciding on 3 designs for my fundraising campaign.



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