Product Development: From Fabrics to Construction

This course will give you an essential overview of the product development process from concept through to finished garments. Throughout the course we will discuss how to manage the process that you need to undertake, to turn your designs and creative inspirations into commercially successful product, which exceeds your customer’s expectations.

You'll gain a good understanding of the main fabric types, how fabrics are developed, their end uses and what to look for when sourcing. By touching and examining fabric samples you will quickly learn how to identify commonly used fabrics and start to build up an understanding of fabrics, the raw materials of fashion.

You will then go on to understand how garments are produced, different construction techniques used by factories and how to communicate your requirements to your suppliers. We will also look at creating spec sheets, the sampling process and how to fit sample garments accurately on a model. By using the right vocabulary, and with a good knowledge of the entire production process, you will be able to negotiate better with your suppliers, source more appropriate fabrics for your designs and have more authority with your customers.

This course includes:

• Product development
  
• Fabric development
  
• Garment construction
  
• Dealing with factories and suppliers
  
• Sampling and Fitting garments
• Sourcing and Manufacturing

Level:

Beginners/Intermediate (Please come to the course prepared to discuss your business, collection or business idea). This course is an ideal follow on from ‘Starting your own fashion label’ and is essential for anyone in the fashion industry including business owners, buyers, designers and stylists.