Fashion Production Academy

Video/Text

Fashion Designer Toolkit

5 Modules 0 Chapters 17 Lessons Easy

About this course

We put together an easy to implement set of tools. That will support you on your garment manufacturing and development journey. Our proven and tested templates were created for busy fashion entrepreneurs just like you. We understand that there is not enough time to learn and understand the fashion supply chain’s complexity, yet you want to successfully manage your team and business partners. That’s where our proven and tested templates come to play.

Understanding and managing your design and production process effectively, confidently leading your team, is a vital skill to the fashion brand leader. It has an important impact on your brand success.

In this course, you will find out how our fashion designer toolkit will help you and what you will get inside.

Two hours of video training, 17 lessons and over 20 various templates cover most of the traditional manufacturing and product development scenarios.

Start by watching introduction videos and work your way down or jump in and out as needed. The templates and videos are here to support you 24/7 and our monthly group Q&A Sessions or 1-2-1 Toolkit Implementation package will give you an extra boost.

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Course Structure

5 Lessons

Introduction

Thank you for becoming a part of the Fashion Production Academy and purchasing the Toolkit. It is a fantastic tool. If it used wisely, and consistently it will skyrocket your business success, reduces stress and wasted resources. In this module We give you a quick overview of the Toolkit and suggestions on how you can utilize it through product development and production processes.

Introduction

This lesson will give you a framework for implementing the tools you are getting in your fashion Designer Toolkit. In this lesson, you will

Receive insights and framework of the standard manufacturing workflow
Understand when and how you can use each document to provide security and peace of mind to your business
Receive a clear implementation path for the standard manufacturing journey.

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Introduction to Product Development

Product development is the stressful yet exciting part. It’s where bright ideas collide with reality and where your visions might crash into the limitations of your factory or pattern cutter. How to make it more easy flowing and reduce intensity? How to make sure it's an investment stage and not a money blowing exercise? How to achieve the best possible results? We put this video together to deliver answers to these and many other questions.

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Perfomance Optimisation During Production

Ask yourself: what would happen if my production order delayed or quality subpar? It’s a common problem in garment manufacturing. And it’s leading to enormous waste of money and resources but, most importantly, it can make irreparable damage to your brand's image. So, what needs to be done to optimize processes and improve performance? Nailya has given answers to you in this training. Yet, it's such a huge topic and that impossible to cover in a 10-min video. However, it's a great start! Our monthly Q&A Sessions are available to you with this toolkit purchase to dive deeper if you wish.

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Garment Production and Quality Control

Do you know that there are two types of quality control: reactive and pro-active? Take a guess which one is more effective and cost less in the longer run? In this module Nailya describes options that are available to you and how to be proactive during the process. She sheds lights on some common manufacturing practises known only to the industry insiders.

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How to use our templates

Here is a quick overview of the Excel templates and how you should use them to keep your formulas safe.

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5 Lessons

Essential Production Management Tools

This module will cover 7 essentials tools that will allow you to navigate through the production processes securely.

We created a separate lesson for each tool so you can quickly dive in and out through different stages of your productions. We deliberately kept our explainer videos shot and to the point to allow you to get a general idea of each tool’s use.

Start from the introduction video in lesson 1 to understand how you should implement these tools through your production and manufacturing processes to create this vital safety net for your brand.

Tech Pack

The quality of your garment in its entirety depends on this one document. It’s an essential communication tool. It’s a manufacturing blueprint that tells your manufacturer how to create, put together and package your product. There are no set standards, and its content and layout will vary significantly within the industry. It can be as simple as a couple of pages or can go on for 30 pages or over. On top of that, I want to want you: do not attempt to put it together if you do not have previous experience and a deep understanding of garment construction. However, don’t be discouraged. Our templates and video guide will get you going and will help you to manage your technical and design team effectively.

Critical Path

Production planning can be one of the most challenging tasks. Controlling daily aspects of your business requires a great deal of experience and organisation. We can’t help you to gain those overnight. However, we created another plug and play solution for your business that will get you going and support your long and short term planning needs. Dive into this lesson to find out how you can take charge of your Production scheduling.

Delivery Note

Delivery Notes will help you to keep full control of your stock movement. It’s a secure way to check if what you paid for has been received and allows quickly respond to the missing components or goods. When components are missing at the production time, you risk losing orders by not fulfilling them on the promised date. Avoid production uncertainty and save your money and time by taking control of your stock movement. Start implementing Delivery Notes - we will tell you how to.

Purchase Order

A purchase order or PO is a formal request from you as a buyer to your supplier for a product or services. It's a simple yet important document to have in place as soon as you engage with your factory. This document is legally binding; therefore, it’s essential to have it covering all the aspects of your order. In this lesson, we will share our templates and tell you how to adapt them to your business.

Manufacturing Agreement

The fashion supply chain is notoriously challenging to manage. Problems can’t be avoided whether you like them or not. You can’t prevent forest fires, but you can take simple steps to make them less damageable.

In this lesson, we will look at the manufacturing agreements. What are the two different manufacturing setups, how they

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3 Lessons

Garment Costings

Every business has to pay close attention to the overheads and sales income. The relationship between expenses and revenue is fundamental to any business' success. For a business to make a profit, revenue - total sales must exceed total costs. Finding the right balance between retail prices of your product and the costs to produce the product is tricky. If the price set too high, your customer might not make a purchase. If the price is set too low, you might not cover your overheads and will not make a profit. Keep track of your expenses from the get go. Download the costing sheet templates and watch the video below briefly explaining how to use the templates.

Introduction to Garment Costings

Your business success is directly related to the relationship between cost, profit and how well you manage it. We created a set of templates to help you to keep your fingers on the pulse all the time. Don’t be afraid; there is no mind-blowing balance computations or profit and loss forecast. We try to keep everything as simple as possible so you can start using the “right out of the package.”

Video Guide to Template 1

This video will guide you through Garment Costing Template 1. This template will help you to create direct garment costings that are directly attributed to producing a specific product. Using this template you will be able to calculate gross profit per garment. Also, we will have a look at the sheet called retail prices, and I will show you how you can work out your markup.

Video Guide to Template 2

This is video three where we will be looking at how template #2 works. Within the template, we will look at activity-based costings or ABC. Contrary to template 1 we will also assign overheads and indirect expenses to the garment. ABC assigns costs to the type of activities that are not traditionally on a cost sheet. It generally deals with the manufacturing overheads, but you can use it for controlling product development and product sourcing expense. When you group all the expenses together, you can see the real impact they have. You can use this module to facilitate planning and monitoring.

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2 Lessons

Essential Communication Tools

Everyone wants to find the perfect manufacturer for your fashion collection. Granted, if the supplier doesn’t know how to communicate, shipped incorrect and subpar styles, misses the dates, it results in missed sales and damages your brand image. Not to mention all that stress on both sides! If your supplier relationships are a bit bumpy at times, don’t worry — a little preparation and communication can go a long way. Here are essential tools that will help you improve your communication alongside our Essential production Management Tools.

Fitting and Meeting Notes

If you are running a fashion brand, you will have to attend meetings with your supplier and fitting sessions. How to manage them effectively without wasting money and losing the information trail. Performing fittings and meeting sessions effectively managing agenda and information is a quickly accrued skill. We hope that our templates and the video guide will help you do just that and gain confidence and look like a pro.

Sample Approval Comments

How do you handle a sample that you receive from your supplier? How do you tell them about changes in an easy to understand and follow manner? If you had to approve and comment on a sample at least once, you had these thoughts rushing through your head. What would you say that there is a sampling commenting procedure that industry insiders use, and it’s available to you in this lesson? Dive in now.

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2 Lessons

Garment Technology and Construction

This module is essential, yet you might not use this material depending on your team structure and your involvement in garment construction. However, designers and fashion entrepreneurs are genuinely successful in their business when they understand the manufacturing process, grading and patt

Points of Measure

Over 50 different measurements with clear diagrams of how and where to take them. Everything you need to make your sampling and tech pack comments look more professional.

Grading Size Charts

If you ever stack greeting your own size range or looking for basic grading rules you might find these charts handy. Our video guide outlines the usage of the measurements, increments used, and how to make sure you are using the correct measurement point.