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.

We will be very happy if you think that this story could be of interest to your friends.

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

We will be very happy if you think that this story could be of interest to your friends.

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.

We will be very happy if you think that this story could be of interest to your friends.