Take a small batch for sewing. Sew a batch of clothes

In order to start your own business, it is not at all necessary to thoroughly understand all the details.

And we're not talking about sewing skills. But you still need to have an idea of ​​the process. How are you going to calculate the salary of seamstresses, or at least for starters, your friend? or for example, how do you distinguish whether this or that node has been processed correctly (by technology)?

P.S. my former boss did not know how to use a computer at all, not to mention the installed software, which actually did not prevent her from competently organizing her work.

Well, we can all lead. And besides, managing an established production is one thing, but organizing from scratch is completely different. Oh, if you only knew how many things they bring me for alteration from these expensive, high-quality stores and ateliers. And the managers there are probably not new to this business. But this is a separate story and has nothing to do with our conversation.
About 25 years ago, no one knew how to work on a computer, and had never even seen one. (At that time there were only large computer centers). And nothing, only those who knew the process from the inside were truly in charge.
And I’ve also seen various new bosses, especially in construction, manage in such a way (both those who know computers and those who don’t) that some new buildings will soon be like the Leaning Towers of Pisa.
Well, if you decide to start with trading, then everything is simpler, the main principle is to buy cheaper, sell more expensive. And you may not understand technology. But it will be difficult for you to compete with Chinese manufacturers. Unfortunately, there are many more people willing (or rather, forced) to buy cheaper, and there is no time for quality.
And still, you can’t do without a business plan. Well, you have X amount of money, buy a quality product. How much will you sell for? and where - in your store, or will you sell it to someone else? This is where the fun begins -
1. If you have your own store, consider: rent of premises (including utility costs), trade equipment, advertising, taxes, social contributions and fees to the budget, salary for sellers, tips for inspectors, etc., your own profit. From this amount you will see how many goods your sellers should sell per month and at what price. Write down such a plan for yourself every month, at least for a couple of years - here you have a business plan.
2. If you hand it over for sale, you turn into another intermediary. The success of your sale will depend on the price of your product = purchase price + delivery cost + your own interest with your taxes + the interest of your seller with expenses and his taxes. And how much can you sell? Why does the implementer need an intermediate link with his own interest, if this interest can become his personal?
And also, why is your product better than another, also of high quality? I don’t see any problems with quality children’s clothes. There is everything for every taste, but the price leaves much to be desired, or rather less. Everyone understands that quality is expensive. But of the two high-quality ones, many will choose - ... that's right, whichever is cheaper.

Post edited kseny-dancestyle- Apr 25 2013, 18:20

Some of our clients require small quantities of sewing products. It is profitable to order tailoring in small batches at our factory. We accept for production from 20 units of sweatshirts and insulated products, from 100 pcs. T-shirts and polo shirts.

When are small batches needed?

The production capacity of our workshop allows us to sew a large number of men's and women's lightweight and insulated clothing. But small organizations often do not benefit from large wholesale. We understand the needs of each of our customers and try to find optimal terms of cooperation for everyone.

Sewing to order in small wholesale is in demand in the following situations:

• the company has a small staff, the sports team consists of several participants;
• promotions are limited to the participation of a small number of people;
• T-shirts or shirts are needed in limited quantities as a gift to partners, seminar or training participants.

We have the opportunity to order products in small quantities according to the individual needs of the client:

• make exactly the sizes that are needed for specific people;
• use high-quality materials in their composition that meet sanitary requirements in the area where the company operates;
• choose fabric colors and their combinations that match the customer’s signature palette;
• make changes to existing sample models or offer your own version.

We are ready to discuss any proposals for cooperation. The factory's fashion designers will assist in selecting existing patterns or creating new ones. As a result, the models will best suit the customer’s needs.

Especially for such purposes, the factory has organized a workshop for sewing clothes in small wholesale. Thanks to this approach, prices for small batches of products are loyal and affordable for small organizations and large enterprises.

We offer to order wholesale tailoring of products at our factory. We guarantee fast production times, high quality clothing and other types of textile products necessary for the successful promotion and development of business.

Why is it worth contacting our company?

Sewing clothes in small batches in Moscow is a service that will provide you with a number of advantages. What are the advantages of cooperation with us:

1. We carefully monitor the quality of our products.
2. All orders are carried out by the customer exactly within the specified time frame.
3. We can make clothes of any size for you.
4. All stages of work are controlled by our highly qualified specialists.
5. We are constantly improving our equipment and technologies for sewing clothes in small batches.

Cooperation with our company will leave you with only positive emotions. Here you will find the most affordable prices for sewing clothes in small batches in Moscow, which will allow you to save a lot and not worry about the risk of low quality goods. Once you order tailoring services from us, you will no longer buy in regular stores.

Call us by phone to discuss the production of custom clothing and delivery of finished products. You can leave a request immediately on the factory’s website.

We decided to sew a small batch of polos in order to understand the entire chain from the idea to the finished product. It was important for us to gain the necessary experience and knowledge in order to be confident in our abilities. While we did the design of the first batch of polos on our own, we needed a garment factory for sewing.

One of the requirements is that the factory be located in Moscow or Moscow Region, so that we can touch the fabrics from which our polos will be made, look at the production itself (or better yet, film the work process for our future videos) and communicate with representatives of the factory. So, we started the search.

Everything will be found

It all started with calling factories and sending them a request for tailoring to calculate the price. When we asked where the production was located, we often met with negativity: “What difference does it make to you? Do you need to sew clothes or what? “One man laughed into the phone for about two minutes before saying that we will never be able to sew anything if we don’t do it all our lives and in general, we have a bad idea.

Realizing that we could call each factory point-by-point forever, we sent out en masse requests to companies that stated that they had production facilities in Moscow. It must be said that many had to wait several days for a response. Some did not respond to requests at all. I wonder if the owners of these factories know how their employees work with clients?

We actually had to beg people to sell us their service. What are we doing wrong?

After a very long search, a lot of calls and letters, we found several companies that quickly respond to letters, don’t laugh on the phone, sew polos and claim that production is located in Moscow. We chose 3 companies for the meeting.

The first company “Fashionable”

The first impression of the company was good - a beautiful modern website, photos of famous personalities wearing clothes made by them, a pleasant manager. During a telephone conversation, we were immediately told that they are the best and we will not find such quality fabric as theirs anywhere. This probably explains the price, which is almost 2 times higher than that of competitors. Nevertheless, we decided to meet and see for ourselves.

The company's office is located near the center; according to the manager, production is located there.

The manager met us and we began discussing details and looking at fabric samples. I was immediately alarmed that he proposed to make polos without any complications, in plain colors, but in general it was better to buy ready-made ones. The choice of fabrics was good, but the quality did not seem particularly special. The presence of 5 sales managers who did not look like production workers was also alarming.

We discussed the main points, and it was time to look at the production. The manager hesitated and said that no one was working there now, so there was nothing to see and, in principle, outsiders should not go there, but we insisted on our position. Following the manager, we came to a door with a proud sign “Production”, expecting to see rows of sewing machines behind it. In fact: the three of us occupied half of the space allocated for production, the other half was occupied by the machine on which prints are made.

Seeing our bewilderment, the manager began to fuss and say that the real production is not here, but somewhere in the Moscow region, but there is an industrial zone and it is impossible to get there, etc. and so on. They probably sew in the basement, or, what is even more likely, they don’t sew themselves, but give orders to factories. Doesn't fit.

The second company “We sew and we eat”

A fine nasty rain was falling. Arriving at the indicated address, we did not see a single building that looked like an industrial or even office building. But there was plenty of mud and puddles all around. Having informed the manager that we had arrived and could not find the building, we heard: “Why did you even come?” An interesting twist, especially considering yesterday's meeting arrangements. They began to persistently persuade us to accept us. As a result, the manager sent the number of the director, who at first did not answer phone calls, and then said that she would not be able to come to the meeting, but would send a person who would bring us samples of the polo shirts that they sew, but we had to look at everything in the lobby of the building and neither a step further. One of the workers met us and brought three samples. A very tired sample. It looks like they've been touched about 500 times each. It was important for us to look at the production, and we still agreed with the indifferent woman that we would go through and see everything on the spot. She led us to a room where they actually sewed clothes, and also ate, drank and, it seemed, lived. Someone sewed a polo shirt with a crocodile on the logo, someone ate doshirak, and someone solved a crossword puzzle. The guys all have Asian eyes.

We were not impressed by the choice of fabric, and there was no one to talk to. Despite the motivating inscriptions on the pipes, the work was not in full swing. Let's move on.

Third company “God Loves Trinity”

We quickly agreed to meet with this factory, but it took a while to find them - they were located among industrial buildings on the territory of the former factory. I had to cut circles and jump over ravines.

After the first two meetings, we were ready to see anything, but the third time we were lucky: we communicated with people who thoroughly understand tailoring and can explain in simple language why it is better to do it one way and not another. The choice of fabrics was huge, this applies not only to color, but also to quality and density. When the time came to go to the production, we saw orderly rows of sewing machines and lovely women who worked behind them. And the prices were much lower than in the first company. After weighing all the pros and cons, we chose this factory.

conclusions

Everyone will draw conclusions for themselves, the only thing we can advise is not to give up and work until the end and you will succeed! Good luck!

Just starting to plan to produce her own collection of children's clothing, Olga Blindyaeva studied the market for a long time and thoughtfully, analyzing who and where could provide acceptable quality and reliability. The result of reflection was cooperation with a manufacturer near Moscow. The production of the first batch was a real “walk through pain”, but a useful walk...

When I was just planning to launch my own clothing line for children, I realized that I could come up with a great idea, invest a lot of money in PR and marketing, but if my products were poorly made, nothing would help convince buyers (and these are mothers, an extremely demanding category of consumers) select them. Therefore, I studied the market with great attention, analyzed who and where could provide me with high quality tailoring at a relatively low cost - despite the fact that initially I planned to sew a very small batch of children's clothing. And, oddly enough, the optimal solution for me was working with production in the Moscow region.

I know that many people choose China and southeastern countries (Vietnam, Bangladesh, India), but for me this was unacceptable - I had to control the process and deadlines personally, I wanted to be able to come to the factory at any time and coordinate signal samples , see at what stage the process is - without wasting time on flights and logistics. I also wanted to accept the entire batch personally, so that I could immediately identify all the shortcomings in production and leave the unaccepted products for rework or even send them to scrap.

And, in my opinion, tailoring in Russia is the ideal option for tailoring using raw materials supplied by customers. When choosing foreign production, the main difficulties that you will have to face are process control, deadlines, finding partners and logistics.

In order to find reliable partners and not walk for a long time through the “Potemkin villages” arm-in-arm with an intermediary, it seems to me that it is necessary to go there personally and stay for a while, monitor the market and the situation on your own. And then transfer production and process control to a trusted person.

Dancing with tambourines in production

Speaking of “Potemkin villages”, you will have to get lost in them in Russia too. Especially if you came to the creation of children's clothing from another business area. An experienced technologist/production manager will immediately see through the beginner in you, and, most likely, will try to confuse you in calculating the consumption of fabric, threads and other accessories.

Here I immediately remember an anecdote about an old Jewish tailor who, when accepting an order, said: “When a tailor takes an order, he first cuts a dress for himself, and then thinks about how to make a dress for you from the remaining material.” My advice is to hire an independent technologist and rely on him; yes, these are additional costs, but they are compensated by the amount that third-party production will not “eat” from you.

The second problem is related to the size of the product batch - not all production facilities in Russia are ready to take on small orders. It would seem that everyone needs downloads, orders, money. But no. When ordering the first batch, you must be prepared to “dance with a tambourine” and practically persuade production to take on your work - drawing the prospect of further cooperation and increasing volumes. And then, of course, you will have to fight for deadlines - your batch will most likely be endlessly moved in order to fulfill a more profitable and urgent order.

Price issue

Not all production sites have an initially open price list. The price is formed depending on the complexity of processing the product, calculated based on the time spent by the seamstress on sewing your product + overhead costs + enterprise income, etc. according to the pricing formula.

Prices for sewing a collection vary quite a lot, sometimes at neighboring factories they differ by two times. For example, I received an offer to sew panties at a cost of 70 to 150 rubles per unit, and they were ready to sew sweatshirts with a hood with a zipper for 120-250 rubles.

Almost all of our products have applique or embroidery. The cost of the application also varies greatly and depends on the availability of equipment in production. If the production has purchased an expensive laser for cutting fabric, then the cost of producing an applique for you is reduced significantly.

As for financial relations with the manufacturer, as a rule, an advance payment is initially required, the amount of which is 10-30%. But, when your cooperation already has a history, you can agree on 100% postpayment.

Not the first time: monitoring deadlines and defects

How to find and choose a production site to which you can entrust all the most valuable things (fabrics, patterns and ideas)? I took the simple route - search the Internet and ask for recommendations from friends in the industry.

There are a huge number of industries in Moscow and the Moscow region, and it still amazes me that the owners of most of them are not at all bothered by creating websites and online promotion of their offerings. They may be sitting without work, but are not ready to think about creating a banal landing page. In the best case, the production will have a business card website with the function of ordering a call back, but even if you leave your contacts, no one will ever call you back. I checked several times :)

As a result, recommendations from friends helped me decide on the choice of site. It turned out to be a large production facility specializing in textile sewing.

The site met all the requirements - it had the necessary “fleet” of equipment for sewing knitwear, including embroidery machines - the most successful option possible. Geographically, they are located in one of the industrial zones in the Northern Administrative District of Moscow, which, of course, is incredibly convenient - accessible at any time.

The production facility I applied for turned out to be quite large, with good production capabilities, however, the order fulfillment dates agreed upon at the very beginning were constantly shifting. The explanation was absurdly simple - the seamstresses had gone on vacation. It’s very good that at that time I did not yet have an online store and, in principle, the delay for me did not result in product cards with the “out of stock” status, but I still had to be nervous.

Minimizing risks - practical lessons

To minimize the risks of failure to meet deadlines, be sure to enter into an agreement with production indicating specific deadlines, take a tough position and immediately contact the business owner if the agreement is violated.

And then play “good cop/bad cop” - explain in production that the manager’s salary KPI is meeting the deadlines for the first batch. You will kill several birds with one stone: save your nerves, remain on good terms with production, and receive the shipment on time.

After the collection was shipped and checked, more defects were discovered than expected. Under ideal conditions, no more than 5% of defects are allowed. My losses on one of the positions amounted to about 30%. Of course, they admitted their mistakes in production and even began to redo them, but the payment had already been made, no one wanted to make any more efforts, and I received most of the products back in the same form. In order not to completely abandon some items and to return at least the cost price, I had to sell them at a deep discount.

This situation became an important lesson for me - always carry out acceptance before payment and, if possible, immediately on the spot. Then you will be able to avoid unnecessary time and money costs.

Be that as it may, to sew the second batch, I turned to the same production site. Simply because there was already an understanding of what could be expected from them, and where to get help - this, of course, is also present and we must pay tribute to the production employees who are involved in the process and, if they see an omission or shortcoming, can offer options for solving problems and often these are very interesting solutions.

Your own workshop

Another option that I considered was not to look for production, but to open it for my own goals and objectives. Having your own production workshop involves several costly items:

• rental of premises (including electricity, water)
• cost and depreciation of equipment
• payment for seamstresses

According to my calculations, the initial cost of equipping a production workshop for children's knitted clothing for 3-4 workplaces will be from 600,000 rubles.

An important condition for opening your own workshop is the confidence that production will be constantly busy with work and will not be in a downtime situation. In my case, opening a workshop is the next step, and then I will be sure that all the seamstresses will not go on vacation at once on the eve of the delivery of the collection, that the number of defects will not be exceeded by 6 times, that my knitwear will not be damaged, and that he will suggest the best solutions me my full-time technologist.

About the author: Olga Blindyaeva was born on February 17, 1979. She received a higher legal education. After graduating from university, she worked in logistics in the customer department of a small company, then became the head of the entire department.

From 2007 to 2011 worked at Wimm-Bill-Dann Drinks, as part of the marketing department team, she was involved in the development of the company, first at the regional and then at the federal level. Since 2011, Olga has been in marketing, and then in the marketing procurement department of the Mobile Telesystems (MTS) company. Since 2015, in parallel with his work at MTS, he has been developing his own brand of children's clothing, BibigoniYa. Now “Bibigonia” operates in the format of an online store; the opening of several corners in Moscow and the launch of a franchise are planned for the fall of 2017.