As in all areas, the existence of reliable strategic partners in the fashion industry is very important. In this story, you can read my thoughts that come up in my head with the word partnership.

Although the world is in turmoil at the moment, all the positive, wonderful emotions, and relationships I have experienced at Apparel and Clothing Trade Fairs over the years, can’t be deleted from my memory. Below I share my thoughts, the basic subject matter of which doesn’t change in time or space.

Once again, I feel pleasantly excited and rejoice at these milling people and roaring bouts of laughter from all sides. I have entered the exhibition hall of another International Clothing Trade Fair! I’m wandering between the booths of different clothing brands and gaze at the stands full of garments. Half a year has passed – how time flies! We are on board, the fashion carousel is going to spin again! But is it really starting now, at this moment?

Usually, buyers of the collections don’t think about how many working hours it takes for these passively hanging items of clothing to reach the viewers – everyone has their job to do. It`s a result of all strategic partners’ cooperation. At the same time, it is exciting to know how many months novice designers, as well as experienced designers, clothing product developers, and sample batch producers, have labored to make another coat, skirt, or blouse to catch the eye of buyers and later, adorn their wearer! In fact, each item has its secret story to tell.

Looking at the designers who present their collections, I have often wondered what makes them use specific fabrics, or what has been the trigger for the idea of their next collection.

As in all spheres of life, there are both traditional and non-traditional approaches to finding new ideas for garment collections, and we have experienced all this in the product development process at Baltic Intertex for many years. It has been a great pleasure to be a companion in many intriguing creative processes.

Whenever a new designer comes to meet us, in addition to developing the desired model and negotiating over a collaborative project, I have always asked how their creative process works. What fascinates and inspires them, and what fears and hesitations overwhelm them.

“Ulvi, do you think I should change career?“

Right away, I recall a funny incident with Ulla, the designer with whom I have been working for over 15 years. During all those years we have become real strategic partners and close friends. At the first meeting of each new collection discussion, at some point, she asks, with a smile on her face: “Ulvi, do you think I should change career?” As you might expect, she has continued with collections, but the question gives a vivid overview of the designer’s internal monologue: “Can I create something else that makes my collection special and attracts my customers?”

I also remember a meeting with a Danish designer, during which I learned that she always needs to feel the structure of the fabric between her fingers, see the actual colors, and only then will models start to form in her head, and new ideas will be born. For example, she always sewed her first prototype samples herself, which helped her to activate her inner creativity, and create a deeper connection with her new “babies”.

…he always created a model for “himself” – he unleashed all his creativity…

In today’s changed era, where clothing trade fairs have been digital for several seasons, designers need to find new clever ways to market their collections. On the one hand, to find the best way to make their work attractive and outstanding at digital clothing fairs, on the other hand, to find peace in their soul knowing that their samples will be made with great care and love.

Regardless of the field of business, everyone understands that reliable strategic partners are needed for business to flourish. Similarly, the success of designer clothing brands is based on creativity and skillful marketing, but apparel prototyping, the development of technological solutions for models, product development, and the production of eye-catching samples cannot be underestimated. In this respect, Baltic Intertex can kindly lend a helping hand.

…what would be the best method of creating a collection …

Sometimes, clients have asked for our advice during collection meetings on the best method to create a collection for them. Based on the designer’s input task, Baltic Intertex offers different sample variants:

A small collection

Typically, a collection contains up to 10 models and is typical for novice designers. Such a collection can test the customer demand, and it also helps keep costs under control well enough.

Small sample series

They are primarily used in a situation where the same model is made of different fabrics (2-3 products). With such a solution, the designer has the opportunity to emphasize the diversity of the same model and expand the display of their collection.

Salesman samples (SMS)

Based on the number of salespeople, a complete collection has been made for each. We have also made 20 samples of the model, but currently, the large numbers of SMS show a downward trend as designers use new online sales solutions.

Photo sample or fashion show sample.

The sample belongs to a regular collection, but its production has considered the specifics and size of a particular mannequin.

The eye-catcher of a fashion show

It`s a unique model, a single garment, created for the show only.

E-shop sample

Often an online shop asks for a sample to take a photo, but the sample may not correspond to a later product but can be used to test the model’s marketability. Therefore, various photo editing programs are often used to process the sample.

Fit sample

The fit sample can be made of a similar fabric to the one planned for the final design, as this will evaluate the item’s fit before the final model is made of the correct material.

Size set samples

The same style has been made for a partial or entire size set range. Such samples help understand and evaluate the enlarging and reducing rules in sizing.

Pre-production sample

We recommend making such samples if the designer wants to make significant constructional changes to the model, and the information input usually comes from customer feedback.

Ask if you have some unmentioned sample wish, and we will make it real.

Reliable strategic partners are one of the cornerstones of success. Contact with Baltic Intertex and let the synergy works!

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I want a price! Help me with a garment costing! From the perspective of the person asking this question, this is one of the easiest questions about doing business; on the other hand, it is also one of the more difficult questions to answer.

A similar situation prevails in Baltic Intertex. Due to each offer being relatively unique in its nature, one must commit to the process, because “just doing it” is not really my strong point. There are times when the company can receive 5-6 inquiries a day and periods when no such emails are sent to us.

Since I like to find logical explanations for why things happen, I started to pay attention to the reasons for such ups and downs in the number of inquiries sent to us, and I did come to find a certain correlation between the time of year and the number of inquiries being sent.

One of the more interesting correlations, surprise-surprise, is the time of spring graduations and coursework! During that period, inquiries flood the mailbox – we receive them from Finland, Denmark, France, Sweden, and so on. At a time when I couldn’t see such a connection yet, I used to work like crazy making offers in response to such inquiries, but for some reason, there was always dead silence after the prices had been sent in response! Over time, I began to realize which inquiries it made sense to answer and for which ones it was practical to just provide a couple polite of polite practical questions – “voila”, the person sending the inquiry vanished into thin air!

How can one distinguish between school assignments of students who want to pass their subject more easily and all the other possible customers who work with a real garment costing?

• Lazier students will not even bother sending the inquiry from their personal e-mail address and instead, they will ask for a quote using their university e-mail address.
• See, if the person has already registered a company.
• Ask a specific question and you will very quickly understand how serious your pen pal really is.

Some funny stories…

A few fun stories come to mind in regard to schoolwork.
I received an e-mail requesting to receive garment costing calculations for their fashion collection. The file included ~30 model drawings, when I however asked about the material for the top layer of the fabric, the other person responded that it was not important for them right now. Of course, the choice of that material is what the choices of auxiliary materials and technological solutions used for the model depend on. Bingo – one student just got a little smarter!

e were asked for the garment costing calculations for the production, together with proper model drawings. We also received technical documentation also nicely presenting the washing instructions with the composition of the material. If the other party still assures you after several e-mails that the composition of the material must be 95% cotton and 10% elastane, then it is not worth taking such an inquiry for receiving a quote very seriously, because everyone knows that the fiber content must always add up to 100%.

Just recently, I received a phone call from somebody who wanted to know how much it would cost to make samples of nightwear and design the cuts. Then, when I asked the caller what kind of nightwear this would be, then the answer was “simple, one-piece, two-piece, and three-piece pyjamas with as many details as possible”. When I expressed my wonder at how pyjamas can be in three pieces and how the product is both simple and detailed would really be possible, I was told that he has the drawings and the collection is ready, but that a price would still be needed from me first.

Dear students – this is not how to do things! Please contribute your own effort to your schoolwork, but you are warmly welcomed to contact Baltic Intertex for mentoring or coaching. Every unpleasant question I pose to you will actually help you improve yourself.

The other season coincides with the time after clothing fairs. This too has a good reason, because either novice designers have received positive feedback for their collection, or they have been inspired to develop their next collection. In the first case, the designer has a real need to find a suitable production partner. In the second case, the people want to develop the new collection on a more professional level.

Often the need for a partner also arises due to the fact that if the quantities of the first collections were suitable for independent production, then with the number of orders growing, it is just necessary to find a partner together with whom to grow and develop.

This kind of growth together with a partner is actually very nice because then we are able to apply the knowledge of Baltic Intertex’s professionals and provide the designer with confidence that the products will fit well – this is ultimately a delight for both the end consumer and both of the parties.

Here are just a few tips for the designer on how to make the process of asking for a quote from Baltic Intertex smoother and less time consuming:

• Send us a model drawing with strategic dimensions (total product length, sleeve length, the width of the bottom edge)
• Let us know the production volume and scale of the planned models
• Add information about different fabrics and colors to your e-mail

Such data will allow Baltic Intertex to offer an approximate price for production and the time required to model the cut. We will provide the specified price offer after preparing the samples. We guarantee that our garment costing calculations covers all needful fields needed for the later production.

Over time, Baltic Intertex has developed a practice requiring a minimum number of 50 pieces of the model to be produced with at least 5 different sizes being marked on the measurement scale. It is often not possible to meet our desired minimum quantity of products for all models. However, this product may be an important part of the collection, which can be not produced just because of the small number of products. In such cases, Baltic Intertex uses additional coefficients for small batches in which the production volume of the models is less than 50, this leaves the designer with a choice to produce the product or decide against it.

…small batches as sustainable production

We see the production of small batches as sustainable production, with which Baltic Intertex, in cooperation with the designer, is reducing the size of both companies’ ecological footprints. First, there is no need to order surplus fabric that just stays in stock one way or another or to produce products simply to meet the manufacturer’s quota for the minimum quantity of products being ordered.

Proper pricing is the key to business success. Be smart and calculate carefully or just ask help from Baltic Intertex

I find it important to mention that Baltic Intertex bets on designers who need professional product development support and the assurance that prices in terms of the quality of the product which they are selling, they are able to confidently compete with world-renowned manufacturers offering their products at premium prices.

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I am pleased to say that environmental sustainability has been my manner of thought since my childhood. My dear grandmother, whom we affectionately called Memm, and who had survived all horrors of war, taught me to avoid a lavish and wasteful lifestyle when I was a small child. She didn’t collect anything “just in case, because you never know when you’ll need it“, but she owned items that had intrinsic value.

I can clearly recall those happy days when Memm went to the attic and took down old suitcases full of clothes. Oh, what garments they contained! I could dig in the suitcases for hours, tried the clothes on, spinning in front of the mirror, and imagined being in all sorts of situations and roles. Memm was always watching my fashion show, a smile on her face, and when I asked, she told me stories about these garments. But she also looked at these clothes thinking how to give them a new life, and what wonderful things she could sew from them for her grandchildren.

Today, the phrase “Less is more” is popular, meaning that sustainability has once again become a topical issue and seems to be “stuck” in the loop of history, but this time we look at it from a different perspective. The more we become aware of the size of the ecological footprint of our personal and business activities, the better is the world we pass on to our children.

Although Baltic Intertex can’t have a say in the basic principles of sustainability in the production process of fabrics or accessories, we plan our company’s activities with sustainability in mind. There are a number of simple executable activities that people, unfortunately, don’t think about on a daily basis, but all of which help to reduce waste, and promote sustainable thinking.

If possible, I suggest getting acquainted with the work of Mandy Barker, an international award-winning British photographer who is trying to draw people’s attention to plastic debris affecting the oceans of our planet. More information about her you can find on www.mandy-barker.com.

If we follow the idea “Each step on our long journey helps to get closer to the final goal“, we will get results, tangible and visible for everyone!

Choose Baltic Intertex as a sustainable and environmentally friendly producer for your textile collection

Here you find some simple sustainability examples of Baltic Intertex action

We ensure that the efficiency percentage of the production process layout for the models would be as high as possible

The more efficient are the production layouts, the smaller is the amount of material losses – waste that goes in the trash container. Although our company’s cutting system has got an automatic layout application, it’s sometimes possible to get better results, and save fabric and paper by doing things manually.

We make recommendations for increasing the efficiency of layouts

When compiling production layouts, we often find that it’s possible to put several models together, which significantly reduces fabric loss. Often, constructional changes to the models contribute – it doesn’t lessen the attractiveness of the products, but help to reduce fabric and paper waste.

We produce small batches

Lots of companies have high minimum production rates, which forces customers to increase their order quantities. This, however, could lead to an increase in stocks in the long run. You can order exactly the right number of models from Baltic Intertex. In case of small batches, we use extra coefficients, so we help the customer to avoid overproduction and the storage of surplus fabrics.

We offer and use deadstock fabrics

Old for some, new for others! Baltic Intertex has entered into agreements with customers with a sustainable mindset, so we can offer their leftover fabrics to other designers, so they can create their collections.

We deal with packaging recycling and reduce plastic packaging

At Baltic Intertex we know very well how much harm careless handling of plastic packaging is causing to nature. When we were visiting Fotografiska, our whole team was shaken by Mandy Parker’s photo exhibition called “Sea of Artifacts“, which increased our desire to contribute to nature as a company. We use cardboard boxes to transport goods, they can survive several shipments. When making clothes, we pack several products in one plastic bag and, if possible, use paper instead of plastic.

We support schools and kindergartens with materials suitable for creative work

We are so glad when teachers and activity leaders are eager to develop kids’ and young people’s creativity by breathing new life into our production residues.

We practise sustainable electricity consumption  

This can be applied by everyone, but simple solutions are often forgotten. For example, people could make a habit of turning off the lights when they leave a room.

We sort garbage

It would be more convenient to throw production leftovers into one trash container, but it is more environmentally friendly to separate paper and fabric from household waste, and send it for either recycling or utilization. That’s what we do!

We are participating in a global fashion industry initiative called “Fashion Revolution Week #iMadeYourClothes“

We contribute to the transparency of the clothing supply chain! Why are we doing this? On the one hand, to contribute to the reliability of the manufactured clothing brands, and to increase the brand image. On the other hand, we look proudly and with joy at all end users. We are honoured to be an ethical companion on the creative path of our partners!

Let`s heal our planet together step by step!

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Below I listed 15 main stumbling blocks designers face when creating their collections, for which Baltic Intertex has tried to find solutions. The easiest, of course, is to learn from other people’s mistakes and try to avoid the obstacles. In my blogs, I will discuss these points in detail. If you feel that you are currently facing any of the topics below, please feel free to contact Baltic Intertex. We kindly share our knowledge and help!

1. Check the availability of material

   During the development phase of models, some nice fabric for sales samples is bought in a store, but later, this fabric is simply no longer available.

2. Check out the MOQ

   Sample fabrics are ordered from factories, but the minimum acceptable order quantity required for the fabric production is not found out.

3. Compare fabrics elasticity

   With knitted fabrics, the stretching rate of the sample fabric and production fabric can be quite different.

4. Dive into the pros and cons of different fabric widths

   The width of the fabric that will be used is not considered, the cheaper price per meter is considered to be more important.

5. Test fabrics

   Fabrics are not be subjected to washing or pilling tests before making samples. Testing for knitted fabric is especially important.

6. Find suitable suppliers

   Some designers want to attach accessories to the samples, but the orders for minimum quantities can’t be fulfilled later, during the production process of the collection.

7. Make the end customer’s life comfortable

   When choosing the fabrics, not enough attention is paid to comfortable cleaning options for the end customer.

8. Avoid pointless minor repairs

   During the model development phase, some designers want to make small changes in the cut, or minor improvements to the product, which in reality may involve big constructional changes. I always recommend asking about the approximate time for making minor changes.

9. Not every change makes sense

   The perfect sample is pursued. A number of minor changes during the development phase of samples are made, which need time and money but don’t affect the customer’s purchasing decision in the sales process. All necessary changes can be made before the production starts.

10. Be playful

    Very complex technological design elements give inspiration for the models to be developed, but they ultimately don’t match the customer’s sale prices.

11. Ask the experts to help

    When making size scales for the models, insufficient attention is paid to international sizing systems, which makes selling more difficult.

12. Find the right model

    When the sales sample is completed, specific persons of the right size don’t try the garments on, only the quality of the implementation and the general design are assessed.

13. Ask manufacturers for cost norms

    Necessary product-specific cost rates are not known for ordering sample fabrics, or fabrics for production.

14. Interview your potential customers

    The collection is made before a thorough study of its customer segment – for whom and why the garments will be produced?

15. Think and calculate

    Saving in product development could be costly in the long run, and reduce success in sales.

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If the clothing design is your passion and calling, but you have some hesitation about how to start a private label clothing line, then read the entire article! This section here will see me providing answers to some of the more common problems and giving design tips based on my daily work with Baltic Intertex during the more than 20 years I have worked there, I will be writing about what I and my team have learned during the development of more than 19,000 samples.

Over the years, Baltic Intertex has visited several different clothing fashion-oriented higher education institutions and hosted groups of students to whom we have spoken about our experiences as well as the mistakes we have done and the lessons we have learned. Thus, it did not seem strange to me when one day, the phone rang, and they wanted to get a tour of Baltic Intertex. The call ended with them saying that they are 4 novice designers from Finland, who would like to discuss possible collaboration on designing samples and start a private label collection. Since I could hear the words “novice designers”, I was able to quickly categorize those people as young graduates who are coming to get a sniff of the fashion industry and at best we will develop another pair of sweaters or T-shirts in co-operation with them. Making assumptions is a great enemy of ours, this time, however, I did fall into that trap.

On the morning of the agreed day, I set out all the sample materials, the more interesting designs, and also total failures on my clothes rail. I had many thoughts in my head about how to easily and simply explain the process of creating my personal brand and private label clothing line. There I was – ready for the meeting. The doorbell rang and I walked up the stairs to meet our guests. I imagine watching the entrants with a very surprised face because almost immediately there was a laughter of scream coming from the people standing on the stairs. It was immediately followed by the humorous comment of the “young designers” that I “probably was not expecting people deep in their middle age to start building their own brand”.

The guests were a group of friends who had known each other for years and who had worked together on different projects. Despite the fact that worked in very different areas of life (architect, hotelier, sewing technologist), it is always possible to find interesting ways to work together, If people have a desire to do so.

These were people who had a good sense of fashion and who had their own customer segment, they had also thought of the marketing side of the brand. In other words, I can safely say that the only missing piece to their business model was their clothing collection. Because the products they had planned to sell were so diverse, it was not a problem for them that all the samples were developed and manufactured by the same company. In my view, this was more akin to mutually supportive synergy, everyone continued to provide advice to each other during meetings and comment on how to make the friend’s designs more attractive.

The willingness to cooperate is also characterized by the fact that they initially opened a joint store together, where each of them had their own display; this helped them to optimize the costs of launching a brand.

I will add, as a side note, that I have never before or since seen sketches of designs presented in such an interesting and detailed way as they were presented by the architect/designer Mr. Piyapong Kerdmoh!

This meeting certainly dispelled the myth of all designers being competitors. It is not so!

Based on the example above and my own experience, I am able to say that there are many ways to start your own brand. The designers coming to us are most commonly:

• Designers who have special education and who have the theoretical body of knowledge feel confident enough to start their own design careers. They have a clear enough vision and ideas that they want to realize.
• Creative people who have a very good sense of fashion and know which products they want to offer to customers. For the most part, this type of design has grown out of a long-time love for fashion and their own outstanding style of clothing. About House of Wilow
• The road to becoming a designer has started with the person’s favorite clothes. They want to create a similar garment, but with certain changes that would improve the functionality of the clothes and help fulfill more of the person’s wishes.
• The brand has grown out from a product that the designer had not found on the market previously, but which a certain group of people is interested in. For example Aino.

It is never too late! For example, the world-famous designer Vera Wang started her own clothing brand only at the age of 40!

Giorgio Armani began his career at the age of 41, having previously worked in the medical sphere.

I sincerely hope these few examples are the right inspiration for anyone who hesitates whether it is too late for their hobby or passion to follow!

No matter how bumpy the idea of creating your brand or a private label may seem to you at first, just get started! Baltic Intertex helps to ​bring the best version of your vision to market.

Besides product development, we are also able to help you with business model validation, coaching, and mentoring, I have the necessary consulting certificates to help you with that. Maybe you just need a little push to dare to take the decisive step and make your dream become a reality – to this end, you will need someone to start the whole process by asking their own questions or just listening to you!

Feel free to contact us! We will find a suitable solution for you to start your clothing brand

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It`s a well-known truth that production drawings are a base for the product development service providers How accurate and well-drawn it has to be?

Very often, dreams are not realized because of the novice designer doubting his or her drawing skills or the way that the technological knots of the clothing are drawn. All in all, that person does not dare to pass their wish on and will not realize their dream. Often, designers seek the help of a sewing technician who prepares the correct technical documentation for them, this is time and again done without delving into detail about the product.

Sometimes we get perfectly drawn production drawings, but not filled with accurate data. Depending on the competence of the person compiling the documentation, we often need to bother the designer with a number of clarifying questions that have not been answered in the technical specifications or which have not been addressed at all.

More than 13 years ago, I attended a client meeting in Finland at the home office of a designer. “I saw a thick sewing technology book on the designer’s desk that had a double-edged pocket open above the technological drawing. In amazement, I asked – why are you investigating this? The designer replied with a smile that they wanted to give us a couple of models for product development, but first, they had to find out how a cross-section for a pocket should be drawn in the technological documents.” I was very surprised by this way of thinking, as it was my understanding that a designer need not know sewing technology and create perfect technical cross-sections!

However, in the light of my current knowledge, there is no reason why I should have been surprised. Already from kindergarten onwards, children’s performance skills are compared, and it is encouraged to rank children. A similar attitude continues to be used throughout school and university. Of course, people will then take this attitude with them into their future lives, many people will find this to be a great obstacle for them in doing what they want – because “perhaps I am no good”.

This meeting was the incentive for our company to change the way it communicated, and I started to emphasize the need to take away the customer’s fears in all our future meetings with customers. Designers are creators who do not have to have the knowledge to produce production drawings. A photo of the same designer’s model was published a year later, in 2010, on the online front page of the New York Times, featured by the legendary street photographer Bill Cunningham as part of the Paris Fashion Week in the video “The Birth of a New Look”. Unfortunately, this video can no longer be found on the internet, but you can read about the famous photographer.

Do not bother wasting your valuable time creating perfect production drawings! The specialists of Baltic Intertex OÜ are used to working with drawings of different technical levels. Baltic Intertex has 17 specialists with professional educations in their fields, who are all willing to guide and help you!

When Baltic Intertex was just starting with the service of providing a “finished product from a drawing” in 2006, we were convinced that if the customer would send us a sketch of the model and a perfectly filled measurement scale, we would have been given the ideal input to start working. We made the patterns and samples strictly following all measurements and were happy to be executing the work with exact precision, creating beautiful-looking products in the process. What happened was that often the customers were not all too satisfied with the end result, despite us taking care to ensure the correctness of the measurements and the high quality of sewing. To create a correct and well-fitting product, we had to make several new samples, in doing so, the designer improved the measurements of the product. So far, over the years, we have honed our skills to an extent where we are usually able to make the second sample already of the final fabric.

The most curious incident was however when we made the finished product exactly according to the customer’s measurement scale, but checking the finished product revealed that the neckline of the dress was too small, and it was impossible to put the product on. At the start, we were quite bewildered, by that moment, we had already produced several items according to this pattern and the customer had always been very satisfied. Even though we had a separate quality control specialist working for us at that time, we had mainly emphasized the dimensional compliance of the product. Of course, no one tried this model on anymore either, as it was an “old model”. The customer sent the whole batch back to us (~100 products). Checking the conformity of the patterns and the product, we found out that the fabric had not stretched out as much as was the case with the previous batches, and that had been the reason for the neckline remaining too small.

This rather costly lesson led me to the conclusion that the customer cannot, even should not need to provide us with accurate measurements for the finished product. It is the task of Baltic Intertex to test the behavior of the fabrics during hot wet processing and to see how the fabric shrinks and stretches out. We have devoted many years to increase the competence of our technical support, and we are still trying to become smarter every day so that we would be able to fulfill even the most special wishes of the designer and that not just the sample, but the product as well, could actually be produced.

The starting point is to try and ensure for the designer a convenient and less time-consuming way to conduct business.

• Send us a simple drawing or a sketch that we would have enough competence to decipher. Our specialists will prepare correct production drawings together with the necessary technological solutions.
• Send a photo of a product similar to the desired model, adding which kind of changes you want to see being made.
• Send the finished product and comment on what you want to change. We see the pattern of the product, digitize, and model the model to suit you.
• Just talk us through. We have customers who like to come to our office and just talk us through which kinds of models they want. Conversing often leads the customer to come up with new and better ideas, as the meeting can also be considered a coaching session to an extent, wherein the customer is provided with help to find the necessary answers on their own. The fact that we help the customer both in terms of technology and with our production expertise is just a natural part of the Baltic Intertex service.

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